Alberta’s Matthew Taskinen is going back to the Rotax Grand Finals after taking the victory and the championship this weekend at the Max Karting Group Canada Final.
Battling on his home track, EDKRA Rotax Mojo Raceway, for the title with Griffin Dowler (Apollo/TonyKart) in the Rotax DD2 class, Taskinen held an advantage in the standings entering the weekend and he never wavered. Staying on top in every session but one, Taskinen (CRG Canada/CRG) built upon his points total and capped the weekend off with a convincing victory in the Final.
The Rotax DD2 class did shrink to only three entries in round two of the Canada Final and so it came down to an arms race between Taskinen, Dowler and Dylan Ludwig (Red L/BirelART). The trio would separate in each session with Taskinen taking the Final by six seconds over Dowler and then Ludwig.
For Taskinen, qualifying for the Rotax Grand Finals for the third time is very important since he wasn’t able to compete the last time due to the event getting cancelled in 2020.
“My former mechanic Kyle Herder told me that getting the second one feels like it’s a lot more challenging than getting the first, especially with me qualifying back in 2020 but it got cancelled due to Covid. You never know when you will be able to go back and considering how my first time went, I did not perform the best, so I am very excited to have a chance at redemption and hopefully perform well, which I think is very possible considering how much I have learned and matured since Italy in 2016. I believe I won’t be in my own head and overcome how big and spectacular of an event the Grand Finals actually is.”
In qualifying for Team Canada, Taskinen joins Lucas Pernod, who won round one of the Canada Final but secured his ticket with a win at the Canadian Open. A third Rotax DD2 ticket will be awarded at the Canadian Karting Championships in Ontario and the team will be completed to compete in Portugal this fall.
