TWO-TIME
NORTH AMERICAN JICA-VICE CHAMPION SCORES TOP-FIVE
FINISH AT ASIA-PACIFIC KF3 CHAMPIONSHIP
CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific
KF3 Championship Report
Coto de Caza, CA
- December 18, 2008 - Shortly after enjoying the podium
celebration at the National Guard Superkarts! USA
SuperNationals XII in Las Vegas, Gustavo Menezes and
his family jumped on a plane set to cross the Pacific
Ocean en route to the CIK-FIA Asia Pacific KF3 Championships.
The final event on the busy 2008 schedule for the
Californian would be among his best performances of
the year, running to fifth position while in contention
for the victory.
Following two days
of practice with the Tony Kart Junior Racing Team
for the first time on the year, Menezes was among
the top-10 on the time charts and thoroughly enjoying
the Tony Kart/Vortex package that he was piloting.
After morning warm-up on Saturday, the team made a
few adjustments to his ride prior to qualifying and
ended up sitting eighth in the order. The heat races
did not go as well as hoped, finishing 12th in both
sprints to start the Sunday Prefinal from the outside
of row six.
Sunday’s morning
warm-up brought promising results as Menezes was fourth
overall. A great start to the 13-lap Prefinal put
him into fifth after the opening lap. A couple of
quick moves around a few drivers saw Menezes running
second by lap three. He would hold the position for
the remainder of the race to start the main event
from outside the front row. The 21-lap feature saw
Menezes control the second place position for the
majority of the race until a slight error pushed him
back to fifth on lap 14. Never giving-in, Gustavo
fought back up to fourth but eventually would see
the checkered in the fifth position, his best international
finish of the year.
Menezes will take
the month of December off to spend time with his family
and friends before the karting schedule kicks back
into gear in January with a trip to the U.S. East
Coast for the opening rounds of the Florida Winter
Tour in Homestead. He’ll then back to Europe to prepare
for the 2009 international schedule with Tony Kart
Junior Racing Team.
Gustavo is able to
compete at this level thanks to his many sponsors,
including Tony Kart USA, Red Bull, UP Racing, Pyramid
Parking Inc., Tony Kart Junior Racing, On Track Promotions
and Oakley. Additional information on Gustavo Menezes
can be obtained from his personal website, http://www.gustavomenezes.com
About Gustavo
Menezes:
Now just 14 years-of-age, Coto de Caza, CA’s Gustavo
Menezes is considered one of the most promising young
karters in America. Running an international schedule
that includes the Snap-on Stars of Karting national
championship in the United States and various major
events in Europe, Gustavo runs for Italian karting
manufacturer Tony Kart in the Junior Intercontinental
A (JICA) and KF3 karting categories. In 2007 and 2008,
he was the vice-champion in the JICA class on the
Stars of Karting tour, scoring race wins and multiple
podiums. Gustavo’s ultimate goal is to represent the
United States in Formula 1.
A top-five finish at the Asia Pacific KF3 Championships
completes the 2008 season for Gustavo Menezes
