Savaglio Sweeps 50-Strong Senior Lite at Cup Karts Opener

Gianluca Savaglio showcased that he still has it in a Briggs kart over the weekend as the two-stroke regular managed an impressive weekend sweep of the 51-driver Senior Lite division at the Cup Karts Canada Division presented by blackcircles.ca at Karting Trois-Rivieres in Quebec.

With one of the largest fields of Briggs Senior drivers in the past decade, all eyes throughout the weekend were on the Senior Lite category, split into two groups for practice and the heat races, and even required a third group for Qualifying. The class was stacked with talent too, including proven race winners Jaden Harry, Kevin King, Nicky Palladino, Leopold Schrevel, Jon Treadwell, and Alex Murphy to name a few.

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Qualifying on Saturday saw the top-26 drivers separated by less than a second led by Kevin King (BirelART), who timed his run perfectly to catch a small draft of the kart ahead at the right point of the lap to post the purple lap time.

The progressive heats were intense and the decision was made to start 40 karts for the Saturday Feature. The top 15 from the second round of heat races locked in and the rest had to go through a last-chance race.

With 40 karts rolling off the grid for the Feature, everyone in the paddock was trackside to catch a glimpse as Schrevel (Kart Republic) and Savaglio (CL Kart) led the field to green after winning the second round of heat races.

A solid push from Palladino (Ricciardo Kart) helped Savaglio launch to the early race lead with Schrevel, King and Vassil Tchiplakov (Ricciardo Kart) in tow.

In the opening laps, King didn’t waste much time moving by Schrevel and Palladino, both in corner four, to move into second place and the race for the lead was on.

Savaglio surrendered the lead on lap seven but battled back on King to regain control on lap eight and that set off a flurry of passes on the final two laps, but all of them would be behind Savaglio.

While looking for a way by Savaglio, King was overtaken by Schrevel and Treadwell on the back straight on the final lap. He was able to retake one spot back from Treadwell in the final corners but that was all it took to determine the podium.

Savaglio celebrated across the finish line while Schrevel continued his hot start to the season with a runner-up finish. King completed the podium just ahead of Treadwell and Jaden Harry (CL Kart) with Palladino falling all the way back to sixth at the finish.

Qualifying on Sunday came down to the final lap where Alex Murphy (CL Kart) narrowly edged out Harry by 0.045 seconds for the top spot with Lucas Nanji (Kart Republic) in third followed by a tie between Savaglio and King for fourth.

A scary incident in the first heat race saw Gavin Goldie (Intrepid) go hard into and over the barriers in corner one required some medical attention and that forced the Cup Karts officials to pause for lunch a little early. Thankfully, after a quick trip to the medical centre, Goldie returned to the track but will be on the sidelines for a bit.

After the break, Savaglio was able to move forward and take a heat race win while King managed to get the win in the second heat to line them both up on the front row for the Final, which would feature 47 karts taking the green flag.

The race was a masterclass run by Savaglio, who led every lap. Palladino glued to his rear bumper early on and the pair opened a small gap over Treadwell and Ari Korkodilos (EOS Kart) while the rest of the pack behind was throwing up dust from dropped wheels often. King was knocked off track early and fell well down the order. Ryder Hare (Kosmic) and Nanji were also knocked out early after running in the top ten, as were Harry and Mathieu Ducharme (Kart Republic).

The 15-lap race was pretty quiet up front until the end. Working together, Treadwell and Korkodilos inched closer lap after lap until they finally caught the lead pair with two laps to go and similar to Saturday’s final lap, when Palladino tried for a move on Savaglio for the lead, he wound up losing two spots instead. Treadwell and Korkodilos slipped by on the back straight and Savaglio defended the final two laps beautifully to remain on top.

Rounding the final corner, he celebrated the weekend sweep. Treadwell followed to finish in second spot with Korkidilos holding off Palladino at the finish line to join them on the podium. Murphy ended up fifth with 41 karts in total making it to the finish line.

Reflecting on the enjoyment he had driving the Karting Trois-Rivieres circuit, Savaglio was very pleased with his first visit to the facility.

“I really like tracks that are technical and involve being a good driver to be fast and this was one of them. It’s fun when you don’t depend on track position to be in a position to win. It feels great to win both days and start the championship well. I need to thank my parents and everyone at PSL and PRO for their help and support.”

The Cup Karts Canada Division presented by blackcircles.ca will be back in action in four weeks’ time when the series shifts to Ontario for round two. Racers will visit the Lombardy Karting track near Smiths Falls, many for the first time, on July 8-9. Registration will open soon on CupKarts.com.