It’s All or Nothing Heading into the ECKC Finale: Junior Classes Preview

CKN’s resident mathematician Neelan Nadesan has broken down the ECKC championship standings heading into this weekend’s series finale at the Jim Russell Karting facility in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Take a look and see who is in and who is out of the championship picture with our look at the Junior classes.

Rotax Micro Max

Justin Arseneau (BCR/BirelART) leads the Micro Max championship heading into the series finale this weekend with 1150 points after drops. His teammate Dale Curran (BCR/BirelART) is only twenty points behind with 1130. Under the tutelage of Ben Cooper these two have consistently been at the front of the field in 2015 and going to the teams home track there is a good chance one of these two drivers will be able to win the championship.

Justin Arseneau leads the Micro Max Championship heading into this weekend’s season finale. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Behind the two teammates is Karsten Defonce (SH Racing/FA Kart) with 1022. After winning the most recent ECKC race in Mosport, Defonce competed at the US Grand Nationals where he ran in the top five for much of the weekend until a technical issue took him out of contention for the win. Race one winner, Ryland Dueburry (Energy North America/Energy Kart) also has an outside chance at winning the championship this weekend sitting in fourth with 999 points after drops. Both Defonce and Duesberry need to have a perfect weekend in Tremblant and hope for some additional luck in order to win the championship.

Rotax Mini Max

Stefano Lucente (Karts & Parts/PSL Mini) has had a great season in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship taking a win at each race weekend so far this season. Lucente currently has 1185 points including drops meaning that a clean weekend in Tremblant will secure him the Championship.

Stefano Lucente has consistently been the driver to beat in Mini Max this season. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

The battle for second is really tight as three drivers are within elven points of each other. Patrick Woods Toth (BCR/BirelART) currently holds second by seven points over Xavier Harris (Energy North America/Energy Kart) who has a four point lead ahead of Dillon Defonce (SH Racing/FA Kart). Woods-Toth and Harris both have wins this season while Defonce has yet to top the podium in Canada. When all is said and done whoever finishes the best out of the lot will get second in the championship.

Rotax Max Junior

Samuel Lupien (SH Racing/FA Kart) has a commanding lead in the Rotax Junior category with 1205 points including drops heading into the championship finale this weekend. His closest competitor is Joe Soranno (Energy North America/Energy Kart) with a point total of 1085 points after winning two races this season.

Samuel Lupien has had a season to be happy about in 2015. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Roman DeAngelis (Koene USA/TonyKart) is third in the championship, 96 points behind Soranno after a very disappointing championship run with only one win. Soranno’s pace as of late has been less than stellar, barely hanging on to stay in the top five st ECKC Mosport and the Canadian Championships. If he can’t find the speed he had earlier this season then there is a chance DeAngelis can take second in the championship as well as ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals.

Others with an outside shot at second in the championship are Lupien’s teammates Raphael Forcier (SH Racing/FA Kart) and Alexandre Lacroix (SH Racing/FA Kart).. Both drivers have been quick in Tremblant in the past so look for them to be in the fight this weekend.

Briggs & Stratton Junior

The Briggs & Stratton Junior category has three drivers with a legitimate shot at winning the championship. With drops the Xavier Dorsnie (BCR/BirelART) has the championship lead just 15 points ahead of Braxton Terry (K&K Karts). The two are followed closely by Joshua Conquer (TonyKart) and Austin Bisschop (BirelART), the latter is 73 points out of the championship lead.

Xavier Dorsnie looks to use his home track advantage to deliver a championship to Ben Cooper Racing. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

As we all know Briggs & Stratton Racing is very close and anything can happen in this weekend’s races so it will be difficult to predict the champion heading into this weekend.

Racing gets underway on Saturday in beautiful Mont-Tremblant. With two full days of racing, no title is secure just yet and as we’ve seen in the past, anything is possible at the ECKC finale.