The third and fourth rounds of the Western Canadian Championship were being held at my home track in Martensville, Saskatchewan, this past weekend. I never went for practice on Thursday as I knew that the track would take a good day to get some rubber on it, so the race weekend for me started one day later:
Friday
I started out the morning by helping with final set-up for the event with my dad, Dave Campbell, Club President for Saskatoon Kart Racers. Then it was time to get the pit set up. Once everything was set up and ready to go, it was on-track time. I used an old set of tires just to get a feel for the kart as it was my first time on the track with the new CRG I am racing this year. I never had a chance to get any testing in before the event, but practice went well all day as I topped the charts almost every time out.
Saturday
The first race day brought sunny and hot weather. Confident in my set-up, I knew I would grab the pole. Qualifying went just as I planned as I grabbed the pole by just about three tenths and was three tenths faster than last year’s pole by Kyle Herder. My CRG was bang-on all day starting from pole in the Prefinal and Final, and winning the races by quite a large margin each time. The final was a 12.5 second gap, which actually surprised me.
Sunday
Race day two was also sunny and hot. With only making a new tire change and a little pressure change for qualifying, it went just the same as Saturday with a pole, but the other guys were a bit closer. In the Prefinal, Daniel Burkett tried to get down the inside into turn one but I was able to fend him off and pull a gap shortly after. Once I got to a gap I was good with, I went into tire conservation mode. The one thing with the Martensville track is that it eats tires so fast! The Final would not be any different, with me pulling a gap off the start and settling into a comfortable pace. At the line I won with a comfortable gap.
I was very pleased with how the weekend went with my CRG. It is so nice to be fast right out of the box and stay consistent all the way through the weekend. Now leading the championship into the final rounds in Calgary, it looks to be a good fight for the win. I would also like to thank all my sponsors for their support: Karting Canada, CRG West and K1 Racegear.
