The feeling on the pre-grid was very tense. All 22 drivers were prepared for battle and they knew it wouldn’t be an easy one under the heat at SRA Karting. The Briggs & Stratton Senior class has become the headline at the 2014 Coupe du Quebec championship and once again most of those in attendance had made their way trackside to take in the action.
Starting from the pole-position, Kevin King (PSL/CRG) was making his first start of the season while Jean-Francois Lafontaine (SRA/Birel) was alongside him and ignoring the cold he was battling. Row two featured another pair of PSL/CRG’s with Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet inside of Mathieu Demers.
The inside line lunged into corner one as Lafontaine was forced back to fourth exiting the first corner and King led the way. From fifth on the grid, Derek Michaud (DMR/FA Kart) had advanced up to second by corner seven and was hot on the heels of the leading, King.
But as Michaud made his move to the lead before the long back straight, he was freight-trained before the next corner and just like that he was back in fourth and now Lafontaine led the group.
As drivers shuffled inside the lead group of nine karts, Lafontaine created a small gap but it wouldn’t last long. The action up front resumed with Michaud making another run at the lead. But again he would be the victim of a pack of karts blowing by him on the back straight with only a couple laps remaining.
That pass for the lead was the final as Lafontaine was joined at the front by his teammate Vincent Cyr (SRA/Birel). For the final two laps, Cyr held his own and protected his teammate from any real threat as the Birel boys finished 1-2. King rebounded to complete the podium with Maxime Couturier (SC Performance/TonyKart) advancing nicely up to fourth and Lemaire-Ouellet fifth.
With a very tight championship, the Coupe du Quebec joins the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship for their final two events, which are double-headers. First on the streets of Trois-Rivieres and then at the Jim Russell Karting Academy in Mont-Tremblant for the season finale.
Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN
This weekends coverage on CKN was presented by KMS North America and the Jim Russell Karting Academy in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Lead by three-time Rotax Grand Finals Champion Ben Cooper, the Jim Russell Karting Academy helps prepare drivers of all ages and experience levels for every aspect of kart racing. Whether you want to improve for your next club race or challenge for a National title, the Jim Russell Karting Academy can help you. For more information about the racing school or to sign up, be sure to email bcooper@kartingjimrussell.com or visit http://kartingjimrussell.com.
