ASN Canadian Karting Championships
Nepveu Pulls off Last Lap Pass to Win Open Shifter National Final; St-Hilaire Tops Shifter Masters
Thomas Nepveu scored a Canadian National victory in his first-ever shifter kart race.
Being the only class with a standing start and the fastest class in the field, it was a given that fans were excited to watch this one. With a highly talented field, there would be plenty of action too.
When the green flag waved, it was David Greco (PSL/BirelART) who took off first from the pole-position and defending from his PSL Karting teammate Thomas Nepveu (PSL/BirelART), followed by Isaac Marritt (PSL/BirelART), Justin Luik (Prime/BirelART) and Josh Conquer (VSR/TonyKart). With some decent spacing between, the drivers upfront began to set a quick pace.
With the sun beaming lap times were dropping with each lap. Greco and Nepveu were very close throughout the entire race as both drivers were in their element, however, each time Nepveu got close, Greco put down a flyer to open the gap up a few kart lengths.
On the final lap, Greco held a few lengths as the pair travelled down the hill into the hard-braking hairpin corner five. Taking his usual line, Greco left the door wide open and Nepveu put everything he had into a deep braking pass, nailing his apex and catching Greco off guard. Rolling off the corner with the lead, Nepveu had just half a lap left to seal the victory.
Greco gave everything he could but, in the end, Nepveu was able to hold him off. Following them in third was Marritt, with Conquer in fourth and Luik closing out the top-five.
In the Open Shifter Masters division, Dany St-Hilaire (PSL/BirelART) held down the first position all race long and secured the win. The Quebec driver had previously not run at the Mosport circuit and put on an excellent showing. Following him across the finish line were Nicolas Bedard (PSL/Ricciardo), Tony De Marco (Innisfil/GP Kart) and John Ciufo (Innisfil/GP Kart).
For their victories, Nepveu and St-Hilaire will join Team Canada at the Rok Cup Super Final in Italy, while Greco and Bedard earned race entries to Rok the Rio in Las Vegas. Marrit and De Marco were awarded race entries to the 2020 Rok Cup Florida Winter Tour.
Open Shifter Final Results:
- Thomas Nepveu
- Davide Greco
- Isaac Marritt
- Joshua Conquer
- Justin Luik
- Zachary Shearer
- Daniel Morad
- Dante Lerra
- Robert Soroka
- Stefano Lucente
- Kristian Jeffrey
- Randy Tang
- Nathan Gilbert
- Daniel Ou
- Charles Robin
- Max Preston
Open Shifter Masters Final Results
- Dany St-Hilaire
- Nicholas Bedard
- Tony De Marco
- John Cuifo
