Green Speed Karting

Greenspeed Karting Ready for Second Half of 2010 Season

Greenspeed Karting, the official Ontario dealer for the Tony Kart line of chassis and OTK line of karting accessories has completed a stellar first half the of the 2010 North American karting season. 2010 has seen changes at the second year karting team with new faces and new races part of the teams' success in the first half of the year. The Greenspeed Karting team is made up of nine drivers running in five different classes in four different series. The broad reach of the team is only matched by the broad appeal of the Tony Kart brand, as the famous Italian mark sets records around the world. Proof in racing is found in results. To date in 2010, three of the five track records set at the Mosport International Karting at the recent round of the new Eastern Canadian Karting Championship were set by Tony Karts.

In DD2 the team is lead by multi-time Team Canada member Darren White, who will look to make it three straight invites to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals this August at the Canadian Nationals. The super quick veteran started the year with some decent runs at the Florida Winter Tour and has not slowed down here on home soil taking back-to-back podiums at the most recent round of the ECKC including a win in the Sunday final. White is joined this season by another former Team Canada member, Eric Gerrits who had a solid opening weekend in the ECKC innaugural event at Goodwood Kartways. The duo have been pacing the field with White running inside the top five in points, with Gerrits on his heels in 6th in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship. The DD2 teammates also hold two of the top three spots in the eKartingNews.ca Driver Rankings, with White in the top ranked position and Gerrits in third.

"One of the reasons we really like the eKartingNews.ca Driver Rankings is that they recognize and reward consistency," comments Greenspeed Karting owner Mike Morrison. "We can all find great races or events to write about, but being consistently competitive over a 12-month period speaks more to the success of a program, than the success of a weekend."

In Rotax Senior Max it’s newcomer Andy Jaffray leading the green team as he sits atop the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship points standings in this first season with Tony Kart. Solid runs at all rounds of racing action have rewarded Jaffray with a comfortable points lead, and some breathing room heading into the back stretch of the season.

In Rotax Max Junior the powerful duo of Austin Milwain and Cameron Morrison have provided a solid one-two punch in regional action. The pair has run well in the ECKC and BSRKC. Milwain, always a threat to win, has been at the front end the ECKC with two podiums and two pole-positions to sit second in the championship. Morrison’s season got off to slow a start thanks to an arm fracture in a non-karting related crash that has required a couple of surgeries and rehab. Ethan Livingston, who placed fifth in Rotax Junior at the 2009 ASN Canadian Nationals, has seen limited action in his second season with Greenspeed but has still found his way inside the top ten in the ECKC standings, along with Morrison. In BSRKC Milwain has been the picture of perfection taking all five wins so far in 2010 and showing way in all on track sessions. Morrison and Milwain sit first and third in BSRKC Junior Rotax points through 5 events. Greenspeed’s newest signing is Nick Nogueria, is running in the Junior Max category. Nogueria’s first outing with the green rocket was the BSRKC Leamington round were he paced a solid run and worked himself into the new program.

The Rotax Mini Max class sees JP Hutchinson move to the Tony Kart brand as he looks to move up the regional standings. In his debut run with Greenspeed at the Leamington round of the BSRKC, Hutchinson, starting from the back for the final, drove through the filed for a second place podium finish setting fast lap in the process. Hutchinson currently sits inside the top 5 in both regional series this year and is looking to leverage his new found speed to charge forward in both.

Rounding out the team for 2010 is shifter ace Ryan Horses who is running a limited schedule in the Intercontinental C shifter kart class, competing in a select number events. The veteran kart racer has been at the front of the field at each outing including a great battle for the win in the rain at the Innisfil round of the BSRKC.

The Greenspeed Team has been running driver clinics this week at Mosport, with Morrison, Livingston, Hutchinson, and special guest Arika White all perfecting their craft in preparation for the busy July schedule ahead. The team will return to action this weekend for the exciting Monaco de Trois Rivieres, which will be followed by the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship round at Shannonville, dubbed the Ontario Grand Nationals. The team also continues to prepare for the ASN Canada FIA Canadian Nationals slated to take place on August 18 to 21 at the new karting track at Mont Tremblant.

"We have definitely shown the speed this season that we are expected to deliver at the track," acknowledges Morrison. "We have had some bad luck both on and off the track, but speed you can control, luck you can't. If we had lots of luck and no speed that wouldn’t be a good place to be," laughs Morrison. "So we will stay committed to our program and know that the breaks will come our way before this season is in the books."

A huge thanks goes out to Team Manager Mike Roth, Ian MacIntyre, and Leonard D’Arrigo for supporting the team off track and giving team drivers the set-up they need to compete.

Greenspeed is dedicated to becoming the most professional kart racing team in Ontario providing the best long term karting experience for racers who aspire to be the best they can be on and off the track, and who are serious about realizing their personal goals in racing. We will achieve this by offering a proven championship chassis and engine program, complete trackside tuning and support, and most importantly – a tremendous focus on driver skill development and racing maturity development.