The first half of a double-header weekend at the Canadian Mini Indy featured nearly 150 racers as the Hamilton Regional Karting Club welcomed the Mosport International Karting Association and the Canadian Karting Challenge for an excellent day of inter-club competition.
The grids were well loaded and the racing was intense as ten categories took to the track. With a great mix of teams, chassis and engines, it was an exciting day for all and for the hosts, a great showcase event.
In Briggs Senior we saw a very calculated race by Logan Ploder (CL Kart) to score the win. He sat behind race leader Jon Treadwell (BirelART) for the duration of the race until two laps to go, where he made his move for the lead. While Treadwell looked for an opportunity to recover the lead position, he left the door open for Jordan Prior (BirelART) to slip inside on the final lap to score the second position, but he ran out of time to attack Ploder for the win. Jeremy Vaillancourt (BirelART) was also part of the lead train but had to settle for fourth, while David Barnes (BirelART) was the victor of the second pack at the checkered flag to take fifth. Briggs Senior was the largest category of the day with 35 entrants.
From our calculations, Patrick Woods-Toth (Prime/BirelART) hasn’t lost a race at the Canadian Mini Indy. He added another ROK Senior victory on Saturday, with an easy cruising in the Final. It will be interesting to see if anyone has anything for him in tomorrow’s CKN Dash for Cash. Robert Soroka (KGR/Redspeed) worked his way forward into a second-place finish ahead of Adam Ali (REM/Kosmic), Andrew Maciel (VSR/TonyKart) and Mathieu Cousineau (BCR/BirelART).
Logan Pacza (Prime/BirelART) was in the driver’s seat for what looked like two victories on Saturday. However, in the ROK Junior Final, Pacza had to withdraw from the race lead when his engine power cut out abruptly after climbing a curb. Surrendering the lead to Joseph Launi (Powerhouse/RS Kart), he held the top spot until the very end, where Frankie Esposito (Prime/BirelART) snuck inside and grabbed the race win. Ryan Maxell (Prime/BirelART) impressed in only his second Junior start to take third, ahead of Marcello Paniccia (PRO/CL Kart) and Yuchen Ye (BCR/BirelART).
Rebounding only a few races later, Pacza controlled the Briggs Junior final, leading all but one lap of the Final. He fought off a challenge from teammate Jordan West (BirelART) to score the win, while Mitchell Morrow (BirelART) made it a Prime Powerteam 1-2-3 after winning a great challenge with Callum Baxter (Kosmic Kart) for the final podium spot. Ethan Bound (CL Kart) was fifth.
In the cadet categories, there was no stopping Major Makovski (PRO/CL Kart) in the Mini Rok Final. He won by 3.4 seconds over Savio Paniccia (PRO/CL Kart) and Pearce Wade (Prime/BirelART). Keaton Pipe (TonyKart) held off a race-long challenge from Jackson Pearsall (CL Kart) to score his second victory of the summer in Briggs Cadet with Aristeides Theodoropoulos (BirelART) taking third. Finally, Yiannis Maragkakis (Gold Kart) was the winner in Rotax Mini Max over Kaeleb Pinho (GP Kart) and Christopher Jacinto (Intrepid Kart).
A nifty last lap over-under pass in corner one helped Ian Macintyre (CL Kart) to the Briggs Masters win over Andres Lopez (BirelART) and David Miller (TonyKart). Jason Rothman (Awesome Kart) and Eli Yanko (TonyKart) were also part of the lead pack going for the win but wound up fourth and fifth.
Logan McMurray (CL Kart) waited until the final lap to make his move for the lead and he made it stick to overtake his PRO teammate and earn the win in Briggs Junior Lite. Anthony Martella (CL Kart) led every lap except the final over and ended up second, ahead of Sebastian Day (CL Kart), Ethan Sikma (CL Kart) and Joey Lecce (Intrepid Kart).
Finally, in the unpredictable Open Shifter race, Lucio Masini (Powerhouse/RS Kart) took the win by more than ten seconds over Jared Ramnarayan (PRO/BirelART) and Ryan Monteiro (RaceWorx/CRG), as half the field ended up a lap down during the 18-lap pursuit.
We are back in action on Sunday at the Canadian Mini Indy as we help host the third annual CKN Dash for Cash. It’s not too late to decide to race, with registration available at the gate. It’s a great day to compete for excellent prizes and no championship implications.
