Over two weekends of great competition at the Canadian Mini Indy, David Barnes (BirelART) went unbeaten in the Finals of Briggs Senior. Barnes managed to hit his marks at the perfect times and erupted with a pair of MotoMaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship victories, along with the Saturday Pfaff High Performer award.
On Saturday, Barnes led the race early with a push from his Prime Powerteam teammate Jordan Prior (BirelART). The duo got away early, but the chasing pair of Jon Treadwell (BirelART), Adam Ali (Kosmic) closed in by lap 10 of the 25 lap feature race and the race for the lead opened up.
Prior felt the pressure mounting and went to the lead on lap twelve with Treadwell following through. Then it was Treadwell’s turn at the top on lap fifteen and that shuffled Prior back to fourth. Four laps later, Barnes returned to the top and contact between the remaining three allowed Barnes to break free with a decent gap.
Treadwell and Prior tried to work together to close back in but ran out of laps and Barnes secured the victory. Prior managed to sneak by on the final lap to take second, while Ali also got by and completed the podium ahead of Treadwell and Pearce Herder (Awesome Kart).
Back on track for MRFKC round four on Sunday, those on hand may have witnessed one of the most exciting four-cycle races in decades. On paper, there were only seven lead changes, but there were many, many more. The lead pack was anywhere from seven to eleven karts long and just when we thought the race may have been settled, the unexpected occurred in the final three corners with chaos allowing Barnes to advance four spots to erupt with the victory and the weekend sweep.
Gianluca Savaglio (Kosmic) led the field to green, but Jake Cowden (Awesome Kart) lept out the lead with a great drive into the first corner. Behind, Herder, Treadwell, Nicholas Hornbostel (Kosmic), Prior and Barnes shuffled the top-five every lap.
Hornbostel was the first to overtake Cowden on lap twelve. The opened the floodgates as on back to back laps, the leader was demoted to fifth place. Prior eventually found his way to the lead on lap fifteen and he led for two laps until Treadwell regained the lead in corner four. Hornbostel tried to follow him through but ended up on top of Prior and the two came to a halt.
The accident allowed Treadwell to build up a big lead. The chasing pack then worked together to close back in on the leader. Cowden led Ali, Herder and Barnes and the chase was on.
Lap after lap the gap closed up a little bit and as the last lap board was displayed the pack had caught the race leader. Treadwell managed to keep everyone at bay through the first sector. Slowing them up as much as he could, he was still in the lead through the second sector. Entering the final braking corner of the track, corner seven, Treadwell dove to the inside and defended as best he could. The pack all barreled in on him and there was no shortage of contact and karts ending up in the grass. The crowd roared, and roared again as every driver in that top-ten put it all on the line.
Making it to the final corner first was Barnes followed closely by Ali, a disappointed Treadwell, Alex Murphy (BirelART) and Avery Miller (CL Kart). Cowden, Prior, Herder, Brennan Taylor (Awesome Kart) and Logan Ploder (CL Kart) completed the top-ten in a race many will talk about for years to come.