A year ago, the Rally Against Hunger was just an idea brainstormed by Crazy Leo, Daniel and Chris Demaras during a Race Lab event. Demaras Racing would organize the event, and Leo would offer up the passenger seat of his rally car, plus a Race Lab experience, as the Grand Prize. Soon after, Duane from Can-Jam Motorsports offered up a ride in the Drift Taxi for the runner up. Their generosity made this event a reality.
Weeks of planning, and one day of racing generated a total of 1,220 lbs in food donations for the Daily Bread Food Bank.
Qualifying positions were determined by food donation, and it would be a shame not to acknowledge top donors Graydon, Christian and Chad who each donated more than 200 lbs of non-perishable foods.
Prelim Race #1
P1 Graydon Bunn
P2 Chad Webster
P3 Keidon Fletcher
P4 Miggy Montano
P5 David Tolton
P6 Ben McPherson
P7 Santiago Ramirez
P8 Dave Biagioni
P9 York Biagioni
P10 Kyle Shingler
Prelim Race #2
P1 Christian Menezes
P2 Nathan Wilkie
P3 Nigel Lall
P4 Miles McDonald
P5 Alex Chong
P6 Keith Musgrave
P7 Sebastian Espinoza-Mejia
P8 Dylan Shan
P9 Gord McPherson
P10 Scott Fletcher
The prelims were without a doubt the most exciting moments of the Rally Against Hunger. Not a single person finished in their starting position, and racers jostled for position. In Prelim 1, Chad moved up one spot to take the win, while Santiago made up 5 positions to finish P2, while obvious mechanical issues dropped veteran kart racers Keidon and Miggy below the P5 cutoff.
In Prelim 2, Christian put up a stong fight against Nathan, but had to concede the position, and would finish 1-2, opposite of their starting spots. But the Hard Charger Award has to go to Gord McPherson who made a run from the last row to make the Final, finishing P5. Totally impressive.
The Grand Finale was still an exciting race, but didn’t have as much passing as the previous rounds. Miles and Santiago swapped their starting positions, finishing P4 and P5. Similarly, Christian took P2 from Chad, who settled into P3. But there was no stopping Nathan Wilkie. One of the most experienced racers at K1, Wilkie even raced for Team Canada with Dawson Campbell and Daniel Demaras at the K1 Speed World Championships this past July. Once Nathan pulled a gap it was smooth sailing to the checkered flag. Another big win for Wilkie!
After the checkered flag, the racers gathered at the podium for the awards ceremony. The first person to be recognized was the man who took overall Pole Position for the Rally Against Hunger, Graydon Bunn. This was, after all, a charity event and Graydon showed what a generous and person he is by bringing in the largest donation. He seemed quite pleased!
Racers that finished off the podium were presented with a commemorative medal and prize pack courtesy of CSCS and Reeve Webster Racing.
- Third place finisher Chad Webster will now get to drive the No. 16 MagiSeal Miata this summer at Sunset Speedway. It will be his first time on a banked oval.
- Christian Menezes will get to take his family for a ride in the insane Drift Taxi at a CSCS event at Cayuga, with Can-Jam’s Roel at the wheel.
- And on February 10th, Nathan Wilkie will take part in a Rally Car Experience in a specially-prepared Race Lab car on a snowy rallycross track, then take a Shotgun Ride with ‘Crazy Leo’ in Disaster!
Event champion Nathan, and podium finishers Christian and Chad deserve recognition for their incredible driving. Yet everyone who participated in the Rally Against Hunger should hold their heads high knowing that the food drive was an overwhelming success, and that their help will make the holiday season a little brighter for many families across Toronto this year.
4 thoughts on “RALLY AGAINST HUNGER: 1,220 Lbs. of Food and a new Rallyist”