ECKC: Ben Cooper and Pier-Luc Ouellette Split DD2 Victories; Kingsley in Champion over Woodley

The Rotax DD2 division was beefed up in Mont-Tremblant as KMS-Birel teammates Ben Cooper and Pier-Luc Ouellette made their first ECKC starts of the season, along with the addition on Milan Dontje (PSL/CRG) of the Netherlands and Gavin Reichelt of the USA. Championship rivals Jeff Kingsley (PSL/CRG) and Fred Woodley (Prime/Maranello) welcomed the new faces as they both pursued the overall ECKC title.

With everyone switching to wet tires for Saturday’s Final, the atmosphere changed quite a bit on track after a very exciting dry PreFinal. Trouble for Woodley on lap one saw him involved in two separate incidents, hurting his chances of making any progress on Kingsley. Out front, Cooper made the most of his first ECKC start to pull out to a huge lead early.

Ouellette made quick work of the competition to slot into second while Reichelt was on a charge and worked his way up to third. The battles slowed down from there until the final lap where Reichelt suddenly lost control in corner one due to a lost tire, a very disappointing end to an excellent drive. This moved Kingsley onto the podium behind Cooper and Ouellette.

Saturday Results | Sunday Results

The rain was very intense during the Rotax DD2 Sunday Final as Ouellette scored the win over Cooper (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Heavy rain was featured in the Sunday Final and once again it was Cooper sneaking out to an early lead when the green flag flew, but this time wouldn’t be as easy.

By the midway point, Ouellette was lapping nearly half a second quicker than Cooper and he was catching the three-time Rotax Grand Finals Champion. Once on his bumper the two waged a very spirited battle, trading the lead with crossover moves until Ouellette was finally able to break free. Struggling to keep up with a very quick Ouellette, Cooper was unable to attack for the lead again before the checkered flag as Ouellette went on to take the win and Kingsley joined them on the podium for the second day in a row.

The double-podium weekend was enough for Kingsley confirm the ECKC Rotax DD2 title over Woodley, but with Kingsley already qualified for the Rotax Grand Finals courtesy of his National Championship, Woodley was awarded the invitation to join Team Canada in Spain this fall. Alessandro Bizzotto concluded his ECKC campaign finishing third overall in the championship.

In the Coupe du Quebec, Dominic LeGrand claimed the overall championship as the only driver to compete in every event with Bizzotto and Kingsley finishing second and third.

ECKC Rotax DD2 Championship podium: Woodley, Kingsley and Bizzotto (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)