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Ayrton Triolo has quickly become one of Canada's busiest junior drivers

Without a doubt, one of the most well travelled juniors in Canadian karting this past season was Saskatchewan's Ayrton Triolo. After warming up with the Florida Winter Tour, he raced in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec with a schedule that included club, regional, national and international competition. It was an extensive run that led to all possible finishes, and one that the young driver will benefit from when he returns in 2009.

The adventure began in Homestead when the 2008 Florida Winter Tour hit the track. Connecting with Hamilton-based Cameron/CRG, where his father Carlo once toiled in arrive-and-drive karts, Ayrton debuted with a new team, a new chassis, and by far - a new level of competition. The Tour became a fantastic learning experience that provided all possible race weekend scenarios for the young racer. At Homestead it was qualifying and off to the Last Chance Qualifier and eighth in the B-Main before finding a groove at Moroso where he earned direct passes to the main event on both Saturday and Sunday. Wrapping in Ocala, day one brought a fourth in the LCQ, a transfer to the prefinal and a Tour best sixteenth in the main event. Almost a second faster in Sunday qualifying, he then went direct to the main before ending his Florida experience in turn one at the start of the main event. Overall Triolo placed 35th in the Winter Tour, and was 11th among Canadians who headed south.

Next up was the beginning of a home schedule where he won the Saskatoon Kart Racers club Championship in Junior Rotax. Showing the benefit of a Florida run and dominating the first half of the season, Triolo won his first five starts at the club. Always looking for ways to improve race craft, he then spent the back half of the schedule starting from the back of the pack in prefinals and finals. He also finished second in the Saskatchewan provincial Rotax Max Challenge, despite only racing in four of six events. He missed two rounds, as the family had once again taken to the air.

It was destination Ontario this time for the inaugural Ontario Regional Karting Championship where Triolo ran the first three rounds. After qualifying eleventh at Goodwood, he improved to sixth in the prefinal and was matching it halfway through the main when some on track assistance helped him down the order. At Hamilton for round two, he once again qualified eleventh and matched it in the prefinal before running to fifth in the feature; and at Innisfil he was fourteenth in the wet conditions on Saturday. The three run total led to fifteenth in points overall, despite making just three of five series' starts.

He also contested the Western Rotax Max Challenge and finished fifth overall. After turning in runs of ninth and eighth in British Columbia, Triolo was on the mark in Saskatchewan where on Saturday he qualified fourth, matched it in the prefinal and finished fifth in the main event. Off in qualifying on Sunday and timing eleventh, he then charged back to the top five in the prefinal before suffering a DNF in the feature. The bad luck followed him to the finale where after starting in the top ten for both mains he limped to finishes of eleventh and twelfth. Contact played a part, just as it did at Canadian Nationals where things seemed to work against him from day one.

First there was qualifying: after thrashing in the pit and working his way into the top half of the field and the faster of two groups, his seventeenth became the back row of the grid after weather conditions led to group A being one column and group B being the other. It meant three heat races from the back of the back - and a lot of work Friday afternoon and Saturday. Putting his year's experience to the test, Triolo passed twelve karts in the first heat, eighteen in the second and another eleven in the third - a total of 41 in three heat races. It moved the Saskatoon racer to the middle of the pack for the prefinal, and after being knocked to 25th he charged back to nineteenth in the prefinal on Championship Sunday. Looking to gain nine more spots and a top ten in the National final, Triolo held station at the start but just after passing into sixteenth on lap four he was torpedoed from contention at turn three, ending his race weekend.

It was a busy season to be sure, and one that came to a close recently when Triolo completed his first car test at Mosport. Though cars are in the future, all sights are now honing in on Florida and a return to the Florida Winter Tour. Once again racing Rotax Junior, Triolo will be looking to show all he learned in 2008 when the Tour kicks off in a few months time. Trading the prairie winter for Miami on January 9th, Triolo will once again begin his season in the biggest field of all - the FWT International Rotax Max Challenge.