The Eastern Canadian Karting Championship hit the halfway mark of it’s 2014 campaign with the completion of race #4 on Sunday at Goodwood Kartways. It was another hot and sticky day at the facility just north of Toronto, Ontario with high grip levels challenging all competitors.
The competition level this weekend in Briggs & Stratton Senior was fierce. 29 Karts entered the class for the second event in a row, with many past four-cycle stars making their return to the class, with the current crop of racers showing them it wouldn’t be easy to reach the podium.
Tommy Lemaire-Ouellet (PSL Karting/CRG) topped the timing charts in qualifying in a session that saw the top-20 karts within four-tenths of a second!
The close action continued in the prefinal and Final where big packs roared around the Goodwood circuit. Jean-Francois Lafontaine (KMS/Birel) led early in the Final but it wouldn’t last long. Kyle Edgar (Birel) moved by Lafontaine on lap two and he brought Jordan Latimer (K&K Kart) with him as the lead pack featured ten-karts.
But Edgar’s turn at the front only last a couple laps as Lafontaine regained the point with Edgar falling outside the top-five before he could slot back into line.
At the halfway point, a lead group of four had broke away with Lafontaine leading Lemaire, Jonathon Treadwell (VRS/K&K Kart) and Latimer while Marco Di Leo (Goodwood/Intrepid) was all alone in fifth. The front four stayed put until the final lap where Lemaire tried everything to find a way into the lead. Entering the tricky 7-8-9 complex of corners, Lemaire dove to the inside, only to ride up and over Lafontaine and the two hit the grass, handing the lead to Treadwell and Latimer.
Treadwell went on to win, his second of the weekend and third of the season with teammate Latimer on his bumper. Di Leo benefitted as well to complete the podium with Formula Renault driver Luke Chudleigh (Prime/Maranello) finishing an impressive fourth in his first every Briggs & Stratton weekend. Pearce Herder (K&P/CRG) was fifth while Marc Stehle (K&K Kart), Frank Launi (GP Kart), Charlotte Lalonde (Margay), Edgar and Zach Boam (GP Kart) completed a top-ten that featured seven different chassis brands. Lafontaine wound up twelfth with Lemaire seventeenth.
With just over a month until the next ECKC event, drivers have plenty of time to prepare for the very challenging streets of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec as the temporary street circuit hosts races five and six on August 1-3.
