Howden Scores Top Tens in Moroso

JUPITER, FL – Motojournalist Rob Howden completed his Florida Winter Tour off-season racing package in mid-February with an outing at Moroso Raceway. Competing under the Firstkart.com tent running a RotaxMax package as part of a magazine project for Super Kart Illustrated, Howden posted a pair of top tens in the TaG Heavy class. On Saturday, Howden finished sixth after starting 18th and in Sunday’s main event, he drove from 14th to eighth, staying out of trouble while dicing all race long with two fellow competitors.

“I had a great time at Moroso and taking a pair of top tens home was fairly satisfying,” commented Howden. “I made the mistake of not practicing on Friday and that hurt us a great deal. Moroso is a very challenging race track and it took me to the very end of the weekend to get to where I would have been at the end of Friday’s sessions.”

Unable to make it to Moroso for both the Thursday open test and Friday’s official practice day, Howden began the weekend well behind his competition. His first on-track session would be Saturday morning’s warm-up and he began a few seconds back of the class pacesetters. The Moroso facility is extremely challenging with its series of 180? hairpins and complex Esses section. The track is difficult to learn and finding the right racing line, corner approach and chassis set-up is crucial. Howden’s lack of pre-event track time certainly affected his end results.

Howden qualified a disappointing 16th in Saturday’s open session but drove smart in the Prefinal and improved into the top ten, dropping over a second off his fastest lap, closing the gap on the leaders. In the main event, he stayed out of trouble at the start and picked up a few positions to bag a solid sixth place finish.

Using the knowledge gained through Saturday’s sessions, a few chassis and engine adjustments for Sunday brought with it a quicker pace but it was still not enough for Howden to challenge for the lead. After qualifying near the tail of the grid, again well off the pace, Rob raced to 11th in the Prefinal to set up a run to eighth in the main event. In the Final, Howden advanced a few positions through overtaking and was gift a few more via attrition, be he also enjoyed a spirited battle with two fellow competitors that lasted right to the checkered flag.

This outing was Howden’s final race of the Winter Tour, as a race coverage trip to the IKF Region 7 Southwestern Super Series had been scheduled for the same weekend as the final round. Plans are already underway to get back in the seat next winter for the popular Florida series.