Pro Karting took a team of eight drivers across six classes to the 40th annual running of the Junior Sprint Classic. The Pro Karting team has had great success at the Eastern Lions Kart Club over their career as a team and were looking to continue this form!
KA4 Junior Light had a triple driver Pro Karting attack in Benjamin Munro, Pip Casabene and Matthew Ritter. Qualifying was a strong result for the team with Munro and Casabene locking out the front row, and Ritter was just outside the top 5 in position 6!
Munro dominated the heats taking all 4 victories to put himself in pole position for the final. Casabene never left the top 3 drivers including 2nd place in 3 heats. Ritter was on the edge of the top 5 all throughout the weekend setting up a nice final starting position. Casabene was able to turn the table and take victory with Munro behind him in 2nd to grab a Pro Karting 1-2! Ritter was able to put in his best drive of the weekend to make his way up into the top 5 in 4th place.
Darysn Harris was the single driver attack in the KA4 Junior Heavy C+D class for Pro Karting. Harris was able to qualify on the front row of the grid before putting in 4 scintillating heats. Darysn was able to grab 2 heat wins and 2 runners up results to put himself in pole position for the final. Harris put in a great final and crossed the line 1st . However an unfortunate post race penalty dropped him down to position 6 overall in a tough result.
Isabella Mayne was another single driver attack for Pro Karting, this time in the KA4 Junior Heavy class. Mayne did a superb job to qualify inside the top 10 in position 8. Isabella had some tough heat races with 2 DNF results. Mayne was able to get back to position 8 in the final heat before a tough DNF bought her rough weekend to an end.
Lucas Costanzo and Mason Woods were the 2 youngest drivers for Pro Karting in the Cadet 12 class. Costanzo led the way in qualifying landing himself in 10th position while Woods was further back in position 18. Costanzo moved forward across the heats never leaving the top 10 and making his way into the top 5 with 5th in heat 3 and 4th in heat 4. Woods made his way as high as 11th in heat 1 but a DNF and a 19th hurt his starting spot for the final. Costanzo was able to put in a stellar drive and cross the line in position 4 overall! Woods recovered from his earlier DNF and made his way into the top 15 in position 14 overall.
Woods was back out on track for Pro Karting in the Cadet 12 C+D class. Woods qualified on the front row in a great showing of pace. Mason came 2nd in heat 2 and 3 and 7th in heat 1 and 4 to put him out of position 4 for the all important final. Woods was unfortunately involved in a 1st corner incident which put him to the rear of the field. Mason rebounded to make his way back into the top 10 in position 9 overall.
KA3 Junior was another triple Pro Karting attack in Munro, Casabene and Alexander Yoannidis. Munro grabbed his 2nd pole of the weekend with Yoannidis and Casabene both inside the top 10 in position 7 and 9 respectively. Munro led the charge with 3 top 5 finishes in the heat with Yoannidis moving into the top 5 and Casabene staying in the top 10 across the heat races. Yoannidis scorched the asphalt in the final to make his way up onto the podium in 3rd spot overall. Casabene moved up to position 8 overall while Munro unfortunately was shuffled back to position 10.
All 3 drivers competed in the 20 lap champion of champions final with Munro bouncing back to grab 3rd spot. Yoannidis wasn’t far behind in 5th with Casabene right behind in position 6.
Pro Karting manager Adam Lindstrom spoke post weekend on the team’s strong results across the weekend. “We are super happy with our young team’s performance on the weekend, Saturday couldn’t have been better with pole positions and heat race wins. Sunday was also great, with a few wins in the finals.
“We now turn our focus to the ROK Cup festival at Oakleigh in two weeks’ time”.
Pro Karting will head to Oakleigh in a few weeks time looking for more strong results for their team.