Xander Clements August 4, 2014

 

      In its first ever season away from the Kart Racing Pro forums, the Sim Karting World Championship and its drivers were determined to put on the most prestigious online karting championship to date, and arguably, they did. In the season's short 4 race season, there were no repeat winners, and the championship battle came down to the final race of the season, with Corrie Hiatt (Birel) edging out Phillippe Denes (Zanardi) by a margin of 3 points. 

 

       Hiatt started the season off strong with a dominating win in Dallas, although his championship run was far from easy. At San Jose, he struggled to hold on to a third place finishing spot, and then went on to get completely shut out of the podium at Mariembourg in Round 3. Mariembourg was Denes's best shot at a win, but contact made early on with his Zanardi USA teammate, Alex Frazer, took away his chances of standing on top of the leaderboard. Phillippe was able to narrow the margin down heading into Sonoma, however, and pressured Corrie throughout the weekend until the final, where Hiatt was able to gap Denes and salvage a third place finishing position on minimal practice time. 

 

       Nothing can be taken away from third place finisher, Michael Avansino (Zanardi), though. Avansino methodically improved throughout the season, competing in all four events and capping off his first season in the league with a win at his hometrack, SimRaceway Karting Center. Michael competes part-time in the local events at the track, and credited most of his speed there in the SKWC event to his practice in real life. In this race he had two tenths up on close competitor Xander Clements (FA Kart), and with a bit of early shuffling sending Clements deep in the field, Michael was able to pull away for the victory.

 

       Overall, this season provided some great racing action starting at the first race in Dallas leading all the way to the season finale in Sonoma, California. With some of the best up-and-coming international talents competing weekly in the series, the competition is sure to be strong within the league. Stay tuned to the website for more updates about future seasons, which should come soon as we head into the real-life karting off-season in the winter.