News & Notes: MIKA Summerfest Enjoys Two Great Days of Racing

While most of the nations eyes were out west looking to see who would earn tickets to be on Team Canada for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, Mosport International Karting Association held yet another successful Summerfest weekend. With Great weather and a good turn out, the local crowd and a few visiting drivers put on a great show.

Saturday’s races used the clockwise track layout while Sunday was run on the commonly raced counter clockwise direction used at the ECKC races.

Tyler Kashak Doubles up in Rotax Senior and shows us his announcing skills

Tyler Kashak had a great weekend in the Rotax Senior division as he would win Saturday and Sunday’s finals in the class. Kashak wouldn’t have it easy though as Kenneth O’Keefe, and Johnny Flute all battled the Senior rookie throughout the weekend. O’Keefe would come second on both days as Flute came in third on Saturday but would DNF Sunday after contact at the start of the final.

Kashak didn’t only race this weekend, he also announced a few races throughout. He had a very interesting announcing style as he put on a parody British accent and used phrases coined by some of the worlds most famous British announcers. Unfortunately for Tyler we here at CKN believe he should stick to racing karts and leave the announcing to someone else.

Sean McPhee and Taylor Gates Battle for 4-cycle Summerfest Glory

Sean McPhee and Taylor Gates were the class of the four-cycle fields this weekend as Gates and McPhee would compete in Senior Honda Saturday and Briggs Senior on Sunday. Saturday the two drivers battled all race long until McPhee took the lead heading up the hill on the final lap with Gates settling for second.

Sunday though Gates would not be denied victory as he would get past McPhee with three laps remaining and defend the position to take the win. For Gates the weekend was a warm-up for Le Petite Monaco in Trois Rivieres where he will be competing in the Briggs Senior category after racing Rotax Senior for the past three years.

Briggs Senior was won by Jordan Kroon on Saturday and Sunday’s Senior Honda winner was Bailey Jacobs.

Click Here for a Photo Gallery From the Weekend

ECKC Top runners dominate in Briggs Junior

Braxton Terry, Tyler McCullough, and Nicholas Hornbostel battled for first in Briggs Junior on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday Terry and McCullough would duke it out all race long for the lead as both drivers switched positions throughout the race with Terry securing the win with two laps to go by passing McCullough going into one. Hornbostel ran with the two during the prefinal but was off the pace in the final.

Sunday all three would be close together putting on a great show for the crowd. Lap after lap the top three would swap positions while maintaining the gap to fourth. Coming to the checkered flag it would be a drag race for the win as McCullough came across the line in first followed by Terry and Hornbostel as the three drivers were separated by 48 hundredths of a second.

Alex Murphy sweeps Both days in Rotax Junior

Alex Murphy continued his domination of the Rotax Junior MIKA championship as he won both races in the Rotax Junior Category. Murphy took the lead from the start of Saturdays Final and kept the position until lap nine when Davide Greco took the lead. Greco’s lead would be short lived as Murphy would retake the top spot and cruise to victory ahead of TonyKart driver. William Campbell finished Saturday’s final in the third position three seconds behind the leaders.

In Sunday’s Final Greco took the holeshot into turn one in the final but would be pasted by Marco Signoretti in turn Five as he took the lead. His lead was short lived as Taegon Poles dove to the inside of Signoretti’s Ok1 going up the hill to take first two laps later. Poles kept the lead  for majority of the race, while in the meantime Murphy would make his way to second from fifth at the start of the final. On lap nine both Murphy and Campbell, who were running in the top three all race long, went to first and second sending Poles down to third. Murphy would hold on to take the win ahead of Campbell and Poles who recovered from an unlucky day on Saturday.

Mosport’s Driver Development track

To the disappointment to many of the karters in Ontario, this years King of the Hill race has been cancelled. The cancellation is due to the improvements that are being made to the DDT track where the current circuit will be demolished along with the Oval, and will combine to make a new and improve layout. This new track will also be home to the 2014 King of the Hill event as the new layout should provide some exciting races in both the 2-cycle and 4-cycle categories. So be sure to keep the 2014 King of the Hill date reserved on your karting Schedule for next season.