Hamilton, Ontario – August 5, 2008 - The Cameron Motorsports National Team was back in action a week ago as the Ontario Regional Karting Championship contested its fourth of five rounds at Mosport International Karting. Enduring a miserable weekend weather-wise, the team impressively produced five podium runs including three outright wins and its eighth different winner this season. Michael DiMeo was the latest team victor as his Saturday win in Rotax DD2 added to an impressive Cameron/CRG win total in 2008. Heading into the weekend wins had been scored by Michael Vincec, Scott Saunders, Addison Rayner, Enrico Menotti, Dylan Oribine, Jeffrey May and Ethan Livingston. And showing the well-rounded ability of the Hamilton-based group, the wins have come in a variety of classes: Stars of Karting ICC and TaG; and Ontario wins in ProShifter, Rotax DD2, Rotax Senior, Rotax Junior, and F1-K Junior. Saturday’s win by DiMeo at Mosport was especially satisfying as the weather was unpredictable and it brought the best from both driver and tuner. “Trevor Wickens tuned for me throughout Friday and Saturday and he deserves much of the credit because the kart was hooked up in every session,” DiMeo said after the event. “All I had to do was drive my heart out. We were going back and forth from rain setup to dry and Trevor changed the gear about six times, and that isn’t an easy thing to do under the tremendous pressure a race day brings. I surely couldn’t have done it without him.” Standing on top of the blocks at round four also confirmed the season has turned around for the Richmond Hill native. After beginning the championship with a retirement and a fifth, DiMeo returned to the podium in second at round three before winning Saturday afternoon. He now sits second in the championship and while the title may be out of reach, it creates great momentum heading to the 2008 Canadian National Championships in Grand Mere, Quebec. “It just felt awesome taking the top step on the podium,” the second-year senior said. “The final went great. I had strong start and I was pushing really hard to put down fast laps. Every lap I went a bit deeper and accelerated a bit earlier and before I knew it I managed to make a gap, which took a ton of pressure off my shoulders. I knew then all I had to do was focus, not make mistakes and I never looked back. I pulled it off and it feels great!” Returning to the top of the podium at Mosport with his second win of the season was Junior driver Ethan Livingston. The 14-year-old began the day with his second pole position, ran to plan in a wet prefinal and then stretched his F1-K Championship lead when he won late in the day. “At the beginning of the day our plan was to just take it easy if it rained and keep the kart on the track,” the third-year karter said. “We knew that we were strong in the dry and could hopefully make it to the front in the final. It was just a matter of getting through the traffic.” It happened, but it was a hectic run to be sure. “In the final it took quite a while to get into the clean air because everybody in front of us was blocking and the longer it took me to get by them the farther ahead the leaders got,” Livingston said this week. “When I got to third, the two leaders had a straightaway lead and I didn’t think I was going to catch them or pass them. Then the last three laps were crazy!” Crazy indeed, as the lead changed hands three times on the final lap before Livingston secured his second win in the final set of corners. Running his first full Regional campaign in 2008, Livingston also made his first Rotax Junior start at Mosport and was pleased with his early results. “I was happy qualifying 12th out of 22 because of the little practice we had,” he said of his debut in Canada’s toughest junior class. “Moving up to tenth in the prefinal was nice as well because we showed we could run with the front guys.” Sadly the day was cut short in the main event when an electrical issue on the warm-up lap led to retirement. Full Cameron/CRG Results from ORKC Event Four: ProShifter:
Rotax
DD2: Rotax
Senior: Rotax
Junior: Rotax
Mini-Max: F1-K
Junior: 60cc
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