Since the final round of the 2014 Western Canadian Championship much anticipation has been floating around the industry on how to proceed with the series for 2015. In recent months, the Edmonton Kart Club (EDKRA), Joey Guyon of Overdrive Motorsports and Kevin Dowler of Apollo Motorsports have come up with a new concept to launch a one-off event named the Canadian Rotax Summer Challenge to be held August 1st and 2nd at the Warburg kart track near Edmonton, AB.
This event will be staffed by the EDKRA and have some unique features (and new to karting) for this event.
The first goal is to increase LO206 participation and reduce costs for all age groups in this engine category. For most karters who attend regional events the number one cost is travel and accommodation. The entire LO206 schedule will be run on Saturday evening starting at 4pm, with practice, qualifying and racing all taking place during one evening. These racers can travel home on the Sunday and incur as little as one night of hotel charges, while still getting a full day’s racing on a grippy circuit. Spec tires will be one of Mojo D1 or Mojo D2 and feedback on one or the other is requested by emailing overdrivekart@xplornet.ca Let’s not forget that Rotax racers can also enter this class and race the evening race. Prizes and trophies will be awarded to the top three of the A-Main and the B-Main (more to come on the format and prizing shortly).
The next goal is to have full Rotax grids. This will be accomplished by appealing to club-only type racers to take in “a big race” once per season. A fair, competitive atmosphere over two days of karting and prizing spread down the whole field – not just to the overall winner. This will apply to Micro, Mini, Junior, Senior and even Masters classes! With that being said, the series has applied for tickets to the Grand Finals and if they are awarded it will tie the series together nicely.
The re-introduction of DD2 in the West will be kicked up a notch with 12 Edmonton area karters committed to a Friday evening race with Qualifying, Pre-final, Final format. The race is hoping to draw a healthy dose of extra competitors from as far as Manitoba and the neighbours down in Calgary!
The series is also wanting to gauge interest from the shifter kart community. As with new trends for shifter club racing, the rules would be pretty basic as any 125cc – 6-speed gearbox kart would be welcome. Please let us know if you would like to attend this event!
More information including exact prizing, entry fees, tire allocation and spec fuel will be announced in the new year!
For more information on the Canadian Rotax Summer Challenge please contact Joey Guyon at 403-652-5010 or by email at overdrivekart@xplornet.ca
Where will you be August long weekend?
