Chris and Daniel continue to do double duty at Mosport in 2017, taking part in both club racing and the arrive and drive CRKC series. While the karts aren’t as quick in CRKC, competition is still tough.
Fresh off the high of his first podium of the season, Chris was hoping for more from this race. With all the karts running well, and a track configuration that Demaras is familiar with, Chris hoped to be on the podium again. But 4th in qualifying, and finishing order, was the maximum the senior Demaras could extract.
Daniel’s day was very different.
At CRKC Race 3, Daniel had dominated, topping every session, and taking victory from pole position. However, the previous day’s training session in the superior, and much quicker Briggs karts, had thrown him off.
“I did over 100 laps yesterday, and I got used to the braking points and turn in points. But those Briggs & Stratton karts are way faster than the CRKC karts. I was slamming on the brakes for the hairpin while other kids were still going full throttle.”
Daniel set extremely consistent times throughout every session (to within 1/10th) but the times were at the bottom end of the speed charts. Luckily, VRS team principal James Treadwell stopped by to see how his young protégé was doing, just in time to give some advice.
“Get aggressive. These karts are much slower. You have to drive it aggressive into the corners. It’ll stick. You’re still driving like you were yesterday, but those faster karts require a much earlier braking point. You have to adapt your driving style. Adapt to the kart and the conditions!”
Daniel posted a big improvement, qualifying third, and finishing just a fraction of a second behind the second place kart. Being a young racer starting to come to grips with his Briggs kart, Daniel is still learning to adapt. Previous weeks have shown he has the speed in CRKC karts, but this week, the bottom step of the podium was the result.
Despite not being ecstatic, Daniel continued his run of podium finishes.
