Goldie, Navratil, Di Leo and Murphy Score Opening Day Wins at Kart Stars Round 1

The first big winners of the 2020 Kart Stars Canada season were crowned on Saturday as four Briggs & Stratton categories completed their full schedule of racing amongst a full day of competition at Goodwood Kartways.

Those four Briggs classes completed five competitive sessions throughout the day with Stefano Picerno (Cadet), Steven Navratil (Junior), Gavin Goldie (Junior Lite) and Alex Murphy leading the way in the morning round of Qualifying. Also, Davide Greco (Rok Shifter), Austin Boyle (Rok Junior), John Cariati (Rok Masters VLR) and Kai Dalziel (Rok Senior) also took pole-positions in the Rok Cup Canada categories, which are competing over two days.

Following a pair of heat races to get the competition going, the Briggs classes also endured a Pre Final before taking to the track to determine the first winners of the year.

Jordan Di Leo (Intrepid Kart) led almost every lap of the Briggs Cadet Final, but he had Picerno (Energy Kart) hot on his heels all race long until the two caught some lap traffic. Picerno saw an opportunity, took the lead in corner four, but made contact with the lap kart on the exit of corner five and it derailed his kart, sending him through the air, and eventually to the sidelines, out of the race. This left Di Leo out front with only two laps to go and he was able to hold on to win narrowly over Jensen Burnett (Energy Kart). Ethan Chan (Intrepid Kart) came home third to stand on his first big podium, followed by Rocco Simone (Intrepid Kart) and Ryan Maxwell (Energy Kart), who started the race from 23rd on the grid. The Kart Stars series has also decided to award a podium within the podium for the younger drivers of the category, awarding trophies to Simone, Christian Papp (Kosmic Kart) and David Zhao (Exprit Kart).

In the Briggs Junior Lite category, Gavin Goldie (Exprit Kart) was in a race of his own on Saturday as he went unmatched all day long, cruising in the Final to a 10-second victory. In the tight battle for second, Hunter Twyman (BirelART) just nipped Braedon Fowler (Intrepid Kart) and Christian Menezes (Intrepid Kart) while Tyler Desrosiers (Ricciardo Kart) had a good recovery to finish inside the top-five.It was a three-kart battle for the win in Briggs Junior as pole-sitter Navratil (Awesome Kart), heat race winner Lily Flintoff (TonyKart) and hard charger Nicholas Gilkes (BirelART) all fought hard for the top spot of the podium. It all came down to the final lap and corner nine, where Navratil snuck up the inside to grab the lead. Drag racing up the hill and then down to the finish line, Navratil held on for the win, followed closely by Flintoff and then Gilkes. We’re expecting these three back on Sunday to compete in the Kart Stars Junior category and continue this great feud. Mackenzie Milwain (TonyKart) and Christian Savaglio (Kosmic Kart) rounded out the top-five.

Mixing up the Seniors and Masters, Kart Stars Senior was exciting to watch throughout the day, but no driver was able to contend with Alex Murphy (BirelART). He was very fast in the opening stage of the race and when the battle heated up for the second position, Murphy checked out and said ‘thank you very much for the win’, crossing the finish line 2.7 seconds ahead and unchallenged all race long. Jake Cowden (Awesome Kart) was able to work his way to the second position and held it to the finish line, while Zach Boam (BirelART) was third. He worked his way by Marc Stehle (Charles Leclerc Kart) late the race, while Vassil Tchiplakov (Intrepid) was fifth.

Racing at Goodwood resumes on Sunday as the Rok Cup Canada categories will complete their weekend of competition in addition to the three more Briggs & Stratton classes: Senior, Masters and Kart Stars Junior.