The second doubleheader of the year for the Demaras Auto Racing Team took place at Innisfil Kartways on a hot and busy weekend. On a rare off weekend for Goodwood Kartways’ club series, some drivers headed over to Innisfil for practice ahead of Innisfil’s KartStars round, including friend of the family Igor Manukov running his first season in ROK Senior.
The weekend was run on a different layout to the one used a week earlier, going uphill and featuring four hairpins. Daniel struggled in morning practice, both due to having no experience on the layout, and a lack of brake pressure. A spin in qualifying left him in fifth place.
Full-time dad and part-time mechanic Chris Demaras was in a great mood after winning his CRKC race the night before. For the second week in a row, Demaras senior proudly wore his medal in the paddock all day long, trying not to get it wrapped around the axle.
After watching his father turn wrenches, Daniel was nervous about whether the kart would hold together.
In the pre-final, Demaras had a great start, moving to second by turn three and nearly taking the lead, however he couldn’t hold these positions and fell back to fifth. After some coaching from Leonard, Daniel approached the track differently in the final.
Daniel’s start wasn’t as good as his start in the prefinal, but made some passes under braking to move into third place. After defending that position on Matthew White for four consecutive corners in the infield, White made the pass into the first braking zone the next lap. Daniel was passed again, down into fifth in the later stages of the race, but a last lap overtake gave him fourth, third in class.
With Daniel third and teammates Santiago and Rocco both scoring podiums, New Speed Motorsports enjoyed their first weekend with all three drivers bringing home trophies.
Sunday’s CKC race was more difficult, with Daniel unable to find the pace of Goodwood regulars Chad Webster and Brennan Taylor who ended the day on the podium with Innisfil veteran Matthew White. Despite some exciting moments early in the pre-final and final race, Daniel ended the day in fifth place. The highlight of the day for New Speed Motorsports was young Elijah Joshi (who missed Saturday’s race) taking 2nd place Sunday in Briggs Cadet. Every member of the team on the podium on the same weekend. Quite an accomplishment!
After gaining valuable experience at Innisfil Indy, Daniel looks to put it to use in the KartStars Canada series.
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