IKWC Results are in!

Maxwell Jansley (Team LariMax) from Brazil is the 2009 Indoor Kart World Champion! It was a tight battle at the top of the points, and Belgian driver Kenny Geldoff (CORTEX BlueStar A) reached the final day of competition leading the championship after a steady run of victories and 2nd places. But luck would not be on his side on the last day, and a podium slipped through his fingers after two 12 point finishes in the Semi and the Final. Things were not easy at the end for eventual Champion Maxwell Jansley. The Brazilian, competing this year for the first time in the IKWC, was able to open a healthy lead on the final race while a train of karts battled for 2nd place, only to see it evaporate on lap 30, when a heavy crash cause the race to be run under a yellow flag and pace car for 5 laps while the track was being fixed. This bunched up the field, and fell right into the hands of the drivers who had chosen to do an early pitstop. On the restart, Jansley was overtaken by Dutchman Ruben Boutens (Team CORTEX BlueStar), who opened up a lead, but still had to make his pitstop. The race was incredibly exciting from this point on, with the crowd of fans on the edge of their seat, cheering with every move. The final was eventually won in superb fashion by American driver Jordan Pembleton (Team USA Victory Lane Indoor Karting Center Charlotte) with a large roar of approval from the crowd, ahead of Pedro Washington (Equipe Top Kart Indoor Karting Center A) from Brazil, and Robin Borremans (Team Belgium Novavie) from Belgium. Forth place went to Gustavo Loureiro (Equipe SRKI), and the result was able to grant him the 2nd Place in the Championship. The bronze trophy for 3rd Place at the 2009 IKWC went to Dutch driver Ruben Boutens, who without winning a single race, was able to finish constently close enough to the top to score enough points to beat Belgian Kenny Geldoff by only 1.5 points. Final GP winner Jordan Pembleton from the USA ended up 5th in the Championship.

The IKWC-50 race which happened in between the Semi and Final for the Top Class, was also a memorable race. The kids raced with the maturity of well seasoned racers, and at speeds that were at times faster than the Top Class. The IKWC-50 Final became a 2-man battle between Brazilian Andre Lima and Belgian Jordan Beuler. The Brazilian took the lead from the start and led most of the race, but constantly chased closely, and extremely cleanly, by Beuler. Close to mid race, Lima decided to make his pit stop allowing Beuler to take the lead. Thats when the Belgian put his head down and began to run very consitant fast laps. Not that Lima was running any slower, but when Beuler made his stop on the second half of the race and returned just ahead of Lima, the crowd went wild. Lima closed in and shadowed Beuler on every turn, through traffic, always clean, but could not find or create a passing opportunity over the Belgian, who was able to hold the pressure off for most of the 2nd half of the race, and crossed the finish line in first place. Some fans could not contain their tears in emotion, in reaction to the show of driving they had just seen. The result granted the IKWC-50 Championship to Andre Lima, with Jordan Beuler finishing in 2nd, and Fernando Netto from Brazil in 3rd.

There was unfortunately some confusion over the Team Championship result. A mistake by the scoring department resulted in the announcement at the track of Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium as the Champion, with Team Novavie Belgium in 2nd, and Equipe Top Kart Indoor Center in 3rd. However after a review, a scoring mistake was found 2 days later, which reshuffled the top 3 teams' results. The correct order would show Equipe Top Kart as the rightfull Champion, Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium in 2nd, and Team Novavie Belgium in 3rd. An immediate protest followed from Team CORTEX BlueStar, as they had already been announced as Champions. The protest was understandable, but a request to be listed a co-Champions was rejected, as the official result must be objectively based on the points accumulated during the races, and after the review it became clear that Team CORTEX did not have enough points to be Champions. Although race and championship results and awards are announced on the last day of the event, they always unofficial until further checks can be made. A points scoring mistake on the top 3 results is rare, as it is customary for the IKWC to have at least 2 or 3 separate people individually keeping score simultaneously so that discrepancies can instantly be spotted. However, Brazilian organizers opted to go with just one very experienced scorer, but the IKWC scoring proved to be more overwhelming than anticipated even for this expert. A sincere apology goes to all 3 teams, with the assurance that multi scorers will be used in all future IKWCs to minimize the possibility of this type of problem happening again.

The Masters class was easily won by Brazilian driver Luis Sanchez (Equipe Top Kart Indoor Karting Center B), followed in a distant 2nd by Antonio Peru (Equipe APIKA), also from Brazil. The story for 3rd was different, with Brazilian drivers Valdir Rodrigues (Equipe Thunder Kart), Jose Sanches (Equipe Calangos do Cerrado), and Gustavo LaBlanca (Equipe Double T), who all finished in a 3-way tie for points. However, Valdir Rodrigues took home the trophy on the best-result tie breaker criteria, having obtained two 5th place finishes over just one from Sanches, and a 6th for Rodrigues. Sanchez finished a strong 6th place overall in the IKWC-Top class. Peru was 29th, and Rodrigues was 37th, out of 112 participants.

The Women's Championship ended in a points tie between Belgian driver Justine Vanwynsberghe and Brazilian Monica Costa. The scoring department had to dig deep into the results to break this one, as both their best, 2nd best, and 3rd best results were also equal. The tie-breaker became their 4th best race result, with Vanwynsberghe taking the title and becoming the 1st person to win two individual driver Championships in IKWC competition. The Belgian won the Women's Championship in 2006, and now again in 2009. The 2nd place went to Brazilian driver Monica Costa, who in protest of an earlier race result, refused to receive her trophy on the podium. The 3rd and final spot went to a very emotional Andrea Rubin, who could not contain her tears as she received her trophy and celebrated with Vanwinsberghe on the podium.

For full results, click here.

IKWC_2009_Final_Results_New.xls

IKWC Final GP Race Podium Finish (18 drivers):

1 - Jordan Beuler BEL
2 - Andre Lima BRA
3 - Fernado Neto BRA

IKWC-Top Final GP Race Podium Finish (25 drivers):

1 - Jordan Pembleton USA
2 - Pedro Washington BRA
3 - Robin Borremans BEL

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2009 IKWC-50 Championship Top 3 Result:

1 - Andre Lima BRA 112.5
2 - Jordan Beuler BEL 109
3 - Fernando Netto BRA 102

2009 IKWC-Top Championship Top 3 Result:

1 - Maxwell Jansley BRA 158.5
2 - Gustvo Loureiro BRA 155.5
3 - Ruben Boutens NED 147

2009 IKWC Team Championship Top 3 Result:

1 - Equipe Top Kart Indoor BRA
2 - CORTEX BlueStar BEL
3 - Team Belgium Novavie BEL

2009 IKWC Masters Championship Top 3 Result:

1 - Luis Sanchez BRA
2 - Antonio Peru BRA
3 - Valdir Rodrigues BRA

2009 IKWC Womans Championship Top 3 Result:

1 - Justine Vanwynsberghe BEL
2 - Monica Costa BRA
3 - Andrea Rubin BRA