Douglas, 14, and Sharp, 12, were two of eight New Zealand karters who joined over 400 of their contemporaries from 35 countries at the 17th annual ROK Cup Superfinal event at the Lonato track in the north-east of the country.
The Superfinal is organised each year by Italian engine manufacturer Vortex. New Zealand has been represented at the event for the past six years but Douglas’ win in the Junior ROK class B final – the Bridgestone
Trophy race – is a first.
This year it was a case of third time lucky for Douglas who competed in the Mini Rok class in the previous two years, in spite of the young Lincoln ace just missing out on a place in the A final – the cut-off was 34 and after the heat races Douglas was ranked 37.
He soon worked his way to the front in the Bridgestone Trophy final race before racing away to a sizable advantage which saw him cross the finish line more than 2sec in front of Australian Luke Pink and more than 4sec ahead of third placed Layton Fourie from South Africa.
Meanwhile, Sharp was to continue a strong campaign in Italy after a breakthrough win of his own in the Mini ROK class B final at the Autumn Trophy meeting at the same venue a week earlier.
Like Douglas, a couple of bad heats disguised Sharp’s true speed. He was fourth out of a 130-strong field after qualifying and finished second in his final two heat races.
He showed what he could do in the Singha Trophy – Mini ROK class B final – by working his way past 11 other competitors to grab third place.
“I’m happy to know I can compete with best in the world and can’t wait to do it all again,” said Sharp.
