Florida Winter Tour Previews Potential Great Canadian Rivalry

With the Florida Winter Tour complete and springtime in the air back at our home office in Toronto, the Canadian race season is right around the corner. Drivers and teams are getting anxious to get on track, especially with the mild winter leading up to a possible early start in some Canadian regions and we are excited to see what is going to happen.

Over the past three months we were given a preview of what could become a great Canadian rivalry this summer in one of the most competitive classes in the Canadian market.

Rotax Junior always delivers a surprise but this year we have a feeling it’s going to come down to two young drivers entering their sophomore seasons and both were more than just competitive in Florida.

Ryan MacDermid got off to a great start, qualifying on the pole-position in the Homestead round back in January and he maintained the position all the way to the Final where he finished third. He also entered the Final race as the championship leader only to retire with a mechanical failure.

Matthew Latifi got off to a slower start in Homestead, but finished the Winter Tour strong, with a victory in West Palm Beach (in the ROK Junior category) and a fourth place result in Rotax Junior. He also ended on the championship podium in ROK Junior with the third highest points total, jumping up seven spots in the final round.

The two have shown great progress from a year ago, when both were just a little too small for the category, and with the likes of Roman DeAngelis and Samuel Lupien moving on this year, we have a good feeling these two will be fierce rivals on track as they battle for the Canadian titles up for grabs and positions on Team Canada for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

Only time will tell. The Eastern Canadian Karting Championship gets underway in two months time at Goodwood Kartways on May 20-22.

Matthew Latifi (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

Ryan MacDermid (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)