CKN Predictions: Briggs & Stratton Senior – 2014 Canadian Karting Championships

The anticipation has been building all summer long and after major karting events across this great country of ours from May through August, Canada’s premier kart racers have come in troops and invaded the Jim Russell Karting Academy in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec for the 2014 ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Karting Championships.

Nine classes will do battle this week and the event will feature approximately 175 drivers from provinces as far west as British Columbia and east as Nova Scotia. Three of those classes will utilize the Briggs & Stratton LO206 engine platform with the remaining six powered by Rotax Max engines.

While every driver will be seeking National glory in their respective classes and entering their names into the record books, four National Champions will earn invitations to join Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, held this year in Valencia Spain. Those invitations will be awarded to drivers winning in Rotax Junior, Rotax Senior, Rotax DD2 and Rotax DD2 Masters.

CKN is already trackside for the event, with our usual CKN Live Blog for those at home, as well as updates as they happen on the CKN Social Feed and results posted to our competitions page when available. Be sure to check out https://www.canadiankartingnews.com/live to follow the action beginning with Canadian Tire SuperPole Thursday.

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, Nathan Kelly 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 Goodwood, 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 11.

Briggs & Stratton Senior

Featuring over 40 drivers and with the potential to reach 50, Briggs & Stratton Senior is known as ‘The Big Show’ at this years Canadian Championships. The LO206 division continues to draw new faces and big names to the tight and exciting closed-quarters racing.

With so many entries with the potential to win, the CKN panel had a very tough time just selecting ten drivers, let alone putting an order to them. With 17 different drivers earning recognition from the panellists, there are still more drivers with the potential to crack the top ten this week in Tremblant.

Defending class champion Jean-Francois Lafontaine leads the tally with two panelists predicting he will repeat as Nation Champion. Lafontaine is always a threat on track, has a win this season in the Coupe du Quebec and loves the thrill of a major event.

Michael Glaze is enjoying an excellent season back in the racers seat and has scored the second best average, including one prediction to win. After scoring a win in the ECKC opener at Mosport, Glaze made the switch to DMR Motorsport and made a return to the podium with a second-place effort at Le Monaco de Trois-Rivieres. A solid kick off to the week should put the wheels in motion for Glaze to battle for the title on Sunday.

Two years ago, New Brunswick’s Gerald Caseley shocked many when he diced his way to a very exciting victory at the Canadian Championships in Tremblant. Well after a short hiatus to begin his career outside of racing, Caseley is back in action and looking to return to the top of the podium. One panelist predicted him to win, while another left him off his top-ten completely, just showing how tough it was to select a top-ten.

The list the tightens up from there, as the likes of Steven Szigeti, a previous Rotax National Champion who has won here in Tremblant, holds the fifth highest ranking average. Two more drivers who have won National titles here in Tremblant, albeit in Rotax Junior, are ranked sixth and seventh as Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet and Lance Stroll are two more drivers who earned some praise from the panel and one prediction to finish outside the top-ten.

Predictions eight, nine and ten all include averages off less than ten. Michael Adams is expected to do well in his return to karts as a teammate to Caseley. ECKC points leader Jonathon Treadwell is surprisingly low with the ninth highest ranking, but does have a prediction for to finish fourth. Treadwell has won an ECKC event in Tremblant and we still expect him to be battling up front for victory this weekend as he still seeks his first National title.

Rounding out the top-ten in the CKN Predictions is Vincent Cyr. As a teammate to Lafontaine, Cyr has the speed to run up front but has struggled to maintain the race pace when the green flag waves.

Notable mentions include the following drivers who also received selections to finish inside the top-ten this weekend; Pearce Herder, Simon Bellanger, Frank Launi, Kyle Edgar, Hugo Mousseau, Aaron Kennedy and Abby Bolton.

With so many drivers competing in the closest competition, there really is no sure prediction as to who will win on SuperSunday, and who may go home following the Last Chance Qualifier. The only fact that we know for sure is, the fences will be full and the racing will be a showdown finish to the checkered flag.

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!