Thrilling Action and A New Rotax Senior Champion!

Team Canada has a new member to compete in Rotax Senior at the upcoming Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

Using his great speed and consistent results, Mark Newson (OD Karts/OTK) racked up the most points during the two-day, two-race event at the Max Karting Group Canada Final to secure the title and the coveted ticket to one of karting’s premier events.

With a full grid of 36 Rotax Seniors at the Max Karting Group Canada Final, the anticipation level was high all weekend long at the Rotax Mojo Raceway as to who would come out on top and win the weekend championship.

On Saturday, it was all Griffin Dowler (Apollo/TonyKart) as the local hot shoe qualified on the pole position and won both the Prefinal and Final races to take the early championship lead. Newson remained close to Dowler throughout the day, finishing second in the PreFinal and then helping Dowler slip by early race leader Timothe Pernod (SCR-PSL/BirelART) in the Final to finish runner-up on the day. Ian Qiu (BBR/TonyKart) and Marco Kacic (Estoras/CompKart) completed the top five in the Final to stay within the championship leaders.

It was a completely different day on Sunday with Newson ripping off a blistering lap in Qualifying to secure the pole position while his championship rivals, with the exception of Qiu in P3, were well down the order. Dowler could only manage P6, Kacic was P9 and Pernod was all the way back in the 14th spot.

With a cool and collective drive the PreFinal, Newson controlled the entire race to take over the championship lead. Qiu moved up to second place with a runner-up finish when disaster struck for Dowler. While making a move on Sterling Mackenzie (OTK) for fifth place, the two made contact and it sent Dowler spinning off track, ending his race and his championship hopes.

With everything on the line in the Final and the two championship leaders on the front row, all eyes were on the Rotax Senior grid for the main event of the Canada Final weekend.

Newson got the jump from the start, leading the opening laps with heavy pressure from Qiu on his rear bumper. The lead changed on lap four with a nice pass from Qiu to take control of the race. Newson settled in behind, the two William Oliver (RAD/CompKart) for company, while breaking away from the rest.

Qiu’s pace was strong in the Final as he was able to break away from Newson lap after lap to open up a lead.

All of the action in the race happened behind the lead pack as the front four remained unchanged after lap three.

Qiu was the first to the finish line to win the race while Newson stayed ahead of Oliver to secure the championship. MacKenzie and Aidan Carruthers (Alloy Racing/Kosmic) completed the top five.

Pernod advanced up to P7 to confirm third in the championship while Dowler charged from 31st on the starting grid to P12 at the finish.

Newson joins Team Canada for the first time in his karting career and will compete at the Sarno International Circuit in Italy this fall.