For the second straight year, the Canadian National Karting title in the Briggs & Stratton Cadet category is heading back to Nova Scotia as Callum Baxter capped off his incredible summer at Mosport with a hard earned victory on Canada’s National stage.
Baxter has traveled to Ontario on a few occasions this year building up to his bid for the Canadian title and while the previous races were a challenge, Sunday’s race was a battle.
Starting on the front row alongside Lily Flintoff, Baxter was beaten to turn one by Flintoff and actually fell to third for a short moment to Owen Mahar on the opening lap.
But Baxter quickly moved into second and pushed Flintoff to build up a gap away from Mahar and Ethan Donkers. Taking the lead on lap five, Baxter was now the one being pushed as Flintoff looked to keep the distance from their rivals. A couple laps later Donkers gave up on pushing Mahar and gained third place with hopes to catch the leaders on his own.
With three laps to go and Flintoff gained the lead with a pass in the hairpin, but Baxter pulled off the same pass a lap later to regain the lead as Mahar received the meatball flag for a broken rear bumper, ending his chances at the National podium.
As the last lap board was shown, the racing by the leaders allowed Donkers to make it a three kart race with Baxter out front. Displaying a perfect defensive line on the final lap, Flintoff was unable to find a place to pass as Baxter scored the race win. Donkers had a look to the inside of Flintoff into the final chicane but to no avail, as he had to settle for third.
“Winning the Canadian Karting Championship feels amazing. I practiced all year for this moment and I’m so happy I achieved my goal. Thank you so much to my team and to everyone who supported me along the way.”
– Callum Baxter
For Baxter, this was his third major win of the season at Mosport as he previously secured victories in the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge and CRFKC SummerFest along with a CRFKC Junior Driver of the Day award.