Junior Max Victory Awarded to Patel After Great Showdown

Boss Patel kicked off his Max Karting Group Canada Final championship bid in the same fashion he ended last year with a victory at Stratotech Raceway.

Patel and American Giovanni Santora (J3/CompKart) endured an epic battle in the Sunday afternoon Final in Alberta, going toe-to-toe for 15 laps with Santora initially crossing the finish line as the race winner, but a technical infraction in post-race tech excluded him from the results and elevated Patel to the race win.

While the Final came down to Patel and Santora on track, Junior Max was wild open all weekend long. Coco Chi (BBR/Falcon) kicked off the race with pole position in Qualifying, but her chances took a hit when she was spun with two laps to go in the PreFinal and it went from bad to worse in the Final as she was forced to retire on the opening lap.

Also in the mix was Louis-Thomas Pelletier (PSL-SCR/BirelART) who won the PreFinal but had to retire just before halfway through the Final with a mechanical issue while running third.

Coming home second the main event was Grayson Thorpe-Doubble (RaceLab VI/JV Kart), who travelled in from British Columbia. It was a rather uneventful race for Thorpe-Doubble after Pelletier withdrew and he cruised without challenge for the remainder of the race.

Third place went to American Kaylee Countryman (J3/CompKart) who was able to get ahead of Jamel Abougoush (RaceLab/JV Kart) and Mannix Donnelly (SCR/CL Kart) in the early laps of the race and stay there en route to a trip to the podium.

Last lap pass scores Carruthers victory in Shifter Final; Photo finish in Briggs Senior

Also on the agenda at the Canada Final were Shifter and Briggs Senior. The classes had a small turnout but still showed off some great racing.

In the Shifter Final Ryan Carruthers (OD/Ventisimo) and Kevin Canning (OD/Formula K) went head to head. Carruthers initially had a good-sized lead when Canning and a number of drivers couldn’t get by Reinaldo Varela in the opening laps but once he was free, Canning tracked down and passed the early race leader.

Carruthers regrouped from there and the race was on. They traded the lead a few times before the final lap where it all came down to the final corner. Getting a better exit, Carruthers pulled the gears all the way to the finish line to take the win by 0.116 seconds. Third place went to Mackenzie Tivedale (RaceLab VI/Vemme Kart) who was able to beat Brad Walker to the finish line.

In the Briggs Final, the race of four became a battle of two after a mid-race hiccup and those two had a drag race to the finish line to settle the score. Getting a better run off the final corner and putting his head down, Freddy Wallace (OD/Ventisimo) edged out Robbie Arthur (Vemme Kart) by only 0.023 seconds with Marcus Eriksson (LN Kart) completing the podium.