New Winners Highlight KartStars Round 1 at Goodwood

Cold, wet and windy pretty much sums up the weather over the weekend at Goodwood Kartways for the opening round of the 2025 KartStars Canada Championship, but that didn’t hold the event back from having the biggest turnout of two-cycle competitors since the series’ inception. With a complete shift to the Vortex VLR engine package for the Junior, Senior and Masters categories, along with great participation from many of the kart clubs in the central Ontario region, some of the best racing was on display at Goodwood over the weekend.

The Rok Cup Canada classes had their event spread over two race days, beginning on Saturday with Qualifying and a pair of heat races, which gave the drivers three different track conditions to challenge them. Qualifying on Saturday morning was dry with a little sun providing the warmest temperatures of the weekend. During the first round of heat races, the skies opened up and rain poured down on the Goodwood circuit, shifting everyone to rain tires before drying conditions shifted most classes back to slick tires for heat two.

Sunday was a little more consistent for weather with cold and windy conditions, creating a very slick surface at Goodwood and an important need for tire temperature and management. The third and final round of heats helped set the grid for the PreFinal, which determined the final starting grid of the weekend.

Two drivers secured their first ever KartStars Canada wins, which the other two added another trophy to their impressive resumes.

Mini ROK

In the youngest category, Mini Rok, the Final came down to the last lap. A head-to-head battle erupted from the drop of the green flag between Jayden Francisco (Nitro Kart) and Asher Pavan (Parolin). The pair traded the lead early until Pavan had a half spin that slowed him up and allowed most of the field to get by before he was back up to speed.

After the spin, Georgo Ho (Nitro Kart) chased down Francisco and was pressuring him for the lead. Unfortunately for Francisco, with two laps remaining, his rear bumper became dislodged, and he received the Meatball flag, ending his race early. This allowed Ho to easily grab the lead, and he cruised around the final lap to secure the race win, his first in KartStars action.

The battle for the podium intensified on the final lap with Aiden Kishun (Exprit) finishing in second place while Tristan Francisco (Nitro Kart) was returned the third position after a bump and run on the final lap from Christian Damianidis (Parolin) earned him a one-position penalty.

George Ho (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

VLR Junior

There was a second first-time KartStars winner and that came in VLR Junior. This hotly contested class featured a number of drivers in contention for the victory throughout the weekend with a different driver leading almost every official session. Kara Dudgeon (JMF/Kart Republic) was the Fast Qualifier. Cole Medeiros (REM/Kosmic) won heat one, while Luca Cariati (REM/TonyKart) was on top in heats two and three. Decklan Deonarine (REM/Kosmic) was the victor in the PreFinal, earning him the pole position for the main event.

Leading the opening laps, Deonarine was pressured by Leonardo Serravalle (REM/Kosmic) for the first half of the race. The pair broke free from the group with Serravalle not letting the early race leader get away. With four laps to go, Serravalle had a big run down the main straight and gave Deonarine a push just before the turn in for corner one. Doing his best to keep the momentum, Deonarine ran wide and bounced over the dirt exiting corner one, causing his chain to fall off from the impact and ending his race before he got to corner two.

This opened the door for Serravalle to slip by and into the race lead. With a healthy margin to second place, Serravalle hit all his marks all the way to the checkered flag, earning his first big victory in two-cycle competition. Cariati drove a great race to finish ahead of the pack in P2 while Quinn Tyers (Goodwood/OTK) completed the podium after two penalties were accessed to Medeiros for contact during his drive to the front.

Leonardo Serravalle (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

VLR Senior

Marking his return to KartStars action, Ayden Ingratta (Pfaff/Gillard) led the group in Qualifying, just edging out Jordan Di Leo (Goodwood/Exprit). The pair were the class of the field throughout the weekend, consistently breaking free from the pack with only Ethan Pollack (Goodwood/Exprit) coming close at times.

In the PreFinal the two were waging war for the race lead when Di Leo went a little too deep into corner eight and partially spun. Losing all his momentum, he fell back to ninth and was forced to start the Final from the middle of the pack.

Ingratta utilized this opportunity to open up a nice gap early in the Final while Di Leo recovered through the field. He worked his way back to second place by lap five, but by then, Ingratta was three seconds ahead and Di Leo couldn’t close the gap. Pollack did his best to stick with his teammate but couldn’t force the issue in the battle for second place and had to settle for third.

Joshua Soumvalis (REM/Kosmic) was fourth to cross the finish line but was penalized for contact on the opening lap, moving Aidan Shimbashi (JMF/Kart Republic) up to fourth place after a solid drive.

Ayden Ingratta (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

VLR Masters

Rounding out the ROK Cup action at Goodwood, a familiar face returned to the top when it mattered most.

In the challenging conditions, Mark Pavan (AMP’D/LN Kart) found himself pointing in the wrong direction a few times, but he kept his focus on the Final and executed when it mattered. After slipping by Paul Rhodes (OTK) early in the race, Pavan had to chase down the early race leader Ivan Hincu (Exprit). With some lap traffic to navigate, Pavan slipped into the race lead with three laps to go and never looked back, taking the race win by 1.6 seconds while Andrew Valenzano (LN Kart) joined the pair on the podium with his best drive of the weekend.

Mark Pavan (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

With the first of five KartStars Canada races in the books, the race for tickets to Italy and Las Vegas is nicely underway.

Round two of the KartStars Canada championship takes place on June 27-28 at the Mosport Karting Centre.