Nope, we didn’t forget about them. We’ve just been a little busy this ‘off-season’. But in the meantime, we hope you have been enjoying our season recap through the CKN 24 Days of Karting Christmas.
Our annual CKN Year in Review Awards winners will be announced during the final week of the year, capping off our fourth season of CKN. It was a very unique year for Canadian karting, featuring many highs and many lows as our sport finds itself in a bit of a recession and the foundation of karting as a whole continuing to shift.
We have streamlined our awards this year, focusing on a few less categories than years past. Below, we have listed the nominees for our main awards while we will also announce unanimous award winners for the following categories: Canadian Event of the Year, Up and Coming Driver, Hard Luck Driver, Western Canadian Driver of the Year, Atlantic Canadian Driver of the Year and Most Improved Driver.
While we wish we could nominate everyone who stood out this year, our decisions are based on our opinions from the events we attended, primarily the Florida Winter Tour, Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, CAN-AM Karting Challenge, US Open Championship and ASN Canadian National Karting Championships. We factor a lot of effort into determining the winners of these awards, with race wins not necessarily the main ingredient in our decision making.
All in all, we think everyone should be congratulated for living, loving and sharing the passion of karting as a community. Whether you competed nearly every weekend or made it out to watch just one race, your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Award Nominees for the 2015 CKN Year in Review Awards
**Nominees listed in alphabetical order
New Helmet Design of the Year
- Didier Carre (LSDesign)
- Taylor Gates (Lone Palm Design)
- Ayden Ingrotto (Lyons Design)
- Justin Luik (Smart Race Paint)
- Ryan Macdermid (Savage Designs)
- Robert Wickens (Smart Race Paint)
Mechanic of the Year
- Steve Amoureux (Samuel Lupien)
- Brian Bettencourt (Intrepid North America)
- Sylvain Clair (Jeff Kingsley)
- Dale Curran Sr. (Dale Curran Jr)
- Paul Kashak (Tyler Kashak)
- James Treadwell (Jon Treadwell)
Young Driver of the Year
- Justin Arseneau (Rotax Micro-Max)
- Dale Curran (Rotax Micro-Max)
- Ryan Dezall (Rotax Micro-Max)
- Tyler Kozma (Rotax Mini-Max)
- Stefano Lucente (Rotax Mini-Max)
- Patrick Woods-Toth (Rotax Mini-Max)
International Driver of the Year
- Bryce Choquer (Rotax Euro Challenge Competitor)
- Lachlan Defrancesco (SKUSA Pro Tour Competitor)
- Jeff Kingsley (US Open Championship Competitor)
- Matthew Latifi (Florida Winter Tour & US Open Competitor)
- Antonio Serravalle (WSK and CIK Competitor)
- Evan White (SKUSA Pro Tour Competitor)
Junior Driver of the Year
- Roman DeAngelis (Rotax Junior)
- Xavier Dorsnie (Briggs LO206 Junior)
- Samuel Lupien (Rotax Junior)
- Tyler McCullough (Briggs LO206 Junior)
- Joe Soranno (Rotax Junior)
- Braxton Terry (Briggs LO206 Junior)
Senior Driver of the Year
- Simon Belanger (Briggs LO206 Senior)
- Marco Dileo (Rotax Senior)
- Kyle Edgar (Briggs LO206 Senior)
- Tyler Kashak (Rotax DD2)
- Cedrik Lupien (Rotax Senior)
- Jonathon Treadwell (Briggs LO206 Senior)
