CKN Predictions: Rotax Senior – 2013 ASN Canadian National Karting Championships

The most anticipated Canadian karting event of the year has finally arrived. This week the 2013 ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Karting Championships hit the track for the 15th version of the race, for five days of intense action, all to determine our nine 2013 Canadian Champions. Seeking the glory of a National title, the countries best kart racers have their way to Goodwood Kartways, just north of Toronto, with Rotax drivers also seeking invitations to join Team Canada at this years Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, while the Briggs & Stratton drivers have a full array of prizes on the table. A large amount of pre-entries predicts a very successful event as the Nationals returns to Ontario after three years in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

CKN will be trackside for the entire event, with our usual Live Blog for those at home, as well as results as they happen on social media and posted to our competitions page when available. Video interviews will also be on tap as we highlight each days successors. Be sure to check out https://www.canadiankartingnews.com/live to follow the action beginning with Canadian Tire SuperPole Friday.

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, Parker Thompson 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 Tremblant, 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 6.

Rotax Senior

This weekends headline class is surely the Rotax Senior division. All season long we have seen many different winners on many different chassis brands. Drivers are also having breakout seasons, while past champions and front runners continue to impress. A little smaller than expected, the class has still provided great racing all season long across the country and with drivers from all over coming to Goodwood, it’s going to be a great show!

Three drivers received first-place predictions by the CKN Panel, but Pier-Luc earned two and tops the charts. Ouellette is racing in both DD2 and Senior Max, but is focused and prepared and ready to add another Canadian title to his name. He is also destined to join Team Canada and looks to both classes for the ticket. Utilizing last weekends TRAK club race at Goodwood, Ouellette was wicked fast en route to victory in Rotax Senior and that has him and his PSL Karting team confident entering the Nationals.

ECKC Goodwood double-winner Zachary Claman DeMelo finds himself second on our list. All three panellists predicted him to finish in the top-three, even though the Nationals hasn’t been too kind to DeMelo in the past couple years. After last years events that removed him from Sunday’s final day due to a morning crash, DeMelo will be looking for redemption this year and is set on the Canadian Title.

Third up is Terrebonne, Quebec’s Olivier Bedard. The rookie Senior in enjoying a great season and is coming off a massive victory at ECKC Le Monaco. Bedard was also very quick at ECKC Goodwood, but found himself in some trouble. Hoping for a better result this week, Bedard seems ready to tackle Canada’s best.

Making it four drivers from the Quebec region in the top-four is Zacharie Scalzo. He was also very fast at ECKC Goodwood but is looking to secure the results this weekend after topping qualifying and pre finals last time here.

Kevin Monteith received a pick to win this weekend, but finds himself fifth on our charts. After a double-victory at ECKC Mosport, he had a disaster of a weekend at ECKC Goodwood and that may have played on the Panelists minds, even if Monteith calls Goodwood home. He will be looking for redemption this weekend and had a good showing while preparing last weekend at the Goodwood club race.

That just wraps up our top-five. The next five drivers sees Steven Szigeti and Tyler Kashak, both looking for their first big wins of the year, while Western drivers Chris Glover and Skylar Dunning have made their way east. Michael Kundakcioglu also scored points to place himself in the top-ten, as he is enjoying a great season thus far, possibly the most improved Rotax Senior driver from last year.

Honourable mentions to Johnny Flute, Maxime Couturier, Nicholas Dore and Marc-Andre Levesque. They all received top-ten picks by the CKN panel and could easily do it. Dore will be interesting to watch after moving up to Senior at Le Monaco due to an age issue.

It is great to see a good selection of Western drivers had east as aside from Glover and Dunning, Garret Britton and Travis MacDonald make it four different western provinces represented this weekend. It is disappointing that drivers such as Bryce Choquer and Adam Dowler will not be joining us this weekend, as the two both stood on the podium at the WCC Finals and could have had a good shot at a ticket to the Grand Finals.

Twenty-Five drivers currently fill the entry-list for this years Nationals, with the hopes that the class make it to the full grid size of 34. But whatever the count, there will be great racing all weekend long.

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!

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