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CRFKC Briggs 206 Report: Signoretti Best of 43 Karts in Senior; Patrick Back and On Top in Masters
Nearly 200 racers made their way to Goodwood Kartways on Sunday for the first big event of the Ontario karting season; the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge. What was once a joint club racing series has now become a regional power program, with drivers traveling from as far as Nova Scotia as well as all corners of Ontario to take part. In total, there were 192 entries taking part on Mothers Day and the beautiful weather provided the perfect atmosphere for a big race day.
As per our expectations, a very strong contingent of Briggs & Stratton 206 racers were entered in the race. A whopping 43 drivers made Briggs Senior the largest field of the day and organizers kept them all on track in one group. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a dozen Briggs Cadet’s hit the track, as the youngest category available to racers continues to evolve and grow.
Here is our CRFKC Goodwood Briggs & Stratton 206 report.
–> Check out our CRFKC Goodwood Photo Gallery | Official Results
Briggs Senior: Signoretti Adds Another Win to His Credit
Marco Signoretti added another Briggs Senior victory to his CRFKC resume after a last lap pass for the victory.
Jon Treadwell (Intrepid) led the field of 43 to green and after an eventful and clean first lap, Treadwell emerged with a large lead coming up the hill to complete lap one, as drivers behind him wrestled into turn nine for the second position.
A drafting tandem will always be faster than one kart in Briggs racing, but Treadwell did everything he could to prove that wrong, maintaining a decent gap for most of the race.
But with two laps to go, Marco Signoretti (Energy Kart) and Alex Murphy (BirelART) came knocking on the leaders bumper. Waiting patiently for an opportunity, Signoretti found one in turn seven and he made it stick. Murphy tried to follow him through but Treadwell closed the door to retain second and in the process Murphy blew a chain, coming to a stop just past turn 8.
Scoring his fourth CRFKC Briggs Senior Win, Signoretti took the early lead in the championship while Treadwell settled for second. Pearce Herder (Awesome Kart) erupted from the chaos to take third while Jordan Prior (BirelART) was fourth in his Senior Briggs debut. Gavin Sanders (Kosmic) took fifth.
Briggs Masters: 2014 Canadian Champ David Patrick Returns and Takes the Checkered
We haven’t seen much of 2014 Briggs Masters Canadian Champion David Patrick since his big victory, but when he arrived at Goodwood this past weekend he vowed to change that, telling us he plans to race all five rounds of the CRFKC in 2018.
Well, Patrick (Kosmic Kart) got off to a great start in his return, taking the victory in a very exciting Briggs Masters Final.
The front row for the Final was made up of two Daves, Dave Anderson (Awesome Kart) on the pole and Dave Patrick alongside. The two had a perfect start and maintained their positions while a train of karts formed behind.
Five laps in, Patrick made a move for the lead but on the same lap, the red flag was displayed for a crash in turn four. So Anderson regained the lead for the restart and away they went again. Marc Stehle (Ricciardo Kart) and Darren Kearnon (TonyKart) were right with the leaders and looking for any opportunity.
That opportunity came with two laps to go as Patrick slipped under Anderson in turn one and Stehle and Kearnon followed through.
The final lap was tense until turn five when Kearnon climbed up the back of Stehle, bringing them both to a stop. This gave Patrick an advantage he would take to the finish with Anderson recovering to take second and Eli Yanko (TonyKart) winning the battle for third.
Briggs Junior: Big Win for Cowden After Bonham Loses Victory with Lane Violation
There was racing all over the Goodwood circuit in the Briggs Junior Final as the field of 33 quickly spread out around the entire track and everywhere one looked, there was action.
Off-polesitter Logan Ploder (Intrepid) jumped to the lead early but fell back a number of spots on the second lap as he found some trouble after being passed by Jake Cowden (Awesome Kart). Aidan Bonham (Ricciardo Kart) was now hot on the heels of the leader and also in the mix were Alec Drummond (Intrepid), Matt Calzato (FA Kart), Anthony Boscia (Ricciardo Kart) and Zain Ikram (Kosmic Kart).
Bonham went to the lead early, making his move on lap seven and in the closing laps, the leaders would come into some lapped traffic. Bonham was able to successfully navigate through while Cowden would be held up slightly. Making best of the scrambling leaders, Ploder recovered to finish third at the finish line, just ahead of Calzato, and Ikram, as all three found their way around Drummond on the final lap.
However, the win for Bonham didn’t last long as officials called him for being out of his starting lane and accessed him a three-second penalty. Ploder and Calzato also received a penalties for passing under yellow, so with the dust settled, Cowden was the race winner, Bonham was second and Ploder was third.
Briggs Cadet: Wild Finish See’s Ingratta Spin and Win
Twelve Briggs Cadets lined up on their starting grid with Ayden Ingratta (Ricciardo Kart) and Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid) on the front row.
Both drivers showed vast improvement from a season ago and were the class of the field on Sunday. Ingratta would pull out to an early lead and looked to have the race in the bag until he came up on lap traffic. Choosing the wrong side of one kart, Ingratta would come in contact and spin wide entering turn four and by the time he recovered back on track, Di Leo had taken the lead.
Driving as fierce as we’ve ever seen him, Ingratta posted his fastest laps of the race to chase down Di Leo with it all coming down to the Final Lap. He tried a pass into turn five, but Di Leo was able to counter the move. He looked inside turn nine but didn’t pull the trigger. Finally, Ingratta drove up the inside of Di Leo coming over the hill to the final straight, forcing Di Leo to run wide onto the curb. As the curb ran out, Di Leo returned to the track and clipped the rear corner of Ingratta’s kart, sending them both spinning across the finish line.
Crossing the line in the wrong direction, Ingratta was just barely ahead and he took home the win, Di Leo was second and Hunter Twyman (TonyKart) joined the two on the podium. Fourth place went to Scotty Watkins (Top Kart) while Ryan Maxwell (Energy Kart) completed the top-five.
Watch the sequence of images from the finish below.
Briggs Junior Lite: Navratil Keeps his Early Season Momentum Going
A three-way battle broke out in the Briggs Junior Lite Final between Nicholas Gilkes (BirelART), Steven Navratil (Awesome Kart) and 2017 Briggs Cadet Canadian Champion Callum Baxter (Ricciardo Kart). Early on, Lily Flintoff (TonyKart) was in the mix as well.
It was a wild affair that saw the leaders mixing it up the entire race. Gilkes led early until Baxter held the point for a couple laps. Gilkes returned to the lead on lap seven with a nice push from Navratil. Then finally it was Navratil’s turn at the point, where he took the lead on lap ten and held on to take home the victory. The young driver has started off the season with a number of victories at the club level and now with a big win at the CRFKC.
The second round of the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge will travel west to Hamilton, Ontario as the Canadian Mini Indy Speedway will host their first-ever CRFKC race on June 3.
