It was a perfect weekend for Jensen Burnett in the Mini categories at the 2021 Motomaster Canadian Karting Championships as he swept both the Rotax Mini-Max and Rok Mini divisions at the Mosport Karting Centre.
For those drivers that raced in both Rotax and Rok divisions, the adjustment in driving style was a challenge of not only a different engine platform but also a different race tire.
The Mini Rok National Final was a great race with Burnett (Energy Corse/Energy Kart) under pressure all race long from Pearce Wade (Prime/BirelART) and Savio Paniccia (PRO/CL Kart). Unfortunately, two quick young guns had issues on the pace lap, forcing Major Makovskis (PRO/CL Kart) and Jackson Pearsall (Shake n Bake/CL Kart) to start behind the pack.
Behind the lead trio, a great battle erupted for fourth between Rocco Simone (New Speed Motorsports/Exprit), Mayer Deonarine (NBM/Exprit) and Matthew Roach (Prime/BirelART).
A challenge from Paniccia for second on lap six allowed Burnett to open up a small lead, but Wade moved back into second the next lap and with the draft, closed back in on the race leader.
After a number of looks up the inside in corner ten, Wade finally pulled the trigger on lap fourteen with a pass in corner five to gain the lead.
On the next lap, Burnett went right back to the lead with the same pass in corner five while Paniccia remained close.
For the final three laps, Wade kept the pressure on the race leader but just didn’t get close enough to complete a pass while Burnett smartly navigated the Mosport circuit.
Celebrating his second victory of the day, Burnett beat Wade to the finish line by 0.118 seconds with Paniccia right there too.
Deonarine won the war for fourth as both he and Roach passed Simone on the final two laps to secure top-five finishes.
With the win, Burnett secured a ticket to the Rok Cup SuperFinal in Italy and he will compete in the event for the second time after making his first international start there a year ago. Wade and Paniccia also locked in entries to ROK Vegas later this year.
Motomaster Canadian Karting Championships – Mini Rok Final Results
