Friday was the first official day of competition at the KartStars Canada National Championships. After morning warm-up, the competitors prepared for 2-lap, single-kart qualifying that looked a lot like IndyCar qualifying on an oval. No draft, now tow, two laps to set the fastest lap.
Despite optimal conditions and a fresh set of slicks, Daniel could manage only P6, a mere 0.141 seconds off the pace. That’s how close the competition was.
When the green flag dropped on Heat Race 1, Demaras’ poor qualifying position (outside row three) got worse as he could not get the inside lane for Turns 1, 2, 3 & 4. By the middle of lap 1, Daniel was in 8th place!
But a stunning recovery drive from Daniel was in the works. He passed 5 karts in the 10 lap race, including a last lap pass on rival Eli Yanko. Demaras finished a mighty 3rd while also setting the fastest lap of the race at 42.958 seconds.
When Demaras’ session was over, he and the New Speed Motorsports crew watched teammates Rocco Simone, Santiago Ramirez and Elijah Joshi battle on track while Briggs Senior star racer Chad Webster provided the play-by-play on the PA system.
At the close of the first day of competition, Cody Schindel from CKN took group photos of each division. Racers were socially distanced on track posing next to their helmets, and in the case of championship contender Logan Ploder, his dog.
Competition resumes tomorrow morning at 9:00 am.
Congratulations on third place Daniel. Blair