MRFKC 2021 @ Canadian Mini Indy - Saturday Notebook
The Motomaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship (MRFKC) 2021 season kicked off this weekend at Canadian Mini Indy in Hamilton, Ontario. Approximately 125 karts were registered in the two-day national event as of Saturday morning. A total of nine classes competed throughout the day.
Rain came down hard in the morning for practice, qualifying, and most of the pre-finals. But the weather did clear up later in the day with most of the final events going green in dry conditions.
Pacza Dominates ROK Junior Opener
Logan Pacza was the driver to beat in ROK Junior today as he led the way in both the wet and dry, dominating the slippery pre-final and the 30-lap final later in the day that went ahead in the dry.
“It was a great day. We had a lot of experience from the Dash for Cash for racing in the wet and we were just super consistent today,” said Pacza. “Tomorrow we’ll see what kind of position we’re in and try to make the best of it.”
Pacza won the MRFKC Briggs & Stratton Junior driver’s title in 2020, and stepped up to the ROK class for this season.
“I just want to thank Prime Powerteam, Trevor Wickens, Anthony Tolfa, and everyone under the tent … and my parents for everything they do. Also to Canadian Mini Indy and Ron Fellows for putting the series together again.”
Considering it was Pacza’s first MRFKC event in the two-stroke class, series officials deemed it an excellent display of performance and preparation worthy of the $500.00 Champion Fine Tuned Award.
Woods-Toth Begins ROK Senior Title Defence with Win on Saturday
Last year’s ROK Senior champion Patrick Woods-Toth was not at all satisfied with his fourth place pre-final finish in pouring wet conditions late on Saturday morning. When the weather dried up later in the afternoon it was Woods-Toth who surged to the lead and took a dominant win in Race 1 of MRFKC 2021.
“I don’t think I’m too great in the rain,” Woods-Toth said honestly. “For the final it dried up and from lap one we had a good start and got to the lead and never looked back, so it was a good race.”
“It should be dry tomorrow,” he continued. “We are so fast here in the dry so if we can keep that up we’ll be good to go. I want to thank Prime, Trevor Wickens, Ken O’Keefe, Rev Performance Materials, AM Engines, and really all the Prime Powerteam for just being a great big family.”
Other Storylines on the Day
Pfaff High Performer Awards were given out to competitors in both the Junior and Senior class at the end of the day on Saturday. Junior High Performer was Briggs & Stratton Junior Lite race winner Sebastian Day who had a great back and forth battle for the lead with Joey Lecce. Eventually, Day came out on top with a late move for the victory. Senior High Performer on the day was Briggs & Stratton Senior driver Jordan Prior who won both the final and pre-final. Prior battled hard at the top of the pack with second place finisher David Barnes and Logan Ploder, who rounded out the podium. Both of the Pfaff High Performers received a $350.00 cheque each.
The brand new Chevrolet Team Spirit Award was given to Briggs & Stratton Junior Lite competitor Callum Moore, who has also been dedicating time and effort recently to fundraising money for SickKids Hospital with his initiative called “Racing for Kids.” Callum and his team embody all of the elements of this new award. Great job Callum! This award will be given out at every event throughout the season and comes in the form of a $500.00 cheque.
The Motul Smooth Move Award, a $300.00 cheque, is another new addition to MRFKC awards that will be given to a driver who displays excellent race craft in a final race. The competitor today who achieved this was Briggs & Stratton Cadet driver Edward Kennedy, who started 13th on the grid for the final race and finished an outstanding 5th at the checkered flag.
Also noteworthy on the opening day of 2021 MRFKC competition was the return of a sizeable Open Shifter class with 10 entries as of Saturday morning. The return of these karts and the awesome standing starts was something that brought all the competitors and families to the edge of the fence to watch.
The complete list of Saturday Race 1 podium finishers is as follows:
Briggs & Stratton Cadet
1. Jackson Pearsall
2. Jackson Morley
3. Alexis Baillargeon
ROK Mini
1. Pearce Wade
2. Major Makovskis
3. Jensen Burnett
Briggs & Stratton Junior Lite
1. Sebastian Day
2. Joey Lecce
3. Ethan Sikma
Briggs & Stratton Junior
1. Callum Baxter
2. Joseph Launi
3. Noah Taylor
ROK Junior
1. Logan Pacza
2. Callum Baxter
3. Joseph Launi
ROK Senior
1. Patrick Woods-Toth
2. Dale Curran
3. Adam Ali
Briggs & Stratton Senior
1. Jordan Prior
2. David Barnes
3. Logan Ploder
Briggs & Stratton Masters
1. Marc Stehle
2. Rich Folino
3. Levon Beaudin
Open Shifter
1. Josh Conquer
2. Gianluca Savaglio
3. Lucio Masini