Menezes Wins the Epic Rok Junior Brawl!

Taking the race of the day honours is Rok Junior.

After a red flag on the initial start for a wild ride that saw Jonathon Petrone walk away, the group formed back up and restarted the race.

For the opening nine laps of the race, there were eight drivers all in contention to win and the positions changed nearly every corner.

Ryan Maxwell (REM/Kosmic) was the initial race leader but he was challenged early by Christian Menezes (KGR/RedSpeed and Joseph Launi (Powerhouse/Exprit Kart) while Pearce Wade (Prime/BirelART) and Anthony Martella (REM/Kosmic) were also right in the mix.

As the leaders duked it out two drivers were charging from the rear. Frankie Esposito (Prime/BirelART) and Jensen Burnett (Energy Corse/Energy Kart) needed only seven laps to join the leaders up front after starting 17th and 23rd respectively.

Lap after lap these young guns went at it, as the order changed almost every corner.

Martella worked his way to the lead with a nifty pass on Launi in corner one on lap nine and a couple of corners later Maxwell followed him through but on the next lap, Maxwell got stuck on the outside going up into corner seven and he slipped back to fifth place.

Launi returned to the lead on lap 13 as Esposito had worked his way up to second place but that only lasted a lap as Menezes slipped by and then Maxwell tried to pass him entering the final two corners but was forced to take the grass and it slowed the whole pack up.

Heartbreak occurred on lap sixteen for Launi as he received the meatball flag for his rear bumper becoming dislodged on one side ending his race. Surrendering second place, this left Menezes out front with a nice gap while Martella, Maxwell, Esposito and Burnett were left to battle for second place.

Rounding the final corner and taking his first major karting victory, Menezes secured himself a ticket to the Rok Cup SuperFinal as the Canadian National Champion.

Esposito was able to overtake Maxwell on the final lap to finish second while Burnett was the biggest mover of the race advancing 19 spots to finish fourth just ahead of Major Makovskis (PRO/CL Kart), who quietly kept himself inside the top-7 for the entire race.

Notably, Mayer Deonarine (VSR/TonyKart) and Anthony Raducanoiu (Prime/BirelART) needed to restart the race from the pit lane and they had brilliant recovery drives to finish seventh and tenth.

Canadian Karting Championships Rok Junior Final Results