4/6 Juniors Scratch and Claw Their Way into the Final

It has been a cutthroat week for our ROK Junior drivers at the ROK Cup SuperFinal. The largest category of the event, and by far the most competitive, has been thrilling since the first practice.

Our Juniors have been right in the thick of it all, and after 5 rounds of heat races and two PreFinals, four of the six drivers advanced to the Final on Saturday afternoon.

Leonardo Serravalle led the team into the main event, ranked 19th after showing the pace of the leaders, but a DNF in heat 1 set him on the back foot for the rest of the event. Quinn Tyers lined up in 27th after a DNF in the Prefinal that saw him smashed off track on the opening lap and almost back into the pit lane. Cole Medeiros continued his strong recovery after his tough go in Qualifying to rank 29th, and Roman Doria was the final Canadian to make the Final, ranked 34, getting a starting spot on the second-last row.

Unfortunately, Ethan Tyers and Ryker Magro missed the cut, ranking 41st and 57th, respectively.

The Final was wicked, with the opening five laps seeing karts on full defensive and plenty of contact. Medeiros was forced wide in the opening corners, regaining in last and about 20 kart lengths behind the field. Serravalle had his hands full early, mixing it up to stay within the top twenty, while Tyers and Doria were just looking anywhere for an opportunity.

The 16-lap main event flew by as the action never stopped.

Cole Medeiros – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

Serravalle clawed his way as high as 16th before falling back one spot to cross the finish line in 17th.

Tyers drove through the back half of the field, crossing in 21st, albeit with a warning from the race steward.

Medeiros caught the tail of the field, and even though it felt like every time he made a pass, a roadblock sent him back down, he finally made some progress at the end and got to 26th.

Doria was in the same mix as Medeiros for most of the race but eventually slipped back and had to settle for 30th.

After the race, Tyers had an activated push back bumper, moving him down to 27th, while Serravalle, Medeiros and Doria all moved up a spot in the final classification.

Honestly, it was a pretty strong showing from our Juniors this year, in a category that hasn’t been too kind to our Canadians at this event. Four in the final, all moving forward by the finish, is something we’re proud of.

Quinn Tyers – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

Roman Doria – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN