#KartStarsCanada
Four Winners to Start KartStars Season
Treadwell, Boam, Tsatsanis and Joshi get the season started with victories at Goodwood
The KartStars Canada season is underway with round number one taking place at Goodwood Kartways over their usual May long weekend date. A solid number of racers have converged at the circuit just north of Toronto for the first of five KartStars races this season where the focus has been placed on plenty of trackside and wheel-to-wheel racing action.
On Saturday the first half of the event took place where four Briggs categories completed full race days while the four Vortex engines classes ran the first half of their weekend schedule.
It was a very wet start to the day and the rain continued to fall throughout the morning and early afternoon sessions. But the sun came out just before the main events took place, shifting all of the Finals to slick tires, except for a few who opted to stay on their rain tires.
There were some familiar faces starting the year on top of the podium along with a new young gun to score a solid first-place trophy.
Briggs Senior – Mixed tire choice doesn’t end well for those on rain tires
After a full day of racing in the rain, there was a mad scramble to switch to slick tires just before the Briggs Senior Final, the first Final of the day. A number of those drivers choosing to stay on rain tires were starting up front including the polesitter Brennan Taylor (BirelART). From third on the grid, Chad Webster (BirelART) was another front-runner who quickly realized he had made the wrong decision but nonetheless, everyone left the grid hoping for a miracle.
Taylor was able to hold on for the first two laps as Jon Treadwell (Kubica Kart) pressured early. Being patient, Treadwell waited until he had a clear pass and pulled it off before the end of lap three and from there, he was off to the races. With the tracking drying lap after lap, Taylor was swallowed up by Christian Savaglio (TonyKart), Javier Ruiz (BirelART), Michael Ing (Awesome Kart) and Gavin Goldie (Intrepid) over the next four laps as his hopes faded away.
With Treadwell clear out front, he cruised to victory in the quick 12-lap main event. Behind, Goldie was on the charge and he moved all the way to second place on the final lap with a great drive after starting outside the top ten. Third went to Savaglio on track, but a mistake on his tech sheet eliminated him from the results bumping Ruiz onto the podium. Ing and Anthony Frattatoli (BirelART) completed the top five.
KartStars Junior – Last lap move for Joshi gets him the W
Following the Seniors, all the Juniors were on the slick Vega tires for their Final. Jordan Di Leo was able to overcome a crash in one of the heat races with a heat win in the other to maintain his pole position for the KartStars Junior main event and he jumped out to a quick lead.
Elijah Joshi (Intrepid) was glued to his rear bumper until the halfway mark when he made his move for the lead and Stefano Picerno (Exprit) pushed him through, putting Di Leo back to third.
Resetting, DiLeo moved back by Picerno a lap later and then overtook Joshi to get back into the lead with three laps to go. The shuffling allowed Decklan Black (Intrepid) to join into the mix and the last lap battle was on.
Joshi dove up the inside in corner six and while Di Leo tried to hold the outside, it wasn’t enough and he slipped back to third. Joshi got through clean and actually opened a small gap with Picerno and Di Leo making small contact. It went from bad to worse for Di Leo as he lost the final podium spot at the bottom of corner nine to Black too.
Joshi rounded the final corner and celebrated the win with Picerno not far behind. Black completed the podium while Di Leo had to accept fourth with Ethan Chan (Intrepid) finishing fifth after starting the Final on the front row.
KartStars Cadet – Tsatsanis escapes the excitement with the win
A huge grid of 26 kids made up the KartStars Cadets field on Saturday and like usual, there was excitement all over the circuit. A few drivers decided they still wanted rain tires for their Final but up front, everyone was on slicks.
From the drop of the green Leo Da Silva (LN Kart) and Jayden Francisco (LN Kart) were duking it out for the lead. Trading it back and forth until they came together on lap six, knocking them both down the running order.
Taking full advantage of the leaders tangling was Theodore Tsatsanis (Exprit) who slipped by both of them along with Domenico Crupi (LN Kart). With only a couple laps left it would be these two gunning for the win. The pair drove smart and made no mistakes to the end with Crupi unable to pull off a pass.
At the line, Tsatsanis took the win by only 0.07 seconds in a near photo finish.
Behind them, a massage charge was put forth by Asher Pavan (Parolin Kart). After a hard crash in the PreFinal, Pavan had to start way back in the 18th spot and he drove brilliantly through the field to finish on the podium in third place. Da Silva was able to manage a fourth-place result while George Ho (TonyKart) took home the fifth spot.
Briggs Masters – Boam makes it count when it matters most
Rounding out the races on Saturday at Goodwood was the Briggs Masters Final. Throughout the day, Eli Yanko (TonyKart) had been in charge, pulling out to big wins in the heat races and PreFinal, but with a shift to slicks for the Final, the pack came back together and it was anyone’s race.
Yanko led early with Christopher Mitchell (BirelART) slotting into second. Lap after lap, Yanko would pull a gap exiting corner nine but the pack of four karts chasing him would push back to his bumper by corner four.
On lap five, Levon Beaudin (Ricciardo Kart) had enough and he moved by Mitchell for second and two laps later he pulled off a pass on Yanko for the lead.
He brought Zach Boam (BirelART) along with him and Boam wasted no time, pulling off the same pass for the lead on the next lap.
With two laps to go, Boam went on the defensive and impressively, his kart stuck to the bottom of every corner all the way to the finish line.
Taking the win was Boam just ahead of Yanko and Kevin May (Ricciardo Kart) who had a drag race to the finish line. After being up front early, Beaudin and Mitchell slipped back to fourth and fifth at the finish.
