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Pfaff Kartsport Cup Briggs Report: Treadwell Dominant in Senior; Gilkes Impresses in Junior Lite
After a soggy Saturday set the Qualifying positions, Sunday was a much more enjoyable day at Goodwood Kartways for the inaugural round of the Pfaff Kartsport Cup. A very long day of racing was on tap with PreFinals and two Finals for each category to be run. The racing was hard, fast and provided plenty of excitement as nearly 350 laps of competition hit the always challenging Goodwood circuit.
A major talking point on Sunday was the unique race format that was introduced. Taking a page out of many popular motorsport programs around the world, the starting grid for Final 2 inverted the top-10 finishers from Final 1. No doubt it created even more exciting racing and provided new experiences for some drivers and while it did create a little havoc on track, it was no more than what we would call a normal race weekend. All in all, it was great racing and another goal for drivers to chase after, proving those who had the skills to race their way to the front, or to stay there when presented an opportunity.
If there was one slight disappointment from the weekend it was the decline in race entrants in the Briggs & Stratton 206 categories. One week ago, nearly 150 Briggs drivers made it out to Goodwood for the CRFKC, but this weekend only half as many racers were on track and it left us quite puzzled. Regardless, the product on track was still spectacular and great racing was witnessed in all categories.
Here is our Pfaff Kartsport Cup Briggs 206 Report
Senior: Treadwell Makes No Mistakes and Scores Perfect Weekend
After losing out on the final lap last weekend, 2017 Canadian Champion Jon Treadwell (Intrepid) made no mistakes this weekend, showing a dominant form by taking home both victories after posting the fastest lap in Qualifying.
Final one saw Treadwell jump out to an early lead with a push from Stefano Lucente (Ricciardo Kart). The tandem worked very well together and pulled away from the pack when the battle for third heated up. It was a pretty uneventful final couple of laps up front as Lucente didn’t push too hard looking for the victory and Treadwell would take home the win. Jordan Prior (BirelART) continued his hot start to the season with another podium result, overtaking Gavin Sanders (Kosmic) on the final lap to take third.
Marco Signoretti (Energy Kart) had a wicked start in Final 2, moving up four spots to take the lead before lap one was complete. Last weekend’s winner, who was battling an illness this weekend, led the first nine laps until Kai Dalziel (Intrepid) grabbed the lead with two laps to go. Signoretti would lose three spots in the process as Treadwell and Prior were able to follow Dalziel through. Dalziel’s lead lasted only one lap as Treadwell received a nice push from Prior, to move into the lead and he maintained it through the final set of corners to take the victory. Prior went wheel-to-wheel with Dalziel for second and came out with the position, followed by Dalziel, Signoretti and Lucente.
The perfect weekend meant Treadwell scored the day win and takes a huge haul of points to round two at Mosport. Prior and Lucente would join him on the total points podium.
Junior: Ploder Uses Race Victory to Win the Day
Logan Ploder (Intrepid Kart) took home the spoils on Sunday after winning Final 1 and maintaining his position inside the top-10 in Final 2 to earn the most points in what was a very saucy Briggs Junior group of racers.
Ploder’s victory in Final 1 came with a little ease as he was able to break free from the pack with support from Kelsey Hann (BirelART). The two pushed away and had a big lead until Hann made a mistake with only two laps to go. Instead of being with the leader and having a shot at victory, Hann had to go on the defensive as the hungry pack of drivers going for third suddenly had a little more to race for.
While Ploder was all by himself to the finish line, Hann just barely held on to second with Zain Ikram (Kosmic) overtaking fast qualifier Owyn Thomas (Intrepid Kart) for third place.
With the inversion for Final 2, Alec Drummond (Intrepid Kart) had the pole-position with Jake Cowden (Awesome Kart) alongside. Drummond drove very well to lead the first seven laps while Cowden slipped down a few spots in the early laps. However, Drummond’s fate was delivered on lap nine when Maddox Heacock (K&K Kart) made a move to the lead and Drummond was freight-trained back to fourth. After a rough opening couple of laps, Cowden was on the charge in the closing laps and he made his move for the lead on lap ten, working past Heacock. He would hold on to cross the finish line first. However, officials served him a six-position penalty after the race for regaining his starting spot after the formation line. This meant Heacock was scored the winner, followed by Nicky Palladino (Intrepid) and Drummond. Race one winner Ploder, finished sixth.
The race day podium, which comprised of points earned from the Finals as well as Qualifying would see Ploder first, Heacock second and Thomas third.
Junior Lite: Impressive Double Victory for Gilkes Earns Him CKN Driver of the Day
Nicholas Gilkes (BirelART) showed that he will be a force in Briggs Junior Lite this season as the young driver delivered a big win in Final 1 and then drove from tenth on the grid to first in Final 2 to sweep the weekend and take home the honour as CKN Summer Tour Driver of the Day.
Gilkes had to battle with Steven Navratil (Awesome Kart) in both races, duking it out hard in Final 1. The two broke free from fast qualifier Callum Baxter (Ricciardo Kart) early on, choosing to settle the race on their own. Baxter would be spun in turn one by Matte Ferrari (Intrepid) just past halfway, taking him out of the running for the podium. Out front, Navaratil and Gilkes raced clean and hard right to the finish line where Gilkes crossed 0.077 seconds ahead!
Baxter led the field to green in Final 2 and held control until lap ten when Ferrari came knocking on the door again. He went to the lead on lap eleven with Gilkes hot on his heels. Shortly after going to the lead, Ferrari was passed by Gilkes and a couple corners later by Navratil. This time Gilkes didn’t need a drag-race to the finish line to decide the winner, as he won by nearly three-tenths of a second. Navratil was second at the line but was penalized one position for passing until yellow, moving Ferarri back ahead of him.
Tallying the results, Gilkes stood on top of the podium with Navratil and Ferarri tying for second, which would go to Navratil based on the better qualifying result.
Masters: Yanko Charges to the Top
He’s been called the ‘Russian Rocket’ by his fellow competitors and he lived up to the name on Sunday as Eli Yanko (TonyKart) took home the top honours in Briggs Masters.
Yanko came out on top of a very spirited battle in Final 1 after racing hard with Rich Folino (BirelART) and Corey Walsh (Kosmic). Folino lead the early laps until Yanko went to the lead. But his turn at the top lasted only two laps when Walsh put himself into the lead. Two laps later Yanko powered back to the lead and never looked back, defending well on the final lap to keep his fellow Masters behind him. Walsh would hold on to second with Jamie MacArthur (K&K Kart) third after Folino collided with Scott Jefferies (Kosmic) on the final lap.
The one benefit to the accident for Jefferies was he would score the inverted pole-position for Final 2 and he would use it to his advantage, leading every lap of the race and came out as the victor. Levon Beaudin (BirelART) held second for the first half of the race, but he would get passed by a hard-charging Steve MacVoy (Kosmic) with only a couple laps left. MacVoy closed in on the rear bumper of Jefferies but didn’t seem to have enough to make a pass on the final lap and settled for second. Beaudin was third.
Yanko would take home the overall win on the day after finishing fifth in Final 2, with Walsh and MacVoy tying for second, with Walsh taking the tie-breaker.
Impressively, there were no penalties handed out by the officials in either of the Briggs Masters Finals.
Cadet: Weekend Sweep for Ingratta
As a last-minute addition to the Pfaff Kartsport Cup, it appeared many didn’t even know Briggs Cadet was racing this long weekend, as only three drivers entered the event, disappointing given that there was a dozen last weekend.
It was a day of domination for Ayden Ingratta (Ricciardo Kart), who scored both race victories in convincing fashion over Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid) and Major Makovskis (Intrepid).
