Ploder Finally Breaks Through with an RFKC Victory; Sterling and Chan Victorious in Junior

Multiple first-time race winners in the Ron Fellows Karting Championship over the weekend were the highlight as the series kicked off its 2024 season at the Mosport Karting Centre this past weekend.

Leading the afternoon round of Finals on Saturday was a 32-kart field of Senior Briggs. The anticipation was high for this race as Dylan Reny (CL Kart) and Logan Pacza (BirelART) led the large field to green.

Reny pounced on the early lead but it only lasted three laps when Gianluca Savaglio (Ricciardo Kart) slipped by for the lead and Logan Ploder (CL Kart) helped push him through.

Out front, it was a relatively calm race throughout the 18-lap main event. Ploder made a pair of passing attempts on Savaglio, but he was never able to keep the lead in control as Savaglio always ensured he was in control of the lead pack.

At the checkered flag, Savaglio held off Ploder to notch his first victory of the season while Jordan Prior (BirelART) took advantage of Reny in the closing laps to lock down the final step of the podium.

For Sunday’s Final, it was the same foursome duking it out for the race win, but this time Ploder and Reny had a different game plan.

Savaglio led the first half of the race and was once again doing his best to stay there. Working as a tandem, Ploder and Reny slipped by on lap eleven but Savaglio used the next two laps to overtake both drivers and regain the top spot. That action set off a flurry and backed the lead pack up to now feature eight karts all hungry for victory.

Savaglio led lap fourteen, Reny controlled lap fifteen and then Ploder moved by his teammate in the hairpin to gain control on lap sixteen, this time for good. Reny glued to his rear bumper and fought off attacks from Prior, Savaglio and Anthony Boscia (BirelART).

Exiting the final corner, Reny dashed the finish line, however, Ploder was the first to the checkered flag and surprisingly, notched his first-ever RFKC victory. Reny was just behind in second place while Prior was third on the podium for the second straight day, just ahead of Boscia, Savaglio and Pacza as the top six finishers were all within one second of the winner.

Several new faces have emerged as contenders in Briggs Junior this season, making life difficult for two-time defending Canadian Champion Sebastian Day (CL Kart).

Saturday’s Final had the crowd on their feet as the top nine karts were all in contention to win and the running order changed every lap.

Leading the way was Ethan Chan (Goodwood F4K) who drove very similar to Savaglio in the Senior Final that just shortly before the Juniors. Every time a driver would pull off a pass on Chan, he would counter the move in the next set of corners and manage to keep himself in the lead, typically leaving the passer to get swallowed up by the pack.

These moves kept Chan in the lead at the start/finish line for the final seven laps and when the checkered flag flew, he was the first to arrive to grab his first win as a Junior. Following Chan across the finish line was Kara Dudgeon (CL Kart) while a great final lap from James Tufford (BirelART) vaulted him up to third place and onto the RFKC podium.

After a rough go in the Saturday Final, Sebastian Day was back up front on Sunday, leading the way. Under pressure throughout the first half of the race from Sloan Sterling (CL Kart), the lead changed just past the halfway mark as the top two swapped positions after building a gap to third place.

In the closing laps, Day attempted to over-under the race leader in corners five and six a number of times, but just never got clear and Sterling. This battle allowed the chasing pack to start closing the gap as the checkered flag drew near.

On the final lap, Day was once again unable to get clear before corner six and was left with one last chance to overtake Sterling. He tried in the final corner but contact was made and the pair were slow to exit the corner. Day, knowing the contact was his fault, exited the corner with a slight advantage but waived Sterling to retake the position but was unaware of how close third driver Ryder Brown (CL Kart) was.

Less than 100 metres later, Sterling celebrated her first RFKC victory while Day just narrowly stayed ahead of Brown at the line to maintain second place. Declan Black (Goodwood F4K) and Chan were just behind as well to round out the top five and celebrate a great weekend of Junior Briggs racing.

A small group of Briggs Cadet racers showed off they don’t need a big group to put on a show as the front four went toe-to-toe in both Finals.

On Saturday, the dark clouds that had loomed throughout the afternoon, finally rolled over top of the Mosport circuit and rain drops began to fall just as the final class of the day took to the track.

Two separate battles emerged in this race as Jayden Francisco (Nitro Kart) and Asher Pavan (Parolin) raced for the lead while Carlo Lot (BirelART) and Melville Dos Santos (CL Kart) duked it out for the final step of the podium. Pavan would emerge in the tough conditions with the victory while Francisco was runner-up while Lot pulled off a last lap pass to earn the third place honours.

It was a similar weather scenario on Sunday as once again there were concerning clouds above the circuit just as the last class of the weekend was set to race. This time though, no raindrops fell and all four drivers were mixing it up for the victory.

Francisco controlled much of the race with Pavan, Lot and Dos Santos right there waiting for a chance to pounce. Pavan made his move with two laps to go but he wasn’t able to hold on and Francisco recovered the position on the final lap to score the victory. Dos Santos and Lot were right there as well until Dos Santos ran wide exiting corner five and a rough ride through the dirt ended his chances at the podium.

Finally, in Briggs Masters we saw Ian MacIntyre (CL Kart) drive away with the victory in Saturday’s Final, taking the victory by four seconds over Stephen Goelbel (Coyote Kart) and Greg Scollard (Coyote Kart).

Goebel would close the gap on Sunday and remain with MacIntyre the whole way, pulling off a last lap pass and securing the first RFKC victory for Coyote Karts. MacIntyre was second to the finish line, but was removed from the results after inspection in tech. This made it a Coyote 1-2 with Scollard moving up to second place while Rich Folino (BirelART) taking the third step of the podium.

Event two of the Ron Fellows Karting Championship takes place at the TAG Karting Academy in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec on June 29-30.