Nationals Preview: Open Shifter & Rotax DD2

For Canadian kart racers there is no bigger week on the schedule than the ASN Canadian National Karting Championships and that week is finally here! Racers from across Canada are making their way to Mosport Kartways near Bowmanville, Ontario to compete for Canada’s ultimate title and the glory of being a National Champion. The week long event on the tricky 1.2KM track will be a true test in all categories where high speeds, deep braking zones and plenty of passing will keep drivers on their toes.

The event officially kicks off on Friday with Pfaff SuperPole Qualifying. From there drivers will race in two heat races and a PreFinal before returning on Sunday to compete in the Canadian Championship Finals. It’s going to be an exciting week and for those who cannot attend, stay tuned to CKN all week long for full event coverage!

Official Event Page | Live Timing

To kickoff our coverage of Canada’s premier event, we will break down all ten classes competing this weekend, noting some of the favourites, dark horses and special appearances.

Open Shifter (Sponsored by: Stoneridge Specialty Insurance)

Defending Canadian Champion: New class for 2015

The Open Shifter category will mark the return of 6-speed Shifter karts to the Canadian National Championships since the 2008 event at Grand Mere. Coming into this weekend there are a lot of unknown’s presented to the category as half the drivers will be on KZ powerplants while the rest will be on ROK Shifters.

The favourites among the drivers using the KZ drivers will be the GP kart drivers Chad Campbell and Zachary Shrearer. The two drivers have been the top drivers in the Canadian Karting Challenge this season as they battle for the championship lead in that series.

On the ROK side Dominic Legrand, Allan Moreau and Michael Marjaba have both been fast so far this season winning races in the Coupe Du Quebec championship. In addition, Pier-Luc Ouellette and American CJ Cramm have been added to the PSL Karting stable with ROK engines as well as Indy Lights driver Michael Grenier.

It will be interesting to see if the lower horsepower ROK engines will be awarded a weight ballast to help them close the gap to the KZ drivers.

We are also awaiting word if defending Briggs & Stratton LO206 Senior Champion Jean-Francois Lafontaine will be joining the action. He has taken a start this season in ROK Shifter and is a strong supporter for the class and his addition could round out the competition quite well.

Unofficial Open Shifter Entry List:

Rotax DD2 (Sponsored by: Maranello North America)

Defending Canadian Champion: Jeffrey Kingsley

At the beginning of the 2015 season it seemed as though it was going to be another duel between Fred Woodley and Jeffrey Kingsley for the top spot in the Rotax DD2 field. However as the season has progressed more drivers have made their way to the forefront of the category with Max Preston, Tyler Kashak and Alessandro Bizzotto. The three have been there throughout the season to show both Kingsley and Woodley that they cannot be ignored.

Didier Carre, Austin Riley, Dante Lerra and Arron Attard are continuing to improve their pace in the category. All four are looking to take another step up to become part of the growing lead group. In addition, this year’s Nationals will see the return of Brendan Bain to the DD2 field. It will be interesting to see how well he can perform after spending a year out of a kart.

Unofficial Rotax DD2 Entry List: