Fantastic Weekend of Racing at EDKRA Summer Challenge
The highlight event of the Edmonton and District Kart Racing Association season each year is their Summer Challenge and the event was shifted to the Canada Day long weekend to add a little extra excitement and celebration with friends and competitors.
Welcoming their club regulars along with a group of racers travelling in from Calgary as well as Saskatchewan, was a great turnout.
Following Friday’s DD2 action and Fireworks display to start the Canada Day celebrations, the weekend portion featuring Briggs, Rotax Max and Shifter competition, took over on Saturday morning. A shift in the weather brought in dark clouds and much cooler temperatures, along with some rain on Sunday morning, but all the racing took place on a dry track with heated action.
Rotax DD2 Report | Photo Gallery (coming soon)
Regardless of the weather, a few trips through the paddock showcased the vibe that we all love from club racing. Lots of laughter and banter between competitors, aiding fellow racers when help is needed and a general appreciation for each other was always on display. The support at the podium ceremony on Sunday afternoon was phenomenal too, with kids cheering on their fellow racers, some even getting a personally named cheer when they stood on the podium and probably my favourite part of karting in Western Canada, every driver on the podium takes the microphone, says a little thank you to their sponsors and supporters, with each developing better confidence to speak in front of a group.
The event had a ton of support from the local community as well with 3-D Line Locating stepping up as the event sponsor while the following were individual class sponsors: Paradise Timepieces, Shelemey Financial, Iron Wing Tank and Vac, Hoogland Farms, MFP Resources, Simon-Maxwell, 2479 Racing, Snubco Pressure Control, Last Minute Panic Motorsports, Metric Farm Solutions, Elite Crane and Mizfitz Motorsports.
In addition, Apollo Motorsports offered up $500.00 to each of the Super Pole fast qualifiers for classes with more than 5 entries, and all of the fast qualifiers took home an awesome custom trophy featuring a MOJO rain tire and wheel mounted on a metal frame.
There was also a very cool pace lap for the Briggs Masters class where a formula car from the Formula Racecar Experience Events lapped the track before the green flag.
With eleven categories competing throughout the weekend, there was plenty of activity on track.
There was a great showdown in Rotax Mini Max where Sebastian de Moissac (BirelART) was under pressure from Matthew Meyers (CompKart) all race long. Meyers remained on the rear bumper of the race leader but de Moissac never faulted and he managed to lead every lap of the main event to secure his first EDKRA Summer Challenge win.
There was a lot of attention on the Rotax Senior Max class as well with the likes of Griffin Dowler (TonyKart), Skylar Dunning (Kosmic), Spencer Perreault (Kosmic) and Dylan Ludwig (BirelART) mixing it up in the heat races. When the Final came around, Dowler, who was competing in four different categories this weekend, put on a clinic, checking out to a three-second victory of Dunning and Perreault, who endured their own battle in the late stages of the race, joining him on the podium.
The same trio would return to the podium again after the Briggs Senior race. This time it was Dunning who took the win. There was a little chaos at the start with Ludwig spinning from third place into Haley Gulash (TonyKart) and Devon Gellings (CRG) and just narrowly missing Dowler. While Dunning drove away from his competitors, Perreault got ahead of Dowler early on, but the position swapped back at halfway with Dowler taking the runner-up result at the end over Perreault.
Another runaway victor was Noel Dunning (TonyKart) in Briggs Masters. His competitors just couldn’t match his speed all weekend.
Jeremy Zsamboki (Ricciardo Kart) put on a clinic in Briggs Junior 2, winning by nearly seven seconds on the track. Behind him, Sebastian de Moissac just narrowly held off Everleigh Kozakowski (TonyKart) for second place, as both drivers ended the weekend with a pair of trips to the podium.
Other race winners from the weekend were: Gianna Hendry (TonyKart) in Ladies Briggs, Christian Sanguinetti (TonyKart) in Briggs Junior 1, Liam Voisey (EOS Kart) in Rotax Micro Max, Boss Patel (Exprit Kart) in Rotax Junior, Nick Wolodko (Vemme Kart) in Rotax Masters and Zachary Sinclair (BirelART) in Shifter.
CKN will be back in the province of Alberta in a few weeks’ time for the first stop of the 2023 Max Karting Group Canada Final where racers will tackle the Stratotech Park circuit, yes the same one that hosted the ASN Canadian Karting Championships nearly 20 years ago, for a weekend of high-speed action. Registration is still open for the two-race series that will award tickets to be a member of Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. Don’t miss out!
