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GreenSpeed Karting/TonyKart - Florida Winter Tour Review

Courtesy of eKartingNews.ca


Ontario junior driver Cameron Morrison headed south recently to debut the new GreenSpeed Karting / TonyKart package at the Florida Winter Tour International Rotax Max Challenge. After a successful 2008 season in Ontario karting, the junior pilot is leading the renaissance of GreenSpeed and it began at Homestead Karting just outside Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Morrison headed to Florida having closed the Ontario season with back-to-back Regional Mini-Max wins and despite a four month layoff and relatively little seat time, the team set a lofty goal of a top-ten finish from the weekend. Two days of prep work teed up two days of racing, and Morrison was quick to acknowledge the great handling and excellent response of his new TonyKart. Uncertainty quickly turned to confidence, and working with veteran driver/tuner Curtis Fox was an invaluable experience. The team was gaining momentum in all respects as Saturday qualifying began, but a curb-surfing ride exiting turn four led to a damaged gear and P26 for the prefinal. GreenSpeed had work to be done.

“Qualifying was never Cam’s strongest session,” said Morrison’s father and GreenSpeed Karting / TonyKart team owner Mike Morrison. “But he always seems to save a little something extra for when the green flag drops.” Such was certainly the case in the first prefinal run as the twelve-year-old carved through the field. Gaining positions over every lap but one in a ten lap heat, Morrison climbed to P13 by the checker - thirteen positions ahead of where he started. He soon learned though, that picking off the remaining 13 drivers was an entirely different task. He held station through much of the Saturday main, and put race one for GreenSpeed Karting in the books with a P14 finish.

“We are always confident, but never cocky,” Morrison noted Saturday night. “I believe I can win every race I enter, but that’s not a sign of disrespect to any of my competitors, it’s just the mindset I approach racing with - it makes me push myself harder and not settle for where the number suggest I belong in the pack. I love accomplishing what noone expects me to.”

Sunday action was almost and identical for the team as Morrison qualified 24th. Starting from the outside line on day two, the Pickering native once again produced a solid prefinal and took eleven spots to finish exactly as he had done the day before, P13. Sadly, that would be the extent of his racing on the day. A red flag incident in the main event sent the Mini-Max competitors off the course and to the end of the schedule, but after additional red flags on the day Florida simply ran out of daylight. While it created a less than memorable sunset, the team will now have a hat trick of opportunities in February when the Tour resumes.

With points from two prefinals and one main event, Morrison will return next month sitting 11th in Championship points, just one spot off the team goal of top ten. For more information on GreenSpeed Karting / TonyKart, including arrive-and-drive opportunities for remaining rounds of the Florida Winter Tour, please visit http://www.greenspeedkarting.com