Back in action on the temporary street circuit in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship and Coupe du Quebec completed their next-t0-last events of the season on Sunday under hot and overcast skies.
For the past two years at Le Monaco, one driver has been able to set himself apart from the rest and entering Sunday’s race day Alex Lacroix (SH Racing/FA Kart) had won three straight races in Rotax Junior and was looking for his second weekend sweep in row on the streets of Trois-Rivieres.
The start of the Final saw the top-two championship leaders have issues. First, points leader Gianfranco Mazzaferro (Ferrolati Corse/TonyKart), who started third, missed his apex into corner two, taking the escape path and ultimately rejoining at the tail of the field. Then, two corners later, Cedrik Lupien (SH Racing/ FA Kart) broke a chain when he ran over a manhole cover, ending his race on the spot.
The flurry of events on lap one allowed Lacroix to open a huge lead right away as Roman DeAngelis (KoeneUSA/TonyKart) worked into second place over Samuel Lupien (SH Racing/FA Kart) and Nataël Cantin (KMS/Birel).
Lupien took over second place a lap later as DeAngelis would have his hands full of Cantin and Tyler Ripani (Pserra/TonyKart).
With the laps winding down, Ripani worked his way into third until DeAngelis made a brave move on the final lap to regain the position in the chicane section. This allowed Cantin to catch the two, overtake Ripani on exit and then work by DeAngelis in the final corner to finish third.
However the officials deemed Cantin moved DeAngelis out of the way, resulting in a two position penalty.
Lacroix cruised to the win, Samuel Lupien second and Ripani on the final step of the podium. DeAngelis was fourth and Cantin fifth. Charles Deschenes (TonyKart), Thierry Cote (PSL/CRG), Joe Soranno (Energy Kart Canada/Energy Kart), Mazzaferro and George Stojakovic (Birel) completed the top-ten.
Even with the challenging weekend, Mazzaferro will lead the ECKC Championship entering next months season finale in Mont-Tremblant.
