2013 CKN Year in Review Awards: Hard Luck Driver

Looking back at the successful year that 2013 was, we here at Canadian Karting News decided to create our own set of awards, all pertaining to categories we feel worthy. Throughout the final weeks of 2013, we will highlight an award for categories such as Junior and Senior driver’s of the year, helmet design of the year, Canadian event of the year, best appearing kart among many others.

While these are all the opinion of CKN, you can let us know who you think deserved each award. Using the comments below each article, let us know who you feel was worthy of the award and a short blurb why you believe so.

*Hard Luck Driver*

Nominee’s:
– Marco Signoretti
– Kevin Monteith
– Naila Deen
– Fred Woodley
– Steven Szigeti

Winner: Kevin Monteith

Our final award of 2013 is an award no driver really wants to win; the hard luck award. This goes out to a driver who just really couldn’t score the results they were due for without something going wrong.

There were a couple drivers that stood out to us, but none more than Rotax Senior driver Kevin Monteith. While he kicked off his 2013 campaign with a dominating double-victory at the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship rounds at Mosport International Karting, it all went down hill from there.

Round two of the ECKC was pure disaster for the former ECKC Co-Champion (he tied for the title in 2011). Barely qualifying inside the top-ten, Monteith did not complete the opening lap of any race all weekend without some sort of complication, including being involved in a crash right at the start line on Saturday, always forcing him to drive back through the field. The result was a 13th in Saturdays Final, driving all the way from 31st on lap one and a 19th on Sunday, also driving from the rear of the grid.

While he was able to bounce back at Le Monaco with a third place podium, Monteith’s focus moved on to Mont-Tremblant for the season finale and an opportunity to join Team Canada for the Rotax Grand Finals.

The heads up battle between Monteith and Olivier Bedard went down to the wire and the two started on row two, side-by-side for the winner take all Final. Getting through the melee that was the first lap, Monteith rounded lap one in second place and only needed to cruise to the finish to score the championship. But it would all end on lap two when Monteith’s rear bumper came off it’s hinges, possibly due to some opening lap contact from behind, and just like that his championships hopes were dashed. To make matters worse, Monteith fell from the championship lead on lap two, all the way to fifth in the final standings due to the DNF.

It is also worth noting that Monteith was running in the top-three at the Canadian National Championships, also at Goodwood, when he would be forced out of the race with 12-laps remaining when his spark plug cap came off, ending up 23rd. His home track did not play very nice to him in 2013.

That’s some pretty tough luck, but we know Monteith will be back in 2014 and seeking some redemption.

Kevin Monteith on the grid at the Canadian Championships
(Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)