On a very cold and windy day at Mosport International Karting for the first race of the 2014 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, those in attendance who braved the weather were rewarded with some excellent racing in all classes.
It was the Zach and Zach show on Saturday as Zacharie Scalzo (KGK/TonyKart) qualified on the pole-position with Zachary Claman DeMelo (Intrepid) beside him.
After a scary incident in the prefinal, DeMelo earned the heat win with Marco Di Leo (Goodwood/Intrepid) finishing second, Scalzo third and Kevin Monteith (REM/Birel) fourth.
The front four slotted into line at the start, with accidents claiming many drivers behind including Anthony Tolfa (TonyKart), Tyler Kashak (Goodwood/Intrepid) and Coltin McCaughan (SH Racing/FA Kart) who were all running in the top-ten.
After Scalzo worked his way into second, Di Leo attempted to regain the position with an aggressive pass into the tight turn five, by Di Leo overshot his entry and actually climbed up and over the leader of DeMelo, also his teammate. This nicely opened the door for Scalzo to take the lead while Di Leo was off into grass and DeMelo got back up to speed in second.
But DeMelo worked his way back into the lead a couple laps later until two laps to go as Scalzo made his move in the final corner for the lead. Five corners later, DeMelo attempted to regain the lead with a late-brake into the tight turn five, but like DiLeo, he overshot it and made contact with Scalzo, allowing Christophe Paquet (PSL/CRG) to generously take the lead with a half a track remaining.
Paquet took the win, DeMelo would up second and Scalzo completed the podium. Monteith quietly took fourth with the UK’s Jordan Lennox (PSL/CRG) fifth just ahead of Steven Szigeti (BENIK/TonyKart).
