Western Canadian Championship: New Race Winners on Saturday as Competition Heats Up

Race day two of the Western Canadian Championship at the 3 Flags Motorsports Park featured very similar weather conditions as day one: warm temperatures and heavy prairie winds.

With tents acting as sails in the paddock, drafting on track was very important down the straightaways in order to keep up with rival drivers.

Saturday’s races brought a handful of new faces to the top of the podium, while a pair of drivers doubled up on their win counts.

Rotax Junior and Senior drivers were forced to develop a tire strategy as they have two sets of tires to compete through three race days. It was a mixture of decisions on Saturday as some drivers opted for only two, while others went with four and only a few remained on their first set.

Here is rundown of Saturday’s races for each class.

Photo Gallery #1 | Qualifying Top-10′s | Prefinal Top-10′s | Final Top-10′s

A Little Luck Helps Leung in Micro-Max

After putting forth a great effort in Friday’s first race only to come up just short, Jason Leung (PDB) was back and charging for the victory on Saturday.

He posted the fastest time in Qualifying, just held on to beat Ryan Dezall (Kosmic) in prefinal, then ran a clean flag-to-flag Final to score the win. Dezall was forced to recover from an early race spin, halting his chances of earning win number two on the weekend, while Brad Bachalo (KGK/LH Kart) was able to split the two to finish second, a step up from Friday.

Jason Leung (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Carson Vogel Doubles Up in Mini-Max

Continuing to improve on his lap times as the weekend progresses, Carson Vogel (BBR/Kosmic) was simply no match for his fellow Mini-Max drivers on Saturday.

Sweeping the days action, Vogel was able to drive away from his competition to score his second win of the weekend and will enter Sunday as one of only two drivers looking for the triple.

Marco Kacic (CRG West/CRG) and Griffin Dowler (Apollo Motorsports/TonyKart) enjoyed a spirited battle for second, one that included some rubbing and contact, with Kacic ultimately earning the position.

Tyler Kozma (TonyKart) cruised to finish fourth with Townes Allen (Karting Canada/CRG) completing the top-five.

With 13 drivers in Mini-Max, the action is excellent as the future drivers of our sport are doing a great job on track this weekend.

Jaeden Wright Steps up to the top of the podium in Junior 2; Kohl MacLaggan Wins another in Junior 1

It was a shootout to the finish in Junior Briggs action as the two classes competed together.

Jaedin Wright and Christina Dezall ran bumper to bumper all race long. Dezell tried all she could in the closing laps to move into the lead, but it just didn’t happen and the two have now split the victories thus far this weekend. Brendon Breen finished third after an excellent battle with the Junior 1 drivers.

With Breen mixing up the Junior 1 action, Kohl MacLaggan was able to earn his second win of the weekend over Jesse Gibson.

Jaeden Wright (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Coltin McCaughan Fights for Saturday Win in Rotax Senior

In Rotax Senior qualifying, strategy began to take course as drivers pondered on how to best utilize their two sets of tires for three race days. With most opting for new tires for the second straight day, Garret Britton (K&M/Birel) was able to post the fastest time, just edging out American Jim McKinney (Overdrive/TonyKart) and Coltin McCaughan (CKN/TonyKart) with the top-three separated by less than a tenth and the top-ten by three-tenths of a second. Friday winner Bryce Choquer opted not to use fresh rubber and managed the fifth best time.

Excitement built through the prefinal as Britton led early on before surrendering the lead to McCaughan. But Choquer was able to work his way by, with slight contact sending McCaughan back to fourth. Choquer earned the heat win, Britton second, McCaughan third, Skylar Dunning (KGK/Kosmic) fourth and McKinney fifth.

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Ryan Martin Earns Another Win in Rotax Junior

Friday Rotax Junior winner Ryan Martin (KGK/TonyKart) continued his fine form on Saturday, posting the fastest time in Qualifying, but only 0.083 seconds ahead of his KGK teammate Jeff Fulham (KGK/Kosmic).

The prefinal started with a bang as fourth place starter Clay Van Eerd (CVE/TonyKart) climbed up and onto fellow Ontario driver Austin Riley (Racing with Autism/Energy Kart) and the two wound up in the dirt. Lots of action through the quick prefinal shuffled the grid mid-pack, but up front Martin and Fulham pulled away to secure the front row for the Final.

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Ryan Martin earned his second win in Rotax Junior on Saturday (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)