OK: Beganovic triumphs as Kart Republic stumble
Just a week after Dexter Patterson sealed the WSK Super Masters Series title, the class was back in action for the Euro Series at Sarno. Just 32 drivers would take to the track in the OK class, the smallest grid of the competition. But Patterson, now wearing the colours of the Sauber karting team showed the small field wouldn’t be putting him off.
He topped the time sheets in qualifying by just under 2 tenths ahead of Ward Racing’s Dino Beganovic. CV Performance’s Nikolas Pirttilahti was 3rd fastest ahead of Matheus Morgatto’s factory Tony Kart. Pirttilahti’s team mate Lorenzo Travisanutto was down in 8th, just behind Parolin’s Gabriele Mini, while Pattersons team mate Josh Dufek was stuck in 13th. The Sauber squad had a better start than the Rosberg academy, as Barnard was nursing problems leaving him last of the classified drivers. Behind him was The Mclaren Customer Racing school driver of Hannes Janker. The former European champion would have a lot to do in the heats.
After the conclusion of the heats, it was all change at the top. Thanks to his 2 wins, Forza racing’s Dilano Van T Hoff headed the field, just ahead of Beganovic. The Ward driver spent his 3 heats in 3rd and 4th, which wasn’t enough to take the top spot, despite Van T Hoff’s 5th in heat 1. The win in heat 1 went the way of Travisanutto, but 3rd in heat 2 and 8th in heat 3 meant he would finish the heats 4th, behind BirelART’s Luigi Coluccio. One of the big movers was Sami Meguetounif, who’s string of top 10 finishes saw him end the heats 8th, having qualified 22nd. But the big mover was Janker, who ran inside the top 10 in all 3 heats, leaving him 7th, just ahead of Barnard in 9th. Meanwhile, Dufek failed to get inside the top 15 all day, and would be down in 17th. The big mover was Patterson, after contact in the first 2 heats, he could only salvage a 5th in heat 3, leaving him down in 14th.
The Pre-Final saw Beganovic come out on top, around 0.75 seconds ahead of Van T Hoff. Coluccio and Travisanutto held station in 3rd and 4th, while EsGenis Civico Espona held firm in 5th. It was all change behind though, as Patterson charged up to 6th, and Pirttilahti charged up from 20th to finish 10th. Meanwhile, Barnard fell down 2 places to finish 11th, just behind Pirttilahti and ahead of Joe Turney, while Janker dropped 6 places to 13, just beating team mate Hugo Sasse. Dufek managed to gain 2 places, thanks to huge falls for Sami Meguetounif and Matheus Morgatto.
That set the stage for a chaotic final. Beganovic held the lead off the start and set about building a gap from Coluccio after Van T Hoff fell away at the start. He found himself down in 23rd, and soon retired. It wasn’t long until he was joined on the side lines by Vladislav Lomko and Janker, who were out by lap 4. Then the next 2 big names to fall by the way side were Patterson and Barnard. The pair running in 4th and 5th before contact saw them both off the track and out of the race. The race seemed to settle down, as the chasing pack tried to get on terms with Beganovic. But the gap kept extending, getting as high as 3 seconds before a full course yellow. Yet more contact between Kirill Smal, Harry Thompson, Lorenzo Travisanutto while fighting over 4th saw the trio of karts littering the circuit.
The race restarted with just 1 lap to go and the entire field on Beganovic’s rear bumper. But the Swedish driver soaked up the pressure, eventually taking the win by just 2 tenths at the flag. Coluccio held on to take home 2nd while Pirttilahti ensured there was 1 Kart Republic chassis in the top 3. Just missing out on a podium was Tony Kart’s Joe Turney, who survived the melee to finish 4th just ahead of Hugo Sasse. The big mover was Megurtounif, who climbed 20 places to finish 10th at the flag.
Thanks to his near faultless weekend, Beganovic leads the standings on 89 points, a while 41 points clear of Coluccio in 2nd. 3rd is Van T Hoff on 30, with 3 rounds left to go, there is still chance for a lot of changes, especially with a large amount of drivers out of position. The 2nd round in France will hopefully provide more of the same action.
Image: WSK Promotions
