The final major karting event of the Canadian season wrapped up this past weekend as the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship completed another at the Jim Russell Karting Academy in beautiful Mont-Tremblant, QC. It was a cool and overcast weekend as the event hosted the Coupe du Quebec on Saturday before setting up the ECKC Championship finale with some classes coming down to the wire for titles and for who would join Team Canada for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.
Entering the season finale, Jonathon Treadwell (K&K Kart) needed a decent weekend to secure the class championship, but with his closest rivals not making the trip to Mont-Tremblant some of the pressure was relieved, but that didn’t stop the 4-cycle ace from seeking another victory this year.
The Briggs & Stratton Senior division grew more than any class in 2013, and once again a full field of drivers arrived in Mont-Tremblant ready to put on a show and race for glory.
The Final saw Jean-François Lafontaine (Birel) grab the early lead with Charlotte Lalonde (Margay) slotting into second, Tommy Lemaire-Ouellette (Zanardi) third and Treadwell falling to fourth from the front row. As Lemaire went by Lalonde, Treadwell struggled enough getting by as well to let the front two pull away. But the leaders would battle early on and Treadwell joined the fray making it a three-horse race.
The action was awesome, as passing occurred nearly every lap in almost every corner! Contact between Lemaire and Lafontaine with only five laps left looked to allow Treadwell to pull far enough away to take the win, but at a huge drafting track such as Tremblant, his 10-kart lead was eaten up on less than two laps and the 3-kart race was back on. With the last lap board shown, Lemaire dove to the inside of Lafontaine for the lead in one as Treadwell swung way wide. Lemaire slid up into Lafontaine and Treadwell overtook them both on exit. As Lafontaine gathered it up and got by Lemaire, Treadwell had pulled away enough to take the win and secure the class championship! Lafontaine settled for second and Lemaire third.
With Treadwell on top of the championship podium, Mathieu Demers moved into second with a fifth place finish while Marc Stehle was third overall, even after missing the final two rounds.
The event caps off yet another successful year for the ECKC, showing growth at nearly every event this year. With a strong support and huge growth in the Briggs & Stratton classes as well as growth in the youngest categories of Rotax, the series has plenty to look back on this year as we know it is already looking forward to 2014!
