PRESS RELEASE - TKART - TROUTMAN,NC (March 17, 2015) It was a wet and wild weekend for the d’Orlando brothers at the past Cold Stone Florida Winter Tour Powered by MAXSpeed in Orlando, FL. The rains came in on Saturday and into Sunday morning causing extremely slick racing conditions at the Orlando Kart Center and putting both d’Orlando brothers wet driving skills to the test.

Only just a week before, Nicholas took the double win at the Orlando Kart Center for rounds 3 & 4 of the Florida Winter Tour Vortex Rok series, in the most exciting feature events of the weekend in the Mini Rok class. Consistently in the top 3 all weekend long throughout the qualifying sessions and heat races, Nicholas would maintain patience & composure in a six kart battle throughout the 14 lap final race, making a last lap move to take the victory on Saturday. Similarly on Sunday, he put the stamp on the weekend running top 5 again all day, and after jumping to the lead early in Sunday’s final, he took his second victory in dominating fashion, giving him his 3rd victory out of 4 for the series thus far.

Michael’s second weekend competing in the Vortex Junior Rok class would show why he is a rookie to look out for this year. Saturday’s races put him in a well-earned 3rd qualifying position and in the top 5 throughout both pre-final & final. His 5th place finish would be his second top 5 finish of the series. However, Sunday proved a little bit more difficult with bad luck rearing it’s ugly head as he was ran over in the open corners of lap 1 of the final. He would push through for the duration of the 18 lap race, with compromised equipment, and officially classified in 20th.

Back at the course at Orlando Kart Center again the following weekend in the Florida Winter Tour Rotax series, Nicholas would remain consistent as usual, overcoming a rain soaked Saturday race. Keeping his No. 115 Tony Kart in the top 10 all day through practice, qualifying and pre-final race, the rain soaked start of the Rotax Mini Max final would not keep him from a solid finish. He started in the 5th spot running a smart conservative race throughout, and keeping himself out of harm’s way brought home his KoeneUSA prepared machine to a solid 5th place finish.

On Sunday, Nicholas showed the consistency a good driver needs to keep in contention for a championship, by remaining in the top 10 in practice, qualifying, and Pre-Finals again. He would start 2nd in the Final in a battle with pole sitter Tyler Gonzalez for the lead. However Gonzalez got a quick jump out front at the start and held Nicholas at bay for the 15 lap main event for the victory. A stellar effort, nonetheless, for Nicholas as he wrapped up the two day race weekend with a podium finish.

Michael came into the Florida Winter Tour Rotax series weekend with an open mind of expectations. This would be his first time driving in the rain in his new Rotax Junior Max KoeneUSA prepared machine. He was solid in practice and qualifying on Saturday but struggled with throttle control issues on his No.257 Tony Kart in the rain soaked Semi Final to finish 32nd.

With KoeneUSA jumping into action quickly to work on machine & driver, Michael would start the final sitting in the 32nd position. Mother Nature would prove to be one of the biggest obstacles of the race once again, as the intense rain would create very slick racing conditions causing a big incident that brought out the red flag on lap 1 to halt racing action. Starting in 28th position in the restart, and the rest of the Rotax Junior field struggling to stay on the track, Michael would gain 10 positions and battle both the elements and field to finish an impressive 18th place.

Michael would once again have a good practice, qualifying, and Pre-Final on Sunday despite slick conditions earlier in the day. By the afternoon the track would dry out somewhat but was still slick in some areas. Michael would start 13th in the Rotax Junior final, on slick tyre compound. The red flag would come out on lap 1 again, after a nasty wreck in turn 3. He would restart in 11th and make his way to 10th, and laying down the third fastest lap of the race. Looking for a top 10

finish, with 6 Laps to go Michaels throttle cable snapped, ending his day with a disappointing 27th.

Both drivers return to action this weekend, and next weekend, in the final rounds of the Florida Winter Tour, at the Ocala Gran Prix circuit in Ocala, Florida, where series Champions will be crowned and tickets to the Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal this November will be awarded in each of the qualifying classes. Nicholas currently sits 1st in MiniRok points series race, and 2nd in MiniMax series, while Michael proves to be one of the top rookies holding 13th in both Junior Rok and Junior Rotax.

DRC would like to give special thanks to Integrity Consulting Group (icgpm.net), Iona Preparatory School, Kool Nerd Clothing, and Koene USA for their support. Also, a special thanks to race team KoeneUSA's Mike Maurini and Martijn Koene as well as DRC's Adam Johnson for their continued hard work and support.