The anticipation has been building all summer long and after major karting events across this great country of ours from May through August, Canada’s premier kart racers have come in troops and invaded the Jim Russell Karting Academy in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec for the 2014 ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Karting Championships.
Nine classes will do battle this week and the event will feature approximately 175 drivers from provinces as far west as British Columbia and east as Nova Scotia. Three of those classes will utilize the Briggs & Stratton LO206 engine platform with the remaining six powered by Rotax Max engines.
While every driver will be seeking National glory in their respective classes and entering their names into the record books, four National Champions will earn invitations to join Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, held this year in Valencia Spain. Those invitations will be awarded to drivers winning in Rotax Junior, Rotax Senior, Rotax DD2 and Rotax DD2 Masters.
CKN is already trackside for the event, with our usual CKN Live Blog for those at home, as well as updates as they happen on the CKN Social Feed and results posted to our competitions page when available. Be sure to check out https://www.canadiankartingnews.com/live to follow the action beginning with Canadian Tire SuperPole Thursday.
With views on predicting who should fare well in working toward those goals, Canadian Karting News has prepared unique class previews for this year’s National Championships, with staffers Cody Schindel, Neelan Nadesan, Nathan Kelly and Jason Holland submitting predictions for each class. Taking into account results from this year in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, Western Canadian Championship and Coupe du Quebec; last year’s performances in Goodwood, and their general track record, drivers were ranked by the CKN panel. Then, taking the average of the four ballots, an unofficial class ranking was created. Drivers that were not listed on all four ballots were issued a score of 11.
Rotax Senior
As the premier Rotax class this weekend there is a handful of drivers all with the potential to stand on the National podium. While the CKN crew unanimously has Montreal’s Zachary Claman DeMelo at the top of the predictions, things tighten up from there as four different drivers have been selected to finish runner-up.
With five ECKC victories to his name so far this season, there is a reason why DeMelo has been predicted to continue his domination of the class. Powering an Intrepid kart, DeMelo will be tough to beat this weekend as he hopes to shake the Mont-Tremblant monkey off his back that has forced him to sit out of the last two National Finals here in Tremblant.
Second and third in our predictions are a pair of PSL Karting/CRG drivers from Quebec. Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet and Christophe Paquet have developed a very respectful rivalry at the Coupe du Quebec this and are both riding high’s from podium results at Le Monaco de Trois-Rivieres. Paquet is also the only driver to beat DeMelo in a race this year, a very impressive feat as a rookie.
Ontario’s Marco Di Leo has re-entered the class this season after only one ECKC event earlier this year and has caught the eyes of our CKN panel with an average ranking finish of 5.25, the fourth highest. His experience definitely plays a factor and we will see how quick he can get back up to speed challenging the new generation of Rotax Senior drivers.
Fresh off his Vice-Championship run at the Western Canadian Championships, Alberta’s Coltin McCaughan boasts the fifth highest average and has been picked to finish as high as third. As a rookie this season, McCaughan has been very impressive, standing on the ECKC podium and scoring three wins in the WCC.
Zacharie Scalzo is back on track this weekend after sitting out the ECKC event in Trois-Rivieres and is predicted to finish sixth in Tremblant. Scalzo has been fast all season and is known to step things up at the Nationals.
Positions seven through ten all feature drivers fully capable of finishing higher than the predictions may say. Kevin Monteith is always a threat, no matter the race, although he is still seeking his first two-cycle Canadian title. Olivier Bedard has found plenty of success on the Jim Russell circuit in the past, but with his focus shifting to car racing this season he hasn’t been in a kart as much as years past.
Marco Signoretti on the other hand has continually improved this season as another rookie senior consistently inside the top-ten. Rounding out our top-ten predictions is BC’s Jordan Redlin. A consistent threat at the WCC this year, Redlin has joined Team PSL Karting for the Nationals, and should make an impact on the top-ten this weekend.
A couple other notables that were predicted to finish inside the top-ten include Maxime Couturier, Anthony Tolfa, Tyler Kashak and Arika White. Additionally, western drivers Tristan Merke and Skylar Dunning could make a statement against a field of drivers they haven’t raced against all season long.
| Driver |
Pick 1 |
Pick 2 |
Pick 3 |
Pick 4 |
AVG |
| Zachary Claman DeMelo |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1.25 |
| Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet |
4 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
4.25 |
| Christophe Paquet |
6 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
4.50 |
| Marco Di Leo |
2 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
5.25 |
| Coltin McCaughan |
5 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
6.00 |
| Zacharie Scalzo |
3 |
11 |
2 |
9 |
6.25 |
| Kevin Monteith |
8 |
11 |
5 |
4 |
7.00 |
| Olivier Bedard |
9 |
7 |
11 |
2 |
7.25 |
| Marco Signoretti |
7 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
7.75 |
| Jordan Redlin |
11 |
6 |
10 |
7 |
8.50 |
| Maxime Couturier |
11 |
11 |
11 |
5 |
9.50 |
| Anthony Tolfa |
10 |
8 |
11 |
11 |
10.00 |
| Tyler Kashak |
11 |
11 |
8 |
11 |
10.25 |
| Arika White |
11 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
10.75 |
Please Note:
– These are strictly predictions offered up for CKN readers, and not any type of formal ranking.
– With no official pre-entry list, predictions were based strictly on those who are qualified through the ECKC, WCC and Quebec Cup.
– These are just for fun, read and enjoy!
