11th WINTER CUP – Lonato (Brescia), February 18th/19th, 2006

100 Junior

BIREL’S SUPREMACY BEARS THE NAMES OF GENINI AND STEVENS

Italian Luca Genini (Team MgM) and Englishman Will Stevens (Team Jpr) dominated the scene in the 100 Junior, the introductory class historically favourable to Birel. The Italian, in particular, showed a clear-cut superiority in the Finals, keeping his team-mate at a due distance throughout the race. The 3rd podium step went to Dutchman Hauke, who arrived ahead of the Frenchman of the Birel Mgt team, Hugo Valente. Peter Antolfeld, the official driver of Birel Motorsport, was among the protagonists of the weekend, too, but was stopped at the start of the Finals by a technical problem. Another Birel Motorsport driver, James Kennedy, had an unlucky race start as well. The American, who proved the best among Birel drivers of the Junior class in his country, took part in the race supported by Birel’s racing team by virtue of an agreement between the Lissone-based manufacturer and the American Stars Federation. And finding himself all of a sudden among the big names of international karting, he still performed very well, qualifying for the Finals with great tenaciousness and showing constant improvement. Without having any knowledge of the circuit, actually, his weekend had started with the 80th time in the qualifiers. After the heats he was forced to run a repechage, which took place under a pouring rain, but where he earned qualification. In the Pre-finals, he basically started last, but with great steadfastness he succeeded in attaining his qualification recording noteworthy times and arriving among the top 17. Then, at the start of the Finals, an accident put him soon out of action, but the initiative has still to be considered very positively, as it proved the excellent evolution American karting is experiencing in terms of training.

THE RACES: