Pernod Overtakes Taskinen for DD2 Victory at Martensville

Quebec’s Lucas Pernod made the trek to Saskatchewan worth it as he came out on top in the Rotax DD2 division after a great race with Alberta’s Matthew Taskinen in the Final at the Max Karting Group Rotax Canada Final.

Taskinen (CRG Canada/CRG) led the charge early in the weekend, blistering off a lap time in Qualifying more than a half-second quicker than his rivals, but they came charging back to challenge him in the heat races. Taskinen scored two heat wins while Griffin Dowler (Apollo/TonyKart) showcased his skills in the rain to score heat win number three and a starting spot on the front row for the PreFinal.

A rather uneventful PreFinal didn’t have much changing up front as Taskinen won ahead of Dowler, Pernod (BCR-SCR/BirelART) and Andy Lloyd (SCR/BirelART).

When the green flag flew to start the final, Pernod gave a nice push to Taskinen to get them ahead of Dowler through the opening sequence of corners, with Lloyd also getting by.

Immediately Taskinen and Pernod began to pull away while Lloyd, had to contend with the Dowler brothers, Griffin and Noel, for third.

At the halfway mark Pernod saw his opportunity for the lead and went for it, getting to the inside and forcing Taskinen onto the dirty part of the circuit. It slowed him up significantly and suddenly Pernod had a large lead.

But Taskinen put his head down and lap after lap, chased down the race leader, getting back to his bumper with two laps remaining.

Taskinen looked for an opportunity to pass but it just wasn’t there and with half a lap left, he dropped a wheel and his chance was over.

Pernod held on to score the win with Taskinen crossed shortly after in second. Third place went to Noel Dowler, who benefitted from a collision between Griffin and Lloyd that earned Griffin a black flag.

A consistent week up front for Taskinen has him leading the points heading into round two at Warburg in Alberta in four weeks’ time and it’s going to be a great battle to see who comes out on top.

Max Karting Group Rotax Canada Final – Rotax DD2 Final Results