#KartStarsCanada
Boyle Completes Season Sweep in ROK Junior
Capping off a nearly perfect season of KartStars Canada competition, Austin Boyle (Exprit) scored his fourth victory in as many races to sweep the season in ROK Junior at 3-S Go-Karts.
It wasn’t an easy weekend for Boyle. With the championship secured before the weekend even began, those competing for vice-championship honours and the ticket to the ROK Cup SuperFinal that came with it, his fellow competitors were really pushing for maximum points.
There was some confusion before the PreFinal even began when pole-sitter Lorenzo Morsillo (Exprit) spun out on the pace lap and had to start the race at the rear. Ayden Ingratta (RedSpeed) inherited the top spot and sped off to win the race over Boyle, but was accessed a 3-position penalty for disobeying an official for not slowing down on the pace lap, dropping him to fourth on the grid for the Final.
Before the group even got to corner one at the start of the Final, karts were flying in every direction. Ingratta closed down on Morsillo thinking he was clear, but wasn’t and the contact spun them both and collected Joseph Launi (RS Kart), Matte Ferrari (TonyKart) and Michael Riccio (GP Kart).
Boyle, Sara Vico (Exprit), Nathan Tiemersma (TonyKart) and Cole Newton (RedSpeed) avoided the chaos and led the field around lap one, while Launi was unable to continue.
On lap three Tiemersma pulled off a pass in corner one to grab second from Vico and Newton tried to follow but Vico shut the door. The contact sent her spinning off into the grass and an unfortunate early retirement after a great run in the PreFinal.
The race would settle down from there with the exception of Ingratta. He was on a tear and chased down the leaders. Wasting no time getting by Newton and and Tiemersma, the gap to Boyle out front was more than two seconds with only a few laps to go.
Blistering off the fastest laps of the race, he caught Boyle on the final circuit but just wasn’t close enough to make a pass before the final lap completed.
Boyle arrived at the finish line first to take win number four, followed by Ingratta, Tiemersma, Newton and Morsillo.
However, officials handed Ingratta a 3-position penalty for ‘failure to leave racing room’ on the start, delegating him to fifth, moving Tiemersma to second and Newton onto the podium in third. Adding more salt in the wound, it would also change the final points standings as Morsillo scored enough points to overtake Ingratta in the final rankings and with it, take home the ticket to the ROK Cup SuperFinal in Italy.
Catching up with Boyle following the race, he was still in shock about the near-perfect season.
“It still feels unreal. My two main competitors, Ayden [Ingratta] and Lorenzo [Morsillo] pushed me at times and I had to dig deep to be a better driver. After missing my rookie season being sick, last year was my first real year in Junior, I knew I had to work harder on everything. This year we decided to go back to doing our own team with my family and Papa doing our engines. With the help of Marco at Goodwood on chassis and coaching, really just being totally focused and having support from the people that mean most every weekend helped me succeed.”
Race Result: KartStars R4 ROK Junior Final
- Austin Boyle
- Nathan Tiemersma +3.187
- Cole Newton +4.242
- Lorenzo Morsillo +6.261
- Ayden Ingratta +0.293
- Christian Valverde
- Frankie Savaglio
- Michael Riccio
- Matte Ferrari
- Anthony Boscia
- Sara Vico
- Joseph Launi
