Final Lap Shootout in Canadian Open Briggs Junior Final

Teammates Jordan West and Mitchell Morrow duked it out on the final lap of the Briggs Junior Final at the Canadian Open in Mont-Tremblant where Morrow just narrowly fended off West to score the victory and take home the glory.

The race began as a three-kart battle out front, led by the Prime Powerteam duo of West (BirelART) and Morrow (BirelART) along with the young gun Jackson Pearsall (CL Kart) as the three worked together to break away.

However, at the halfway point it was noticeable that something had broken in the exhaust of Pearsall’s Briggs engine and he slowly faded away from the front pair. To make matters worse for Pearsall, he was a sitting duck when the next pack of drivers caught him and with a lack of power, he was quickly down in the eighth position.

Waiting until the final lap to make his move, Morrow used an excellent draft to pass West on the outside of the long back straight to gain the lead before the corner, but West crossed him over on the exit and the pair ran side-by-side around the following three corners. For the chicane, Morrow was on the inside and stuck the lead, but their battle suddenly allowed the chasing pack to close in and West had to be careful with only three corners remaining.

Exiting the final corner with a roar from the crowd, Morrow just barely held the lead to the finish while West fought off a hard-charging Leopold Schrevel (Kart Republic) and Branco Juverdianu (BirelART) at the finish line. The drive by Schrevel was very impressive as he advanced up ten spots in 15 laps to score his first Canadian Open podium appearance.

Nathan Nichols (Kart Republic) and American racer John Wade (Ricciardo Kart) completed the top five in the results as Ryder Hare (Kosmic), another driver to advance up a handful of spots in the Final, initially crossing in fifth, and Juverdianu each received a penalty.

Canadian Open Briggs Junior Final Results