The 2013 Monaco de Trois-Rivieres, a very popular race in the city northeast of Montreal finally displayed some racing on Saturday for the fans on hand. Utilizing a portion of the GP3R street circuit, the go-karts navigate through the 1km track with almost no room for error. To stand on the podium at Le Monaco means more than just being fast, but being able to minimize even the slightest of errors, but with the tricky weather added in from Mother Nature today it made things just a little more difficult.
In a special one-off race at Le Monaco, the F125 Shifter class took to the streets of Trois-Rivieres. 18 Karts were on track for the Saturday only feature of the Coupe du Quebec. Up front, it was a one horse race as Louis-Charles Filiatreault (PSL Karting/CRG) seemed well in control of the field through qualifying and the prefinal.
Starting second, Frank Launi (Innisfil Indy/GP) looked to mix things up in the Prefinal, but a stuck throttle launched him into the barriers of corner seven on lap one. Moving into second was Nico Fattore (Innisfil Indy/GP) with Zachary Shearer (Innisfil Indy/GP) hot on his heels. The two would battle throughout the heat putting on a great show for the crowd on hand.
After yet another short but heavy downpour, the Shifters hit the track for their Final. It was a great show in the wet as Fillatreault and Fattore got away from the standing start cleanly. A red flag on lap one saw the order shuffled a bit before another restart with a handful of drivers out of the race. The restart was once again led by Filliatreault and Fattore, but by lap two Launi had joined the party up front after starting from the rear. Passing his teammates for third and second Launi set his sights on the leader who was tip-toeing around the circuit. Calmly running third, Fattore looked destined for the podium until on more than one occasion he missed his braking points and was forced to use some extra track surface to turn around. But upon inspection after the race, he had lost control of his front brakes.
Up front, Launi caught up to Fillatrault and with a couple laps left looked to have an opportunity to make a move for the lead. But a missed shift on the final lap forced him to lose ground to the leader and settle for second.
A generous offer from Lift Elevator Interiors awarded the winner of the class a bonus of $250.00 with Fillatrault taking home the cash.
