We are already nearing the midway point of our 2014 CKN Summer Tour. This weeks stop places us at Goodwood Kartways for the second round of the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, just north of Toronto, Ontario.
Goodwood played host to last years very successful ASN Canadian National Championships and has been awaiting their ECKC event all season long. Last weekends TRAK club event had the paddock buzzing in anticipation with many out of town drivers taking part and gaining valuable practice on the very fast and tricky track.
The facility is in top-notch shape as the Di Leo family runs a very professional operation. Final touches were made early this week before practice began on Wednesday. The paddock is quite full today (Thursday) as the final day of unofficial practice is on track before Friday’s official day of practice, followed by two complete race days on the weekend.
The completion of ECKC rounds this weekend will mark the halfway point of the four event championship and the completion of the Ontario portion of the series as it will shift to Quebec for the final two rounds in August and September.
The Briggs & Stratton program continues to grow at the ECKC with many new faces joining the grid this weekend including successful Rotax racers Marco DiLeo, Steven Szigeti, Pearce Herder and Luke Chudleigh just name a few. We again expect the Briggs & Stratton Senior division to clear the 30 driver mark and demonstrate some excellent racing where Mosport winners Jonathon Treadwell and Michael Glaze look to keep the tough competition behind them.
Rotax Senior Max may not be the largest ECKC class this weekend as it was in Mosport, but Zachary Claman DeMelo, Kevin Monteith, Christophe Paquet, Zacharie Scalzo and many others will still be gunning for the top spot. The class is full of depth throughout the grid with many drivers on the brink of earning breakthrough performances. Last weekend it was Marco Signoretti on top as he has added his name to the list of drivers able to win in Rotax Senior.
In Rotax Junior, will we see a driver knock Gianfranco Mazzaferro off the top of the podium? He was perfect at Mosport and has been driving with great confidence all season long. Notably, local star Jordan Slipacoff has made the switch back to Intrepid for this weekend hoping to regain the speed he had at last years Canadian Championships. From Quebec, Cedrik Lupien and Nataël Cantin will also be ones to keep an eye on.
Also on track this weekend is Micro-Max, Mini-Max, Rotax DD2, Rotax DD2 Masters, Briggs & Stratton Junior and Briggs & Stratton Masters.
The forecast for the weekend appears to be clear, but unpredictable weather is always expected at Goodwood when a big event rolls into town. Regardless, we are expecting hot action on track as big grids will battle for ECKC supremacy across nine divisions.
