Cup Karts Canada Finale Full of Surprises at Goodwood
The third and final stop of the 2023 Cup Karts Canada Division rolled into Goodwood Kartways over the weekend with two days of racing to complete and championships to settle.
With invitations to the Cup Karts Grand Nationals in New Castle, Indiana on the line for each of the eight Canada Division champions there was plenty to fight for at one of Canada’s oldest karting circuits. Over 100 entries filled in the paddock for this Briggs-only event with the focus again on the Senior Lite division which featured 32 entrants this weekend, a slight drop off from the opening two rounds.
They started the weekend off Friday with the Cup Karts prize raffle where thousands of dollars in donated items were handed out to registered racers. From cheese balls to power tools and so much in between, this raffle has become one of the most popular parts of the Cup Karts race weekends.
Senior Lite – Treadwell secures the Senior Lite title as an American stuns the competition
With the field down to 32 competitors, Senior Lite was back to running as just one group this weekend with a number of local competitors joining the action for the weekend.
Junior – Third win of the year drives Black to the Championship
The Goodwood regulars were in full control of the Briggs Junior division at their home track over the weekend.
On Saturday it was Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid) getting his first Cup Karts win of the year after being up front all season long. Max Franceschelli (Ricciardo Kart) kept him honest through most of the race, but a slight mistake with a couple of laps to go allowed Di Leo to open up a small gap and he didn’t drop a wheel wrong on his home track before taking the checkered flag. Declan Black (Intrepid) was able to take advantage of the mistake by Franceschelli to move into second while Elijah Joshi (Intrepid) also got by Franceschelli on the final lap but lost the position after the race for failing to provide racing room. American John Wade (Ricciardo Kart) completed the top five.
On Sunday the early battle up front was between Di Leo, Franceschelli, Black, and Ryder Brown (Ricciardo Kart). Black eventually moved himself to the top just past halfway and he would stay there all the way to finish, fending off Brown and Joshi on the final lap. Separated by online 0.001 seconds, Joshi just barely beat Brown to the finish line to take second place while Di Leo and Franceschelli completed the top five.
With three wins to his credit, Black locked up the championship over Di Leo with Wade third overall.
Cadet – Tyers Sweeps the Weekend
There was a nice boost in entries to the Briggs Cadet class this weekend with 19 taking to the track. Managing the weekend perfectly was Ethan Tyers (Intrepid) who made his first Cup Karts start of the season at Goodwood. He navigated the lead pack and the lap traffic like a veteran and was rewarded with two race wins this weekend.
On Saturday he had to contend with Hudson Jack Urlin (Nitro Kart) and Asher Pavan (Parolin) in the first half of the race until Pavan received the mechanical flag and had to retire early. Urlin eventually had to battle with Jayden Francisco (Nitro Kart) for the second spot as Tyers pulled away when the leaders caught up to lap traffic. Francisco won the battle the finish line for second with Urlin third, Aiden Kishun (Exprit) in fourth and George Ho (Nitro Kart) completing the top five.
Sunday’s race saw Pavan lead the first nine laps of the race until for the second day in a row he had a mechanical issue that forced him to end early, this time it was his rear bumper coming dislodged. This left Tyers and Kishun to battle it out for the lead with Tyers once again navigating the traffic well and opening up a lead late in the race. Throwing both arms up at the finish line, Tyers scored a weekend sweep while Kishun score a hard-earned runner-up finish. Francisco recovered from ninth on the starting grid to the podium in third place while Anthony Di Donato (RedSpeed) and Liam Francisco (Nitro Kart) rounded out the top five.
With his podium finish on Saturday, Urlin was able to lock up the championship and opted to sit out Sunday’s race and use it as his drop.
Junior Lite – Chan and Zhao take the victories
The Junior Lite division received a boost from the host track as eight drivers lined up this weekend on the grid and they race separately from the Juniors for the first time this season.
Saturday’s race a controlled mainly by Ethan Chan (Intrepid). He was challenged for the lead by the fast qualifier David Zhao (Intrepid) at the halfway point, but Zhao spun off the track on the following lap and his chances were over. Sadly for the second, third and fourth place finishers, Noah Landry (Intrepid), Quinn Tyers (Intrepid) and Jacob Parker (TnT Kart), they were all knocked back two positions each in the final ranking for tram line violations on the start, which boosted Zhao back onto the podium and Oliver Rayoff-Pearce (Intrepid) up to third place.
On Sunday it was Tyers leading the way early with Landry and Chan in tow after Zhao found some trouble on the opening lap and fell all the way back to seventh. Bad luck struck Landry just before halfway when his exhaust pipe broke off, resulting in a mechanical flag and ending his race early. Chan and Tyers swapped the lead on laps eleven, twelve and thirteen and that helped bring Zhao back into the race, overtaking both of them on lap fourteen and then holding on to score the win, just beating Tyers to the finish line with Chan a distant third.
As the only driver to race all three rounds, Chan was crowned the champion.
Senior Medium, Heavy, Masters and Legends
A number of drivers chose to pull double duty in the Senior divisions this weekend and for a few, that meant double the success.
Christopher Mckeithan swept the weekend in Senior Medium to go along with his win in Senior Lite. In fact, Mckeithan scored four pole positions in Qualifying this weekend, an impressive feat. A final lap tussle shook up the finishing order in Saturday’s Feature as Jon Treadwell, Alex Murphy and Christian Savaglio all came together in corner six. This opened the door for Zach Boam (BirelART) and Jason Rothman (Awesome Kart) to slide through and score some trophies. On Sunday, Murphy and Savaglio were back on the podium and for Murphy, his runner-up finish locked up the championship race.
Much like at Lombardy, Saturday was Steven MacVoy’s (Ricciardo Kart) day at Goodwood. He swept both the features in Senior Heavy and Masters. Joining him on the podium in Senior Heavy were Neil Bramley (CL Kart) and Mathieu Martin (Formula K) while Kevin May (Ricciardo Kart) and Gregory Scollard (TonyKart) took the podium positions in Masters.
After sealing the championship on Saturday, Rothman went out with a bang Sunday in Senior Heavy, scoring his third victory of the season over Martin and Scollard.
Scollard got his reward in Masters, pulling away to a 2-second margin of victory, and doing a sweep heel-clicker across the finish line, ahead of Bramley and May.
It was a tough weekend for Mathieu Demers (Kart Republic) as he missed out on the podium on both days but managed to hang on to his championship lead and defend the title.
Finally, Briggs Legends saw Eli Yanko (RedSpeed) take the win on Saturday and Jamie MacArthur (Ricciardo Kart) break through on Sunday for the top spot. However, with Steve Lyons (BirelART) taking home two podium finishers, he maintained his lead in the championship race and locked up the title.
