This past weekend the Quebec Cup hit the track for the first round of their 2013 campaign. Throughout the event, there was plenty of grumblings in the paddock as the new season has brought on plenty of new information.
Karting Grand Mère Closing it’s doors
CKN was were saddened to hear about the closing of Karting Grand Mère. The facility just north of Trois Rivieres, Quebec was sold to the city of Shawinigan and following the Coupe du Quebec event on July 13 and 14, the facility will be shutting it’s doors. Karting Grand Mère hosted the ASN Canadian Championships twice, providing some very exciting racing and events. CKN will have more to come in the future.
New Karting Track in the Works in Saint-Célestin
With the closing of Karting Grand Mère, CKN was very welcomed to hear about a new facility in the works to replace it. Located not far from Gran Mere in Saint-Célestin, Quebec, a new 1.2km ASN approved track is in the works with Stéphane Couturier and his wife behind the project. The Couturiers purchased many of the assets from Karting Grand Mère and hopes to have the facility open by the end of 2013 with hopes of hosting a Coupe du Quebec event in 2014.
Briggs & Stratton class dominates entries and excitement at SH
With 25 karts in the class, the Briggs & Stratton class was the talk of the weekend as it easily doubled or more any other class size. Add is some top talent and this class provided the excitement that four-cycle racing was meant to produce. The sidelines were jammed during event race and it appeared as though many are interested in joining the class as the season progress’s.
Quebec Karting Silly Season
There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the off season, but a few notable names have switched teams for their 2013 campaigns. After many seasons with SH Karting, Marc-Andre Levesque will compete in 2013 aboard a CRG Kart under the PSL Karting banner, and joining him is Micro-Max pilot William Chayer who moves from an SRA Karting/Birel. After their transition from TonyKart to Zanardi Karts, the SH Karting Team has completed their transition with many new Zanardi’s hitting the track this past weekend in almost every category. One final notable was the return of the Margay chassis brand. The American kart is working it’s way back into Canada and Charlotte Lalonde was seen competing the Briggs & Stratton class at SH on a new Margay, finishing a respectable sixth.
