Green Speed Karting

GreenSpeed Karting Prepares to Take the Green Flag on New Season

Article by eKartingNews.ca

With every new karting season comes new hopes and new aspirations, and in some cases, a new team. While not new to the Ontario karting scene, GreenSpeed Karting has new ownership and a new direction. From the beginning, the new team concept behind GreenSpeed Karting was built around putting the drivers at the centre of everything the team does. And there are some advantages to being the new guy, looking to move a program forward in a unique direction. In a sport loaded with baggage, GreenSpeed Karting just may be a fresh approach, a new way to do karting.

“There are people out there looking for this type of program,” comments Mike Morrison, the new owner of GreenSpeed Karting. “And the reception from the karting community has been good I have to say.”

Securing two of the industries most well-known and respected tuners went a long way to establishing Morrison’s commitment to this program. Aaron DeHeus and Mike Roth are on board as chassis tuners and driving coaches, along with GreenSpeed pioneer Ted Greenwood as engine support expert.

Roth, a successful racer in his own right, was equally excited about the possibility of working with Morrison, DeHeus and the GreenSpeed team.

“Aaron DeHeus and I have a long term friendship in karting, and I’m very excited to be working with Aaron, Mike, and the entire GreenSpeed team in 2009,” said Roth in a recent team press release.

Morrison is no stranger to closing the deal and building programs around customer service. As Senior Vice President of Sales for a large call center support company, Morrison understands that converting a customer’s expectations into reality takes commitment and determination.

“My job is to lead and then get out of way,” smiles Morrison from his daytime offices in Toronto. “Then you let the professionals do their job. The program we created had to be different. People in this sport will expect to see results.”

With only a few weeks left before the Ontario karting season gets underway, GreenSpeed Karting has been building their driver roster. In fact the team did not lose a single driver and has now been able to pick up five new members. The most recent additions to the team will expand not only the team numbers but also the classes that GreenSpeed Karting will contest in 2009.

With this being a program built around the drivers not the product, Morrison had to get the team part of the equation right. The door was open for change, a change that required the signing of drivers with experience and a commitment to the vision. In the GreenSpeed environment, the sharing of information across the team is key. By all accounts Morrison and company have been able to deliver in spades. A total of eight drivers will make up as many as 15 entries in seven different classifications.

The 2009 GreenSpeed Karting Official Race Team roster is a mix of champions, veterans and rising stars.

Drivers:

• Darren White: Rotax DD2, Senior Rotax
• Ryan Horses: ICC
• Marc Stehle: Honda Senior, Senior Rotax, TaG Senior
• Melissa Curran: Senior Rotax, TaG Senior
• Jonathon Treadwell: Senior Light, Senior Rotax, TAG Senior
• Justine Treadwell: Senior Light
• Cameron Morrison: Junior Heavy, Junior Rotax
• Ethan Livingston: Junior Rotax

Racing Operations:

• Aaron DeHeus: Tuner and Driver Coach
• Mike Roth: Tuner and Driver Coach
• Ted Greenwood: Engine Support

For 2009, the focus for GreenSpeed Karting is on the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship, specifically the Rotax and Honda classes. The team will also compete in a couple of select Coupe de Montreal events and some club dates as well. Important to the team and it’s drivers will be the 2009 Canadian Nationals being held at Goodwood Kartways in early August.

In an effort to spotlight performance and enhance team focus, GreenSpeed is putting the finishing touches on some championship prizes up for grabs for both drivers and tuners. The mandate is to run the most professional kart racing team in Ontario, focusing on and valuing teamwork both on and off the track, and striving for the absolute best results they can achieve every weekend, for every driver.

They started off the year with a new website, dedicated to promoting the drivers and communicating to the karting industry in a timely manner. GreenSpeed Karting gets its Tony Kart product support from one of Canada’s leading karting companies, SH Karting of Brossard, Quebec. Through SH, GreenSpeed Karting is able to offer competitive pricing, wide product selection and great support.

While there are not a lot of changes to the Green Nation, even though it is a homologation year, the Tony Kart factory has made some moves forward with a new and improved DD2 chassis. The new 2009 Tony Karts have already asserted themselves as the dominant chassis again this season with several championships in this year’s Florida Winter Tour, as well as very solid performances in the opening round of the Rotax Euro Challenge. The Green Machine made a clean sweep with an all Green podium in Senior Max, as well as the Race winner in Junior Max.

While still in the early stages of development, Morrison is already looking to the future. The alignment of GreenSpeed Karting to a single seater race team is a near term goal.

“To make that happen we would need to focus on a common goal,” comments Morrison. "There would need to be a strong connection that benefits the driver first and foremost.”

This team is looking to turn green into the colour of winning!