Alex Murphy scored his first major victory of the season and his first aboard a Charles Leclerc Kart when he out-duelled Jordan Prior for the Briggs Senior victory at the Canadian Open in Mont-Tremblant this past weekend.
In a race that took a few twists and turns among the lead pack, Prior was the early race leader. Murphy (CL Kart) was able to work his way up to second place early on and when some contact occurred directly behind him on lap seven, he and Prior (BirelART) were able to separate themselves from the pack.
That contact included David Barnes (BirelART) who tried to hold the third position but ended up slipping all the way back to seventh after a trip through the grass in the bowl. It allowed Mike De La Plante (TNT Kart) to move into third followed by Callum Baxter (Kart Republic), Ari Korkodilos (Kosmic), Ayden Ingratta (Exprit Kart) and then Barnes.
On the following lap, Murphy saw the gap behind and took his chances going for the lead, overtaking Prior on the straightaway. From there, Prior glued to the bumper and ensured the pack could not catch up.
The positions behind shuffled lap after lap in the 15-lap sprint. De La Plante and Baxter traded the third position while Korkodilos tried to get into a podium position.
The final saw a major defensive strategy from Murphy to keep Prior at bay and while it worked, the chasing pack caught up as they approached the final two corners.
Attempting to get one last run to the finish line, Prior ran wide exiting the final corner and made contact with De La Plante when the curb bounced him back onto the circuit. De La Plante then spun into Korkodilos and Ingratta while Baxter and Michael Valente (EOS Kart) took the clear line on the outside to miss the action. Somehow Ingratta just missed the spinning karts and had just enough momentum to beat Baxter to the finish line.
Continued on CanadianKartingNews.com