It was a superb weekend of racing for Jordan Prior at the opening round of the Motomaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship as the Briggs Senior driver recorded a double-victory to open up an early championship lead.
Saturday’s conditions started out very wet and soggy at the Canadian Mini Indy with Adam Ali (Kosmic) earning the first pole position of the MRFKC season in the tough conditions.
Running last in the schedule, the PreFinal took place after the lunch break, with the rain stopping. A quick-drying track from the session before the Briggs Seniors rolled on track saw nearly every driver quickly switch to slick tires for the PreFinal.
From fifth on the grid, Prior (BirelART) hooked up with his Prime teammate Jon Treadwell (BirelART) to get to the front early and scored the win to earn the pole position for the Final.
With a great launch, Treadwell vaulted to the early lead, with Prior, Ali, David Barnes (BirelART) and Logan Ploder (CL Kart) in tow.
The exciting race featured a number of lead changes throughout as all five drivers wanted to be on top before the final lap. Ploder made his move to the lead on Prior with two laps to go, but unlike last weekend, Prior pushed hard to ensure he didn’t give up the lead, holding the outside line of the tricky turn five to stay on top.
Benefiting on the Final lap from a challenge for second, Prior was able to get away just enough on the final lap to not need to defend the final corners and rolled to the checkered flag to score victory in Race One. Barnes and Ploder joined him on the podium while Ali and Treadwell filled out the top-five. A pushback bumper penalty for Ali knocked him back to ninth in the final results and moved Maddock Heacock (Awesome Kart) into the top-five.
MRFKC1 Briggs Senior Saturday Final Results
1
Jordan Prior
2
David Barnes
0.372
3
Logan Ploder
0.860
4
Jon Treadwell
1.225
5
Maddox Heacock
1.786
6
Steven Navratil
2.041
7
Avery Miller
5.856
8
Jeremy Vaillancourt
5.945
9
Adam Ali
5.991
10
Ari Korkodilos
6.051
11
Lily Flintoff
7.034
12
Mackenzie Milwain
8.209
13
Alex Murphy
8.373
14
Anthony Quezada
10.746
15
Tom Fredericks
15.851
16
Brennan Taylor
26.119
17
Simon Legault
32.026
18
Kolby Short
34.331
19
Jackson Maytum
34.409
20
Kaitlyn Freier
34.922
21
Riley Paladichuk
36.935
22
Matthew White
37.177
23
Patrick Lelievre
47.856
24
Logan Ferguson
5 Laps
25
Tyler Freier
14 Laps
26
Zain Ikram
15 Laps
Much nicer conditions on Sunday greeted the drivers at CMI with the sun shining and warm temperatures.
Ploder just narrowly edged out Barnes for the pole-position in Qualifying by a mere 0.009 seconds.
Once again, Prior moved up early in the PreFinal this time worked with his other Prime teammate Barnes to score a 1-2 finish and a front-row lockout.
The two hooked up early in the Final as well and broke free from Ali and Ploder. The lead changed a couple of times between the two until disaster struck for Barnes.
A loose engine mount created a tension-free chain that forced him to slow up and eventually retire, leaving Prior without a drafting partner. Quickly Ploder and Ali chased down the race leader and it was on.
Prior was attacked in corner four on the final lap and while he managed to keep the lead, a slow exit allowed both Ali and Ploder and slip by. Side-by-side for the lead around corner five and into six, the pair made contact to slow them up enough that Prior drove around the outside of both to regain the lead. Holding them off through the tight turn seven, Prior was in control and took his second race win of the weekend in fine fashion.
Ploder scored his second podium appearance of the weekend with the second-place finish, while Ali wound up third.
In the throwdown for fourth, Avery Miller (CL Kart) edged out Mackenzie Milwain (Kosmic Kart) and Maddox Heacock (Awesome Kart) for the position.
