After a long, hot day of racing on Saturday, Goodwood Kartways sprung back into action Sunday morning for day two of KarStars Canada round one.
After competing in the new KarStars Senior category on Saturday, Daniel returned to Briggs Masters in a bigger than usual field with drivers from across Ontario competing. Demaras started strong in morning practice, leading all four laps of his session in kart No. 412 with a setup refined over three days at the track. Qualifying saw Daniel use the draft effectively by linking up with Levon Beaudin who qualified second to Daniel’s fourth.
The first of two Heat Races got off to bad start for Daniel as his entire row simply didn’t “go” at the drop of green flag. Dropping back in the pack, Daniel had to go through the grass to avoid an incident at Turn 4. After falling to 13th on the first lap, Daniel started pushing, making his way through the field up to 9th place by the end of the race.
Heat Race 2 got off to a much better start, Daniel dropped one position on the outside of Turn One right off the start, but later took advantage of a collision between front runners Eli Yanko and Marc Stehle to finish fourth. Due to several other drivers having DNFs and inconsistent finishes, Daniel combination of finishes netted him a third place starting place in the pre-final, his highest starting position of the day’s sessions.
As the pre-finals started for other classes, it started raining at the track. What started as insignificant sprinkles of rain became just enough to put on rain tires, until the kart was on grid when a wave of torrential rain came over the track, causing the ongoing race to be red flagged until the rain held up. After half an hour of hiding in the tent, further setting up the kart for the super slippery conditions, the rain slowed down and the track workers began clearing up the puddles on the circuit.
After much waiting, the Masters field head out on a soaking wet track for the pre final. The field got off to a cautious start, with Daniel dropping a position to Yanko on the first lap. As the polesitter spun in turn four, Daniel settled into a groove, briefly running behind Stehle until he too spun off, allowing Daniel to take third place back. Stehle rejoined the pack, getting passed Daniel and looking for a move on the second place driver. Daniel went to the inside in turn five and passed both of them in one go. Driving safe and smart, Daniel brought the kart home in second place.
Between the pre-final and the final, the rain stopped and the track dried up, allowing everyone to run slicks for the final. Daniel started on the front row, P2, next to his new rival, Yanko.
Starting in second place meant Daniel would be on stuck on the outside through the corners 1 2 3 and 4. Daniel dropped down to sixth, but immediately made the pass for fifth in turn 9.
As the first four drivers formed a pack and used the draft to gap the field, Daniel began to run them down. Despite being 10 kart lengths back and having nobody to draft with, Daniel set fast lap after fast lap, much to the delight of announcer Mike Preston. Demaras took advantage of the leaders squabbling and joined the pack with three laps to go. Preparing an assault, Daniel put a move on Eli Yanko in turn 5, but the veteran slammed the door shut, cutting Daniel off at the apex, and a collision resulted. Daniel dropped all the way down to eleventh. Daniel drove furiously to try to recover positions, taking 9th place at the checkered flag, later promoted to 8th after a competitor was given a penalty.
After a day of hard work where the No. 412 New Speed Motorsport kart Powered by PRO was one of the fastest on track, an unfortunate incident stopped Demaras from taking a podium finish. Despite mediocre results at KartStars round one, Daniel is filled with confidence in his ability and outright speed. Look out for Demaras as he strives for racing glory at KarStars round two at Innisfil Indy next weekend!
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