ECKC: Nepveu and Woods-Toth Score Race Victories; Lucente Verified as Mini-Max Champion

Following his DNF in the opening round all the way back in May at Goodwood, Stefano Lucente (Karts & Parts/CRG) went on a tear, winning three of the next five Eastern Canadian Karting Championship Mini-Max races, with a pair of runner-up efforts in the other two, to set himself to close out the championship in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

He did have some challengers as Patrick Woods-Toth (Ben Cooper Racing/BirelART) and American Dillon Defonce (SH Racing/FA Kart) entered the weekend with outside shots at the title while the likes of Thomas Nepveu (SH Racing/TonyKart) and Chloe Chambers (Ben Cooper Racing/BirelART) were hoping to close out the season on the top of the podium after up and down seasons.

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Saturday

Nepveu blistered off a fast lap in Qualifying to set the tone on Saturday only to be forced to start from the rear after an issue with his fuel in post-tech. Not to be discouraged, Nepveu patiently worked his way back forward in the PreFinal, getting up to fifth while Woods-Toth cruised to the win.

With the rain arriving for the Final Nepveu, who is a Mini-Max rookie, proved he will be a future force to be reckoned with. Wasting no time getting to the lead, the young driver from Oka, Quebec was lightning quick in the tricky conditions. Posting a fastest lap that was nearly a second quicker than his competitors, Nepveu checked out en route to a 6.7 second victory over Woods-Toth and Defonce.

Championship leader Lucente struggled mightily after starting third, later finding a crack in his frame that affected him on track and needing some late overnight repairs.

Thomas Nepveu celebrates his Saturday victory (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Sunday

With the sun shining on Sunday it was all Woods-Toth. The Canadian Champion put in a perfect effort to end the season and end Lucente’s streak of Sunday ECKC wins at three.

The Final was exciting as both Nepveu and Lucente challenged Woods-Toth but with the exception of lap one where Lucente led the way, Woods-Toth held off his two rivals to lead all the way to the checkered flag with Nepveu second and Lucente third to verify his first ECKC championship.

The strong weekend by Woods-Toth helped him solidify second in the championship with Defonce barely holding off Nepveu for the final step of the ECKC championship podium.

ECKC Mini-Max Championship podium with Stefano Lucente on top, Canadian Champion Patrick Woods-Toth (left) P2 and American Dillon Defonce (right) in P3. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

To recap all of our coverage from Mont-Tremblant, check out our event page!