ANTHONY GANGI JR. TOPS THE BLOCKS AT THE ROTAX SUMMER SHOOTOUT
Descending on the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah for the annual Rotax Summer Shootout, GT7 Motorsports driver Anthony Gangi Jr. looked to stand on the top of the podium. In the hopes of carrying momentum and experience into the Cold Stone US Grand Nationals this coming week, Gangi Jr. would never run outside the top-five all weekend long and secured two podium results including a victory in Saturday’s Rotax Junior main event.
With temperatures in the upper 80s and wind changing direction each and every day, Gangi Jr. would work with driver coach and tuner Thomas Silva as he progressed through Thursday and Friday’s unofficial test sessions as one of the fastest drivers on the circuit. Keeping the ball rolling into Saturday, Gangi Jr. would have a modest qualifying effort that saw him claim the fifth position, but the rising talent made up for it in the prefinal and main event with some bold on track moves and fierce battles.
Advancing forward throughout the ten-lap prefinal, the Brookville, New York resident and Tony Kart driver drove to the front of the field. Moving to the point and holding the position on the final circuit, Gangi Jr. would take the win by .667 and claim the pole position for the day’s main event.
The final would be much of the same for Gangi Jr., as an epic battle with a fellow competitor ensued with passing happening lap after lap. After the dust had settled, Gangi Jr. would remain on top and score the victory and add his name to the list of Rotax Summer Shootout winners.
“I am really confident in Jr.’s chances of becoming a three time Rotax National champion,” explained Anthony Gangi Sr. “Using the Rotax Summer Shootout as prep and test for the Cold Stone US Nationals has the whole team in good shape for the big event to come!”
Sunday would start a little better for the 2010 Rotax Micro Max Champion and 2012 Rotax Mini Max Champion as he placed his GT7/Tony Kart on the outside of the front row after a strong qualifying effort. Hoping to duplicate his performance from the day before, Gangi Jr. began his attack on the Rotax Junior field with the day’s prefinal.
Falling back slightly in the short heat race, Gangi Jr. salvaged a third place result. Running in first during the prefinal, contact from behind would deny the young talent the win. Pushing hard on track and working with his team, tuner and coach off the circuit, the multi-time champion would enter the main event confident and ready to top the blocks. With the final shortened slightly due to time constraints, Gangi Jr. looked to move forward early. Slotting himself into the second position, Gangi Jr. ended his Rotax Summer Shootout weekend with a solid second place result.
Gangi Jr. will now turn his focus to next week’s 2014 Cold Stone US Grand Nationals at the same Miler Motorsports Park, where he will look to become a three-time Rotax National Champion. Using momentum gained from the Summer Shootout, Gangi Jr. is certain to be at the top of the time sheets and put it all on the line while back in Utah for the premier Rotax event.
Anthony Gangi Jr. would like to thank Team GT7, tuner/driving coach Thomas Silva, Disco Dan for the always great power as well as sponsors GT7 Motorsports, Millwork Solutions, Hole Shot Drive Systems, PKT, and Hot Head Engine Preheaters.
The GT7 Motorsports Team is a proud Tony Kart and Vortex engine dealer for the US North East. For more information on Anthony Gangi Jr. please check out his website at www.gangijr.com. For more information GT7 Motorsports please visit their website www.GT7motorsports.com or contact Anthony Gangi Sr. at 516-635-8594 or email at agangi@mac.com.
