Kart Stars National Championship Preview – Who’s In It to Win It?

Here we go, round three of the 2020 Kart Stars Canada Series takes place this weekend at Goodwood Kartways and with a little extra measure, the series has deemed it their major event of the season, adding the title ‘National Championship’ and handing out a bunch more awards, including those elusive tickets to the Rok Cup Superfinal in Italy.

As of pre-registration closure, the event has 150 entries, spread over 12 classes, with no category having less than 10 entrants.

The event will run over three days, starting Friday with 2-lap Qualifying and a heat race. Saturday will see the continuation of heat races for the Rok Cup categories, while the Briggs racers will have a jam-packed day with a heat race, Pre Final and Final to crown the first half of the Kart Stars National Champions. Returning on Sunday, the Rok Cup Canada racers will run their PreFinal and Finals to determine who wins the tickets, while the Kart Stars Junior and Senior Briggs classes will get a one-day shootout of competition for $500.00 to the race winner.

So who are we expecting to come out on top this weekend at Goodwood? Here is our preview and entry list for this weekend’s Kart Stars National Championship.

Don’t forget! Order your weekend photo package here!

ROK Junior

We’ve watched these kids go at it twice this season in Kart Stars competition and Austin Boyle (Exprit) has been at the top. We’re expecting his best this weekend as well, but we’re also expecting Ayden Ingratta (RedSpeed), Lorenzo Morsillo (Exprit) and Cole Newton (RedSpeed) to be right there with him. Joseph Launi (RS Kart), Matte Ferrari (TonyKart) and Nick Gilkes (BirelART) have also shown a solid pace this year and will ready to pounce given any opportunity.

ROK Senior

It’s nice to see more than the disappointing six entries in ROK Senior we saw at the first two Kart Stars rounds. With two wins under his belt this year, Nolan Bower (Exprit) is coming in full of momentum. Robert Soroka (RedSpeed) has been one of the biggest improvements in 2020 and following his race win at MRFKC Mosport, he has to be one to watch. Kai Dalziel (Kosmic) and Andrew Maciel (Tonykart) have shown great pace and just need a little luck on their side to stand atop the podium, and we have a trio of new faces this weekend, Nicholas Hornbostel (Kosmic), Cole Hooton (BirelART) and Frank Launi (GP Kart), that could swoop in and steal that ticket to Italy.

Mini ROK

It has been great to see these young guns battle this season and the group at the top of charts seems to be growing race after race. Ryan Maxwell (Energy Kart) and Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid) have scored the wins this year and enter as the favourites while Santiago Ramirez (Intrepid), Jensen Burnett (Energy Kart), Stefano Picerno and Christian Papp (Intrepid) will be knocking on the doors of the race leaders throughout the weekend. A nice addition this weekend is Ilie Tristan-Crisan (CRG), who has travelled from Quebec to compete.

This one will be very fun to watch this weekend.

ROK Masters VLR

It’s great to see the new Masters class growing in numbers as it appears the 100cc VLR engine is being well received. The class has been very unpredictable at the top through the opening two races, and with some new additions this weekend we’re really not sure who will come out on top. Can Frank Launi (GP Kart) grab another win? Joe Crupi is making his first start of the season after being sidelined earlier this year, can he score another trip to Italy? Do John Cariati and Alexander Mankovski have something up their sleeves? What about Anthony Simone? He’s coming out of retirement to race alongside his son Rocco this weekend.

There are lots of questions for this one heading into the weekend.

Briggs Cadet

26 Cadets. How awesome is that? In a year that hasn’t seen too many bright spots, it is wonderful to see so many new young drivers in our sport.

With so many different levels of experience and skill in the category this year, the racing has been exciting and very unpredictable. Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid) has managed to score both race wins this season, but like in Mini Rok, he has the likes of Christian Papp (Intrepid) and Jensen Burnett (Energy Kart) to challenge him. Missing this weekend in Ryan Maxwell (Energy Kart), who has focused his efforts on Mini Rok. Rocco Simone (Intrepid) has been very fast this year, especially at the club level and could be a surprise visitor to the podium this weekend. Keaton Pipe (Intrepid), Joey Lecce (BirelART), David Zhao (Exprit) and Stefano Picerno (Energy Kart) are also drivers to keep an eye on. Ilie Tristan Crisan (CRG) is another young driver who will pull double-duty this weekend and be one to watch out for.

Briggs Junior

Nick Gilkes (BirelART) is coming off a victory at Innisfil to lead the championship in Briggs Junior. Anthony Boscia (BirelART) is right on his heels and Michael Ing (Awesome Kart) is also in the championship mix. Lily Flintoff (TonyKart) is back in Kart Stars action and will be chasing the top of the podium after coming up short in round one.

Briggs Junior Lite

Can anyone top Gavin Goldie this year in Junior Lite? The kid is on fire this year, winning by large margins everywhere he goes. We shall see if his winning streak continues this weekend and if anyone can challenge him for the top spot.

Briggs Senior

It’s an unfortunately small grid of Briggs Senior drivers, but there is still plenty of excitement to be had. Zach Boam (BirelART) is coming off a winning weekend at Innisfil. Pearce Herder (Awesome Kart) is making his first Kart Stars start of the season and has teammates Jake Cowden (Awesome Kart) and Brennan Taylor (Awesome Kart) in support. All three are capable of not only standing on the podium but sweeping it for the Karts & Part team. Logan Ploder (CL Kart) and Chad Webster (Intrepid) are always threats when it comes to racing at Goodwood so they can’t be considered out.

Briggs Masters

We have a few questions in Briggs Masters that will be answered this weekend. Can Marc Stehle (CL Kart) score win number three? Is this the weekend Daniel Demaras (Intrepid) finally tops the podium? Will Eli Yanko (TonyKart) slip through and win another race? Will Levon Beaudin (BirelART) get that little luck he needs to win? Can Dave Anderson take the victory in his first race start of the 2020 season?

Bring it on Masters, give us your best!

ROK Shifter/Shifter Masters

Lerra, Greco, Luik, Conquer, Masini. The five most active Senior Shifter drivers in the region over the past few seasons will all be chasing that ticket to Italy to race on the international stage. If we were to put odds on each of these drivers, they would all be identical as this one is anyone’s race.

Who can put it all together and survive on Sunday afternoon? That we can’t predict until the checkered flag waves.