There was a spectacular turnout of drivers once again at the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge as Ontario’s best club racers convened on a jam-packed Mosport Kartways facility Saturday afternoon for a unique afternoon-evening event. In total, there were 218 drivers entered including a pair of Briggs & Stratton classes that neared the 40-kart mark.
With thousands of race fans in attendance for the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in the background of the kart track, drivers had a larger audience to race in front of and the feeling of a true spectator sport event to race for.
Rotax Max Report
Leading the way in the Rotax Senior division at Mosport was Ryan MacDermid. Like he did at the opening round of the CRFKC at Goodwood, Macdermid was lights out and went unchallenged en route to the race win. He crossed 4.3 seconds ahead of Nicholas Hornbostel, who also cruised to his finishing position. Third was Logan Cusson who emerged with the final podium step while the rest battled behind him. The Max Masters were on track at the same time and Alexander Mankovski got the better of Gil Strassguertl.
Ryan MacDermid (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)
It was a similar feat in Rotax DD2 where Tyler Kashak continues to rack up race wins. He’s undefeated in Canada so far in 2017 with his next challenge coming up at the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship in two weeks, back at Mosport. Enrico Menotti and Taegan Poles completed the DD2 podium.
There was a very spirited battle in Rotax Junior where Mackenzie Clark is inching closer to his first major junior victory. He qualified on the pole-position and steered his way to win the PreFinal over Xavier Harris. However Harris got the jump in the Final, going to lead on lap one. Clark kept the leader in his sights and appeared to be setting up for a final lap pass, but Harris defended perfectly and Clark was unable to execute a pass for the lead, settling for second. third went to Dale Curran Jr, who moved up to Junior and made his first Canadian start of the year this weekend. Curran has been busy racing in the USA this season.
A dozen strong drivers took to the track in Rotax Mini-Max and it was Marcello Paniccia who took the reigns and controlled the afternoon from the front of the pack. Paniccia was dominant and drove his way to a 3-second victory. Austin Boyle was Paniccia’s closest competitor and crossed the finish line in second while Anthony Sardelitti finished third. A pair of Micro-Max drivers also joined in the action where Joseph Launi finished ahead of Jordan Smith in the Final.
Round two of the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge takes place in three weeks time back at Mosport Kartways on Saturday July 29. Briggs & Stratton drivers will also have the chance to take part in the CRFKC Briggs & Stratton Summer Festival on Sunday July 30.