We miss you Coupe de Montreal and Karting Quebec and even though we haven’t been able to attend any races this year, we’ve been keeping tabs, and you’ve been doing great!
166 entries at round two in Mont-Tremblant was fabulous and in total, 193 unique racers have entered a Coupe de Montreal race in 2020, so far. Your race grids have been consistent and very competitive, even with unpredictable weather, race date conflicts and a global pandemic going on.
So, with round four on tap this weekend at Circuit ICAR, we wanted to highlight the championship races on track this season, and with the great news that the final round no longer conflicts with the MotoMaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship, we can’t wait to attend and support the 2020 season Finale in Mont-Tremblant in September!
Reminder, Online Pre-Registration is mandatory for all races via the http://CoupeDeMontreal.com website.
Let’s start with the Briggs 206 divisions.
Briggs Senior has been big, with no less than 25 drivers in each race and 31 starting in Mont-Tremblant. Nissan Micra Cup racer Kevin King is back in action this season and leads the way in the championship. He is one of three different race winners, as Mikael Aubin Poirer and Matthew Robideaux have also topped the podium this season. Poirer ranks second, followed closely by Eric Lessard, Brandon Stephens and David Laplante.
In Briggs Masters, Mathieu Demers is leading the way and hopeful to regain the championship he won two years ago. He has two race wins this season, while defending champion Serge Boisvert ranks second as the other race winner. Eric Beltrami and Eric Lessard are very close in points for third and fourth, while Daniel Courtemanche rounds out the top-five.
Only six points separate the top in Briggs Junior as Laurent Legault leads Florida Winter Tour Champion Matthew Cousineau. Cousineau has two race wins to his credit, but Legault hasn’t finished worse than second to hold the advantage. Zack Lalonde ranks third and is still very close to the leaders, while Maika Chamberland and Raphael Tremblay are fourth and fifth.
Rounding out the Briggs classes in Briggs Cadet. Ilie Tristan Crisan has dominated aboard his new CRG Kart, winning all three rounds so far. Lucas Deslongchamps has joined him on the podium twice this year to rank second, while Louis David Boucher is third, with three podiums to his credit. Jade Wilson and Alexis Baillargeon aren’t letting the boys get too far ahead of them, as they rank fourth and fifth, and still within range of the championship.
To see all of the full championship standings, click here.
Two drivers stand out in Rotax Senior competition this year as Vincent Desautels and Kevin King have taken the top-two positions in all three races thus far. Desautels has won the two previous races aboard his new SodiKart to hold a small 30-point advantage over King and his BirelART. Jack Drury and Martin Lemay are very close for third and fourth, while Freddy Dubuisson is fifth. 19 different drivers have lined up in Rotax Senior this year.
There is a great five-kart battle in Rotax Junior this season as only 128 points covers the spread. Louka St Jean leads last years Briggs Junior champion Yu Chen Ye by only ten points, while Mathieu Cousineau is only 46 points back and is the most recent race winner. Zach Lalonde and Maude Grenier are having great sophomore seasons in the class and rank fourth and fifth, while Justin Arseneau missed round two and ranks sixth with a race win to his credit.
Lucas Pernod has jumped out to a big lead in Rotax DD2 courtesy of two race victories this season. His advantage over Gianpaolo Frigo is 207 points. The gap from second to fourth is only 68 points with Raphael St Pierre, Jules Pernod and Cederic Cataphard all very close in points.
In the Masters divisions, Jocelyn Pelletier is leading Sylvain Chenard and William Cloutier in Rotax Max Masters, while 2019 Rotax Team Canada member Alexandre Gauthier leads Bruno Legrand and Jean Francois Richard in Rotax DD2 Masters.
Finally, in Open Shifter, Nathan Gilbert leads the way in over Henry Knox and Thomas Nepveu, who scored the first two race wins before departing for the USA and missing round three. Open Shifter Master see Nicholas Bedard chasing another championship, but he is only two points ahead of Dany St Hilaire. Louis Jean Boucher is third.
There are still three rounds of Coupe de Montreal competition left this year, with ICAR this weekend, followed by SH Karting on September 6 and the grand finale in Mont-Tremblant on September 19/20. That event will double as the Canadian Open, awarding tickets to the 2020 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals and a number of other great prizes courtesy of the Coupe de Montreal and their supporters. We’re expecting it to be big, very big, and CKN will be trackside for the special event!
Check out these great images by Stephane Gagne! Follow him on Instagram @sgagnephoto.
