ECKC Championship Weekend Preview Part 1 – Briggs & Stratton Categories

This weekend drivers will converge on Mosport Kartways in Clarington, Ontario all with the focus of race victories and championship titles. It’s been a few years since the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship wrapped up their season before the Canadian Nationals, usually closing out the Canadian season in September, however this summer the four-round inter-provincial program is finishing up mid-summer.

In some categories we have some extremely close battles that will come down to Sunday’s main events to determine a champion, while a few others seem all but solidified courtesy of some impressive driving by select drivers who have simply dominated their categories.

In the first part of our ECKC Championship weekend preview, we break down how the three Briggs & Stratton LO206 categories appear with the points standings adjusted to factor in the drops.

Ontario has shown strong numbers in LO206 action this summer, so we also expect to see a good selection of drivers joining the race this weekend seeking a one-off victory.

Briggs & Stratton LO206 Senior

With the strength of the LO206 program in Ontario, we’re expecting another big turnout in Briggs Senior this weekend, something similar to what we witnessed at Goodwood back in May where the class exceeded the maximum of 34 grid places and required two Pre-Finals.

In his first season of ECKC Briggs competition, Jeff Kinglsey has been impressive. The Rotax DD2 regular has secured a couple of victories and stood on the podium in four of the five races held, starting the season on an Awesome Kart and shifting to a BirelART for the most recent race. Those results have him a solid lead in the championship over another Rotax DD2 regular, Marco Signoretti. After drops, Signoretti sits 60 points back but still within striking distance. Defending class champion Simon Belanger is also right in the mix, a further 18 back after drops. However, if he wants to take the title this year, he will need to stand on the top of the podium.

Pearce Herder and Jean-Francois Lafontaine enter with an outside shot at the title as well, sitting fourth and fifth after the drops are factored in, but will need the cards to fall in their favour to overcome the deficit to leader Kingsley. There is also a pair of Intrepid Karts on the outside looking in at the top-five as 2015 Canadian Champion Jon Treadwell and Tyler McCullough enter the weekend sixth and seventh in the title race.

“This weekend I am hoping to add some more championship titles to the resume. The DD2 category is more of a cruise right now so both PSL Karting and myself are putting most of our energy towards Briggs this weekend. I chose to race Briggs this year ultimately to add more fun to my season. Racing this category keeps myself more busy at the track, sharpens the driving skills, and makes things more fun for both my family and I. Although I say this, DD2 will always be my favorite category within the karting community due to its speed, driving style, aggression, and full driver ability.”
– Jeff Kingsley

Last weekend at Mosport, we witnessed an impressive display by the Energy Kart team, sweeping both victories at the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge, including a full podium sweep on Saturday with Signoretti joined by Nicholas Hornbostel and Alex Da Silva. Look for those Energy Karts to make another strong impression this weekend.

Briggs Senior isn’t the only race that Jeff Kingsley (733) and Marco Signoretti (779) will be battling together in this weekend.

Briggs & Stratton LO206 Junior

Following the fireworks that erupted in the tech tent in Mont-Tremblant, there is one driver standing well ahead of the rest in Briggs Junior; Joshua Conquer. Four drivers were excluded from the results after a tech update from Briggs & Stratton caught those drovers off guard and that moved Conquer to the top of the podium for third time this season and it appears he is en route to step up to the top of the ECKC championship podium after finishing runner-up a year ago.

When the drops are factored in, MacKenzie Clark holds on to the second position, a massive 281 points back of Conquer. Behind Clark, it’s a shootout for who will join Conquer on the Championship podium as only 111 points separates second through sixth. Megan Gilkes has quietly impressed this year, holding third over Gavin Sanders, Zachary Vanier and Jordan Prior.

These Juniors haven’t been afraid to throw down this year, meaning anything is possible when they roll off the grid.

Joshua Conquer is in the hot-seat for the ECKC Briggs Junior Championship

Briggs & Stratton LO206 Masters

With the championship race between the top-three drivers separated by only 27 points after the drops are factored in, we at CKN have deemed this weekends Briggs Masters showdown at Mosport as the ‘LO206 Heavyweight Royal Rumble’.

After returning to the sport, David Anderson has been chasing an ECKC title for two years, coming up just short in those seasons but this weekend he enters as the Championship leader, although lacking a race victory thus far. Scott Jefferies is hot on his heels only 12 points back while Eli Yanko is third a further 15 markers back. Both were race winners at the most recent round in Mont-Tremblant to close in ever so slightly on Anderson, who finished second in both races.

After missing Mont-Tremblant Marc Stehle, who won both races at Goodwood, is fourth 229 points back, followed closely by Greg Jewell, Michael Forget and James Dunn.

Could this be David Anderson’s year in Briggs Masters? We will find out on Sunday at Mosport.

Like Senior, we expect to see many of the MIKA members taking part in this weekends action, filling up the grids in Junior and Masters.

This weekend will also feature the Briggs & Stratton Junior Lite category as they make their second start on the ECKC calendar.

Action gets underway Friday with Practice, followed by two completed race days on the weekend. Tune in to CKN all weekend long for updates and information, live timing, results and photos.