This past weekend the Racelab Racing Team took to Greg Moore Raceway to compete in the final round of the Western Canadian Championships. The predominantly ROK powered team ventured into Rotax territory in an effort to display the ability of the Formula K chassis which has garnered world wide attention due to it’s performance in the Rotax categories around the world. With Kris Hoffbeck having last driven a Rotax and Mojo tires 5 years ago it took some time for adjustment and with some time on track the Kamloops B.C racer found some good pace while his team mate Chris Eagles also worked on finding his pace with no practice time being available to him due to work conflicts.
With the 8 tires for 3 races rules for the WCC strategy definitely came into play and all types were on display as some drivers shuffled between sets in every possible combination but only the RaceLab team opted to go the whole way on one set. Despite that strategy Hoffbeck still ran strong through both Friday and Saturday but unfortunately both days was knocked out from behind taking him out of contention. On Sunday Hoffbeck made his way to the front of the pack in the pre final when making a pass on series leader Bryce Choquer, Hoffbeck couldn’t make it stick with the lack of grip from his two day old tires and had to settle for 5th. This however would prove to be a good starting spot sitting inside Row 3 for the final where he would strike fast at the green flag and make his way up to 3rd then eventually overtaking for 2nd but race leader Luke Selliken of Oregon had already established a good lead. While Hoffbeck pushed his FK to chase the leader it was not going to happen as Selliken ran a strong pace consistently and took the checkered flag first while Hoffbeck would take 2nd and be the first Canadian to cross the line. Team mate Chris Eagles showed promise in the final making up a few positions and setting his personal best times in Rotax in the process which was considered to be a success with his limited testing time on the kart.
Newcomer Logan Jones entered his first ever race outside the West Coast Kart Club and also continued to drop his times but the rookie was also faced with limited practice time and by the end of the weekend was very positive with his improvements.
The Race Lab team is now preparing for the Final round of the Rotax Pro Kart Can Am Challenge this upcoming weekend also at Greg Moore Raceway in Chilliwack and would like to thank their sponsors and partners which include: Formula K SRL, KGK, FreeM, Unipro, DWT
To follow the RaceLab Team make sure to visit theracelab.com
