Tazio Wins at OVRP, NY, in the WKA NJ Sprint Series

Fresh from his first CIK-FIA International race in Portugal, 13 year old Academy driver Tazio Torregiani came back home to show what he had learned, and that he did in the 3rd round of the 2012 WKA Divisional NJ Sprint Series, on the weekend of July 21. The race took place at Oakland Valley Race Park, NY, where Tazio started racing when he was 6. Torregiani went out for qualifying in his Mike Doty prepared Haase Junior Yamaha, and was almost half second faster then anyone else clinching the pole position. In the prefinal race Tazio was unchallenged and won with a dominant lead. In the feature Race it wasn't as easy for the CT racer, he lost his lead mid race, but was able to make a great charge to come back,
" I was able to stay with the leader, and several laps later, coming onto the straight he made the smallest of mistakes which gave me just a good enough run to make the move and pull away" Tazio said later after the race.
Never putting a foot wrong he regained first place and took the win. Tazio drove a memorable race, but couldn't have done it without his younger 12 year old brother Dario, who is the mechanic apprentice. Dario for the first time was alone without his dad who had to work, but still managed to look after Tazio's kart all the way to first place. On Sunday Tazio won the prefinal race and finished second in the final, coming home with two podium Regional results including a win. 
Next race is the fourth round of the WKA Man Cup National in Norway IL. Tazio has never seen this track before, but he's hoping to learn it quickly on the first round of practice, in the first weekend of August. Tazio and his team would like to thank everyone that helped him over the weekend. For more info go to www.TazioRacing.com, brought to you by www.NewCountryPorsche.com.

Tazio's impressions from his first International race in Portugal

Recently last weekend I completed the first round FIA Academy Trophy. It was such an experience to drive with and on such a different track, kart, drivers, conditions and rules. The tracks in Europe I've noticed have no elevation or very long straights just sweeping turns followed  by corners or a heavy braking hairpin, unlike in the US where the turns are flat out followed by a straight and there's elevation on every single track you go too. 
The motors and chassis they have in the under 18 world championship are all very unseen in the US like the Art Kart, MS chassis or even a Zanardi surprisingly, there were no big teams or chassis manufacturers like Tony Kart, Birel or CRG in that series. Everybody uses the same up to specs KF3 motor in the Academy and U18 championships. The drivers aren't just some local racers going to a big time race just to see what's it like. They are the best in the world from each country, no one makes mistakes they drive clean, professionally and aggressive, they aren't reckless. Weather is about the same but track conditions are much different, the track gets extremely sticky within 4 practice sessions and is difficult for lots of people if you don't know what your doing with the setup. When I say rules I mean procedures, how things run, standards.  There's a driver's presentation where all the driver's come to the front stretch represent their country take photos and shake hands with some of the steward's and marshals which was very cool.  Each and every qualifying session is 8 minutes. There are 3 heats just like the SKUSA Supernational' they add up your finishes and decide whether you made it to the final or not. Only 28 drivers make it to the main "A" Final.  Starting lights as the green flag and you must stay in your racing line until the lights go off or you get a penalty of 3 to 10 seconds depending on how much of your kart was out of the lane. If you don't make it to the "A" final there's a "B" final which gives less points though. After qualifying and each heat race you must take off the wheels you have used and your race fuel to a holding station then before the race starts  again you put them back on, and the cycle starts all over again till Sunday.
Sunday one warm up session takes place then the Finals and the day is over with a massive podium presentation, which goes on with sparkling water, spectacular trophies and national anthems. Followed by press conferences and media.

Recap of first round of 2012 CIK FIA Academy Trophy

Sunday July 8, the first round of the 2012 CIK FIA Academy Trophy in Braga Portugal came to an end. We had a clean weekend free of accidents and spin outs. The only small incident was a broken chain which costed us a free practice session. Tazio had three practice sessions on Friday to learn the track and find the speed. We didn't do bad, considering Tazio's lack of experience with the environment. Saturday morning the rain came and the track was soaked. We had our only free morning practice on wet tires. When it was time to go out for our 8 minutes qualifying the track was almost totally dry and everyone went out with dry new LeCont tires. These changing conditions didn't agree with us as we were still in learning mode, so we couldn't post a fast enough lap time. The format works just like the SKUSA Supernationals, with three qualifying heats in each group, with 24 drivers each heat race. Tazio started 21st in his three heat races. In his first heat race Tazio had a brilliant start avoiding a first turn accident and making several passes, finishing 10th out of 24, Giving Tazio his first top ten finish in an International heat race. see this result at the following link: 
http://www.cikfia.com/competitions/cik-calendar/2012/braga/academy/results/result/seventh/day/second/article/academy-1.html. 
The second and third heats were not as good and Tazio couldn't manage better than 17th and 19th, which meant that after all the results were added, Tazio was outside the top 28, and outside the Final A (the main final). This meant that he would race in Final B. He started in 8th out of 19, had a bad start and dropped to 11th, but came back to finish 8th. The drivers that were really on top form were mostly European drivers that are currently competing in all major KF3 European championship. There is no questions that this crop of drivers are among the best 13 to 15 year old drivers in the world. They were all very fast and made no mistakes. To race among them was an incredible experience. The next race is in France next month we are hoping for a better result. 
To see more photos from this event click the following link to our Facebook page: 
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.417887511586190.87375.248819618492981&type=3