The Eastern Canadian Karting Championship hit the halfway mark of it’s 2014 campaign with the completion of race #4 on Sunday at Goodwood Kartways. It was another hot and sticky day at the facility just north of Toronto, Ontario with high grip levels challenging all competitors.
The Rotax DD2 Masters class was combined with the DD2 drivers this weekend as small numbers in both classes forced series officials to make the change. However, following Saturday’s racing the groups we separated back as a number of drivers complained that drivers from the other class affected their outcomes. Nonetheless, it is disappointing to see the entry numbers so low after the growth the two classes featured over the past four seasons.
Saturday
Racing with the big group, it was an exciting start for the DD2 Masters. First, Francis Mondou (SH Racing/Intrepid) was involved in a crash entering corner seven. Then Stuart Clark (Prime/Maranello) found himself off in the rhubarb in corner nine with contact from Etienne Lasalle (CRG). This action allowed Vancouver’s Chris Glover (KMS/Birel) to takeover the class lead.
Glover was then able to break free while Joe Crupi (Goodwood/Intrepid), Martin Verville (PSL/CRG) and Paul Carvalho (CRG) battled for second.
Glover became the third different winner in the category while Carvalho came out on top of the battle for second with Crupi earning a podium at his home track just edging Verville to the finish line for third. Clark could only manage a seventh place result in his recovery.
Sunday
Sunday’s action was much different up front. In the final, it was a three horse race between Clark, Mondou and Glover. Mondou led in the early laps with pressure from Glover while Clark fought back from a tough start where he fell to fifth.
Glover made a bold move while battling through lapped traffic to take the lead from Mondou with Clark also getting by Mondou a couple laps later.
The front three looked as though there would be an epic battle to the finish, but a small mistake by Clark allowed Glover to pull away and ultimately earn his second victory of the weekend. Clark settled for second with Mondou completing the podium. Carvalho just missed podium with a fourth place result while Verville completed the top-five.
With just over a month until the next ECKC event, drivers have plenty of time to prepare for the very challenging streets of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec as the temporary street circuit hosts races five and six on August 1-3.
