Spina starts the season right for Cetilar Racing & KartRepublic
The first major international competition saw 50 juniors head to Adria for the WSK Champions Cup. The single round event would see the first champion WSK champions of the season crowned. With quite a few of the top drivers last year moving up the ranks, some new names would reach the front.
The first of those was KartRepublic’s Brandon Badoer who set the pace in qualifying practice. Tymoteusz Kucharczyk topped the second session but was just over a tenth slower than Badoer’s pace. Bit it was Arvid Lindblad, who qualified his KartRepublic machine 10th who came out top after the heats, a pair of victories to compliment a 2nd and 3rd. Badoer won a single heat while finishing 2nd in his remaining three while Alfio Spina made it a KR 1-2-3 at the top of the time sheets in 3rd. Martinius Stenshorne had a strong run in his new Rosberg Academy machine while Artem Severiukin was the top driver not using KartRepublic kit in 6th.
Pre-Final A saw Lindblad drive away from the rest of the field, finishing just under 4 seconds clear of team mate Spina with Ugo Ugochukwu bringing his Ricky Flynn Kosmic machine into 3rd. Pre Final B was a win for Stenshorne in his new colours ahead of Freddie Slater, who was making his OK Junior debut for RFM. Cristian Bertuca finished 3rd with Badoer falling to 5th, still well within the qualifying bracket for the final.
At the start, Spina forced his way through to the front ahead of Lindblad and Stenshorne. Ugochukwu slotted into 4th ahead of teammate Slater. The KartRepublic pairing set about building an early lead over the rest of the field, but it was Spina that managed to get away. Behind the RFM team mates were battling, which allowed Christian Ho to catch and put the pressure on Slater for 5th.
Ugochukwo could sensed the pressure behind, and fired it down the inside of Stenshorne for 3rd. At the front, Lindblad made his move for the lead, getting alongside Spina. The pair touched, allowing Ugochukwo through to the lead. Stenshorne then slipped passed Lindblad, pulling Slater and Ho through. Spina wasn’t going to allow the RFM man to run away at the front, quickly getting the lead back.
With 5 laps to go, Spina had built a gap, Stenshorne in 2nd with Ugochukwo fending off Ho for 3rd. But that battle wouldn’t last long, as Uhochukwo was turned around allowing Ho into 3rd. As Spina built a gap at the front, Lindblad was falling, loosing out to Severiukhin to drop him to 5th. While on the final lap, Stenshorne was defending for his life against Ho. But none of them could catch Alfio Spina, who took the top spot of the podium. Stenshorne and Ho completed the podium with Severiukhin beating lindblad for 4th.
