It was another beautiful day at Goodwood Kartways as the fourth race of the 2013 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship hit the track. Officially the largest entered event in ECKC history, it is great to see the series continue to grow, especially in the Briggs & Stratton divisions. With a more sunshine blazing down on the track, the action also heated up with many shake ups on the championship standings when all was said and done.
Sunday’s Rotax Junior racing had the crowd on their feet at Goodwood Kartways, with all kinds of action all over the track. Kicking off the Qualifying session Devlin Defrancesco (DFR/TonyKart) posted the fastest time by over a tenth of a second. Nicholas Dore (Birel) stole second place from Alex Murphy (PSL Karting/CRG) on his final lap, with Gianfranco Mazzaferro (Ferrolati Corse/TonyKart) and Poland’s Antoni Ptak (KMS North America/Birel) rounding the top-five.
A wild start would see Murphy vault to the lead exiting corner one with Mazzaferro slotting into second and Defrancesco third. But contact a couple corners later between the front three would allow Dore, Jeffrey Kingsley (Pserra Racing/Birel), Alexander Lacroix (SH Karting/Zanardi) and Ptak by as the trio all struggled to get back on track and rolling. Defrancesco would regain in ninth while Mazzaferro and Murphy rejoined at the tail of the field. By halfway things up front shifted once again as Kingsley attempted pass Dore in five, but would ride up and over the Birel driver and allow Lacroix to take the lead while Defrancesco had moved back into third. Next time by, Defrancesco moved to second and Kingsley following him past Dore for third, but contact again between the two would allow Ptak to get by as well as Natael Cantin (KMS North America/Birel) into fourth. At the line, Lacroix would take the win ahead of Defrancesco, Ptak, Cantin and Kingsley. Penalties would be handed out following the action fills Pre Final to shake up the grid for the Final.
Impressively all 29 Rotax Junior’s made it through the first lap without incident, but the action would open up from there. Lacroix led the way with Kingsley and Ptak in tow. Kingsley and Ptak would get by Lacroix in corner nine with lead duo trading the top spot back by turn one. In a drag race exiting the first corner, the two would come into contact in corner two, a narrow section of the track, sending Kingsley and his championship hopes hard in to the barriers and Ptak spinning as well towards turn four. At the same time, Defranceco and Cantin came together, narrowly avoiding the two spinning in front of them. Lacroix moved back into the lead while Dore and Christophe Paquet (KCR Karting/CRG) assuming the second and third positions with Cantin on their tails.
As Lacroix began to build a gap, Paquet and Dore duked it out for second. Mazzaferro was also working his way forward after starting deep in field. With the laps winding down, disaster struck for Paquet as he would first surrender his position in third to Cantin, then he struggled to regain composure before falling well down the order. Mazzaferro also worked by Paquet and then Cantin to move into third, while Defrancesco was back up to fifth. Rounding the final corner throwing his fist into the air as the crowd roared, Lacroix scored his first victory in Rotax Junior. Dore would come home second with Mazzaferro third while Cantin and Defrancesco completed the top-five. Taegen Poles (Summit GP/TonyKart) snuck into sixth at the finish while her teammate and championship points leader Anthony Tolfa (Summit GP/TonyKart) finished the race in ninth to complete a disastrous weekend.
With all the action, the points championship exits Goodwood completely shaken up making race #5 in Trois Rivieres even more important.
The series now shifts to the province of Quebec for remaining races. Round three will be held in conjunction with the Coupe du Quebec at Le Monaco de Trois Rivieres on August 1-4. This street race is a not miss for everyone.
