Phil Giebler Racing's Holleran 2nd, Daughters 7th in final races of Florida Winter Tour

OCALA, March 23, 2011: Phil Giebler Racing’s Tate Holleran finished second in TaG Cadet and teammate Mason Daughters was seventh in Formula Leopard Junior in the sixth and concluding main events of the Florida Winter Tour Formula Kart championship Sunday at Ocala Gran Prix’s .52-mile track.

Holleran, of Denver, Colo., finished fourth in the championship, which brought together top karters from around the world. Daughters, of Polo, Mo., was seventh in the championship.

“Tate had a good finish to the weekend,” team owner Phil Giebler said. “We kept chipping away and never gave up. He showed good progress al weekend. We led most of the final race and Tate was right there at the finish.”

Holleran was .872-second behind winner Juan Manual Correa at the checkered flag in the 16-lap final Sunday. He had qualified in second position and was fifth in the 12-lap pre-final.

In Saturday’s next-to-last event, Holleran qualified in eighth position, finished ninth in the pre-final and fifth in the final.

Daughters qualified in fifth position and was eighth in the pre-final Sunday. He qualified in eighth position, was fourth in the pre-final and eighth in the final.

“Mason was learning a new track and racing against some of the stiffest junior competition in the country,” Giebler said. “He had a tough weekend, but gained valuable racing experience in the Florida Winter Tour. He was running well in Saturday’s final, but ran wide in the technical section and lost a lot of grip going off line and getting into the marbles.

“Mason was running third for a few laps in the pre-final and was pushed off the track by an aggressive move. In the final, he moved up to sixth and held onto it to the end, but was penalized one position to finish seventh officially.”

Daughters will compete this Saturday and Sunday in the Florida Winter Tour’s Rotax Junior class at Ocala.

“There will be close to 60 competitors in his class,” Giebler said. “We have kept Mason busy this winter and against some of the strongest competition we can find. I call it his karting boot camp.”

Phil Giebler Racing, based in Orange, Calif., uses FA Karts powered by Daniel Patino’s D-Power Engines, of Huntington Beach, Calif. Holleran had a Vortex engine and Daughters had IAME Leopard power and both were on MG Tires.