Drivers Score Big at CKN Dash for Cash!

The first true test of the revamped Hamilton Karting Complex took to the track on Saturday for the Bremner Construction CKN Dash for Cash and following a great day of racing in very mixed weather conditions, $5500.00 was awarded at the podium ceremonies to the race winners in nine categories.

Race day started out hot and sticky but with dark clouds looming all around. Everyone knew the rain was coming and it was only a matter of time until the clouds opened up. Sprinting through the morning warm-ups and Qualifying sessions, the event nearly made it to the lunch break but the poor drivers in ROK Senior had just received the green flag when the rain came pouring down and the drivers were left on the track to suffer with their slick tires unable to grip the slippery surface.

From that point forward, the rain was on and off. The remaining PreFinals were on a wet track and the first few Finals were back on slicks and it wasn’t until a little confusion on the grid for the Juniors that rain returned. Arriving on the grid with rain tires while the track was still very much dry was a bold choice by a few drivers, namely Christian Menezes, but every driver followed suit and by lap three, the storm returned and the decision for rain tires was the right one. The remaining Finals were all on rain tires and of course, the sun would return as the racing concluded, just time in for the podium celebrations.

The ambience was bumping all day long at the Hamilton Karting Complex, with music powering through the paddock and engines roaring on the track as just over 100 drivers were in attendance.

The biggest category for the day was Briggs Senior and a wet track for the Final was exactly what was needed to spice up the action. Jordan Prior (BirelART) was able to jump out front early and when his competitors were battling hard for second place early on, he found himself with a rather large lead. But with a track slowly drying, the pace of most drivers was changing as the race rolled on and in the late laps Simon Legault (BirelART) was able to not only track down Prior but easily roll past him into corner two and Prior could only sit and watch as his race and the nice $1000.00 payday pulled away from him on the final circuit.

There was another great drive for $1000.00 as Aristeides Theodoropoulos (BirelART) came from fifteenth on the Briggs Junior grid to score the victory in convincing fashion. Early race leader Jackson Morley (BirelART) had his race slip away when he was caught out by the tricky conditions and spun but he was able to recover nicely to finish on the podium in third place.

ROK Senior ended up being a heads-up duel between Andrew Maciel (TonyKart) and Frankie Esposito (BirelART) after Ryan Maxwell (Kosmic) was forced to retire only a few corners after gaining the lead on lap five when his rear hub and tire slipped off his axle. Maciel led for a few laps but Esposito had the better wet race pace in the second half and once he got out front on lap ten, he never surrendered it again to cash in a nice $500.00 payday.

There was a pretty heavy rainfall during the ROK Junior Final but it was no match for Matisse Costantini (BirelART) as he drove away to a 15-second margin of victory over Antoine Lemieux (Kosmic).

Rounding out the other race winners on Saturday and taking home $500.00 for their efforts were: Sebastian Matthews in VLR Senior, Carlo Lot in Briggs Cadet, Cole Campin in Briggs Junior Lite, Jackson Morley in ROK Mini and Rich Folino in Briggs Masters.

Rain or dry, the new track configuration raced wonderfully and the CKN Dash for Cash was a great start to the double-header weekend at Hamilton. Stay tuned into CKN for our report from Sunday’s HRKC/MIKA interclub race day as well as our photo galleries from the weekend.