Troy Castaneda is crowned Vice-Champion at the Rotax Grand Nationals

Competing in only his 2nd National competition, Troy finished an outstanding second place at the Oklahoma Motorsport Complex this past weekend competing in the Rotax DD2 class.

This was Troy’s first time at the Norman karting facility and he took advantage of the track allocated for his class. At the end of Wednesday’s official practice, Castaneda topped the time sheets. Entering into qualifying with wet/dry conditions, Troy decided to play it safe, as did the rest of the class, and chose rain tires. Three quarters of the way through the session it was Castaneda who was on provisional pole by .7 tenths of second. With only a few minutes remaining, it looked as if the track was dry enough to change to slicks. With time for only 3 laps, Troy got to work quickly. On the final lap, Castaneda set a fast time of 47.5, but it was already too late. According to a new rule set for the event, as soon as the checkered flag is out all hot laps do not count. So, Troy’s second lap was his “fastest” time which put him in 4th. Pole time was a 48.0.

With 3 heats ahead, TC was in a great position. At the start of heat one, entering the tight hairpin, Troy was caught up in turn 1 incident. A driver on the inside row carried too much speed and ended up spinning right in front of Castaneda. Troy quickly reacted and went around the outside, but ended up driving over all of the rolled up rubber which pulled him to the outside of the track. When he was able to regain traction, he rejoined the field in 15th. With only 10 laps in each heat, TC immediately got to work and sliced his way through the field and at the checkered flag he arrived in 6th place.

Starting in 4th again for heat 2, Troy was determined to make a better start. He made it through turn 1 cleanly and began making his way to the front. Passing one kart per lap Castaneda was in the lead by lap 4. His time in front was short lived as 3 laps later he was passed and dropped back to second; this order remained until the end of the race.

Heat 3 rolled around and Troy made another great start. He wasted no time taking the lead. On the second lap Troy was in clean air and it stayed that way until the checkered flag.

Accumulating his finishing positions, TC was set to start the pre-final on the outside front row. Entering turn 1 close to the inside row it looked like he was going to make it through until another driver on the inside row was hit from behind causing the driver to spin into Troy. Luckily, Castaneda lost only 2 positions. Troy worked his way back to second place setting the fastest lap in the process.

In the main, Troy started once again on the outside front row. Holding his own he exited turn 1 in second. Staying close behind the leader throughout the 27 lap main event Troy kept the pressure on. On the last lap Troy pushed hard and on the second to last corner he made the move and was in the lead. The last corner is flat out and Troy was now on the outside, contact was made causing Troy to slide and lose the lead. TC finished only .1 tenth behind the leader.

Finishing in 2nd Troy has been invited to join Team USA and represent the United States at the Rotax World Finals which will take place December 7th-12th in Sharm El-sheikh, Egypt. The Rotax World Finals are the Olympics of karting in which 216 drivers qualified from 55+ nations. They will meet and decide on the best amongst them.

“I am extremely excited to represent the U.S. and compete at the world finals,” exclaimed Troy. “For only my 2nd National race I am proud of my results as I showed speed throughout the entire event. I am very much looking forward to Egypt!”

“I have to thank all of those who supported me for this trip; April Phillips Design Works, mtrsprt.com, SSC West and most of all a group out of California that started a fund for me. They raised money in order for me to be here. They know who they are and I can’t thank them enough for all of their support; THANK YOU!!”

Posted on October 1, 2009 2:49 PM