Demaras Racing headed up to Goodwood Kartways for the penultimate race of 2019 TRAK season. Daniel was looking for a strong result on the reverse long-track layout.
On Friday practice, Daniel reduced his lap times by a second during the one hour session, despite a number of lockups in Turn 9. After hitting a kerb, Daniel did litter the track with some random kart parts. The engine kill switch flew off his motor, creating a bit of drama in a day that otherwise went off without a hitch. When Demaras entered pit lane at the end of his session, he couldn’t shut off the engine, so Chris Demaras and Luigi Ferrari discussed just letting the gas tank run empty. John Elphage arrived on scene, pulled the air filter off, and cupped his hand over the carburetor to starve the engine of air; immediate shut off.
As Daniel Demaras’ on track session ended, Chris Demaras’ session began. Round 9 of the Friday Night CRKC was about to begin, and Chris was feeling strong off back to back podium finishes.
Saddled with Kart 90, Demaras never stood a chance. One of the idiosyncrasies of A&D racing is the completely random kart assignment. Chris qualified the under-performing kart in 6th place, had some exceptional battles under the lights, including a double pass (two karts!) in Turn 4. Demaras ran as high as 4th, but had to settle for a 5th pace finish. All in all, Chris enjoyed the aggressive racing, and was happy to see his friend Igor on the podium again, while K1 alumni Dale Goz also made it to the podium in only his fourth CRKC race at Goodwood
With the preparations out of the way, Saturday race day arrived. Daniel felt confident of a strong result this week.
It was a cool morning on race day. A very special day lay ahead. On the reverse layout at Goodwood, there’d be two heat races with randomly assigned starting positions. The results of the heat races would be used to determine the qualifying order for the final race.
Daniel went out for morning practice, and despite a severe lack of grip, really found his groove, flying past several races. Demaras finished the session in fourth place, only 0.2 sec. off of the fastest driver. After reviewing data with PRO data analyst Gianmarco, Daniel was ready for Heat Race 1, where he would start 9th.
Daniel got off to a good start, but lost places to Prior and Ploder. Demaras recovered his positions and passed 4 drivers, but ran out of laps before he could find a way into 6th place, finishing 7th.
Daniel started in 6th position for Heat Race 2, and after another good start, was running fourth. He tried to run down the top three, but couldn’t find the straight line speed needed to catch the leading pack that was using the draft so effectively. Demaras ended up falling back to 6th place at the checkered flag, which is exactly where he would start the Final.
The race didn’t start well, as Daniel lost two places due to a poorly timed overtake. Daniel struggled with the high track temperatures, and seemed stuck in 8th place. At the hairpin, Daniel’s kart began to bicycle, getting up on the two outside wheels. As another racer dove for the inside of the corner, he collided with Demaras, sending both of them off track. Fuming, Daniel hunted down the next competitor and made an aggressive overtake in Turn 5, ending the day 9th.
It was a super day for the whole PRO team, with double podium finishes in Briggs Cadet, courtesy of Santiago Ramirez and Stefano Picerno in first and second respectively. In Briggs Senior, Chad Webster had a break-out day, earning his first win since 2015, while Logan Ploder finished 3rd.
“It was a day with a lot of promise that unfortunately didn’t end well. We had incredible pace in low grip conditions, but lost it all in the afternoon. It’s disappointing to end the day like that, but it means that we have potential, and that the last race of the year could very well be the best one yet. I’m looking forward to ending the year strong.”
Daniel Demaras, No.12 PRO Intrepid Briggs & Stratton SR
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