The first round of the 2013 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship is now in the books. The season opener was held at Mosport International Karting for the first time after opening at Goodwood Kartways the previous three years and it was a great decision by the ECKC crew. An event high record was set for entries, while a readjustment to the Briggs & Stratton classes opened up the series to a new wave of kart racers. Here are a couple news and notes from Mosport.
With a week to digest everything that happened, CKN has put together some news and notes from the event.
Mother Nature Plays Games with the Paddock
Sunshine welcomed everyone to Mosport throughout the week, but come Saturday morning Mother Nature had other weather in mind. It started out dry, but very cool and windy. After qualifying, a majority of heat races were held in the dry before the skies opened up for a quick downpour as the Rotax DD2’s hit the grid for their final. But as quick as it fell, it dried up and drivers and mechanics scrambled to decide which direction to go.
Sunday morning was delayed by a heavy fog and once again rain and dry conditions were anyones guess for nearly every session. The sun even made appearances on Sunday to really throw a wrench in the mix. (**Note, our ECKC video highlight has some of the best weather footage ever shot, you will not want to miss that later this week.)
Breakout Weekend for Kevin Monteith!
Who remembers the Kevin Monteith Show? In his final two years of Junior competition, Monteith was nearly unbeatable. Well after a couple transition years to Senior (that did include an ECKC co-championship in 2011), Monteith and his killer instinct was back at Mosport as the talented driver who now operates Racing Edge Motorsports doubled up for victory in Rotax Senior, the biggest class of the weekend.
Where are all the Rotax DD2’s?
It was only two years ago that the Rotax DD2 field in Canada rivalled the Rotax Senior division for numbers and competition. Now, with just over a dozen on track in Mosport what has happened? The competition is still there with past Canadian and Rotax Grand Finals Champions, but many are left scratching their heads over this one.
Pack Four Cycle Racing is back!
The guys at Briggs & Stratton knew it was going to be an uphill battle to overtake the Honda population in Canada, specifically the province of Ontario. But after the opening ECKC round all that hard work has paid off as over 30 karts took the green flag in the Briggs & Stratton Senior/Masters division. Throughout the paddock many loyal Honda ambassadors were even in attendance taking in the action and pondering what race to do next. It wouldn’t surprise anyone at CKN to see over 40 in the Briggs & Stratton Senior division at the 2013 Canadian Championships at Goodwood.
Broken Hand for Marco Signoretti; still completes race
Hands down Marco Signoretti wins the tough driver of the weekend award. The Rotax Junior pilot was involved in an crash as the green flag flew to start the final. With karts scrambling everywhere Signoretti would have a kart drive up and over him, breaking his hand. But he charged on and finished the race before noticing something was very wrong as he entered the scale area.
“I was able to finish the race probably because I had my adrenaline pumping. I knew it was broken during the race so when it was over I immediately thought about how long I would be out for and what races i would miss,” explained Signoretti.
Biggest ECKC Event Ever
With over 150 drivers in attendance throughout the weekend, the Mosport round was the largest ECKC event ever. Thanks in big part to the growing Briggs & Stratton divisions, this is a great sign for the ECKC and Canadian Karting.
The 2013 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship returns on June 28-30 at Goodwood Kartways for races 3 and 4 of the championship.
