PR: Goodwood Kartways/Intrepid Canada Ready for ECKC

Having recently begun both club and inter-club championship schedules in fine fashion, the race team and special event staff at Goodwood Kartways now has the biggest event of its season on deck: the opening round of the 2015 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, set to go this week. Some of the nation’s best will be on hand beginning Thursday as the sixth edition of the championship puts the karting season in full stride.

“The season really has gotten off to a great start,” said Goodwood/Intrepid Team Manager Marco Di Leo. “Since the snow finally left us for good we’ve kicked off our Arrive-and-Drive series and had four rounds with the Toronto Racing Association of Karters, our Goodwood-based club championship. The last was also the opening round of the new inter-club Champion Ron Fellows Karting Challenge and it was a great success. It’s been busy for sure, but things have been going very well for Goodwood and our drivers, and we’re all excited for the week ahead so we can see where we truly stand to begin the year.”

While the full roster of Goodwood/Intrepid drivers will be on track this weekend, a few head into ECKC event one having already signalled their intent to compete for championships: Xavier Harris, Russell Boyle and Tanner Hamilton. The trio have racked up ten wins from twelve starts to begin the year and are never far from the front, regardless of the series.

Harris is a perfect four-for-four in Rotax Mini-Max having won the first three TRAK races and then the opening event of the CRFKC last weekend. He’s been on pole in all but his first start of the season, and never finished a session lower than second with three poles, three Prefinal wins and four Finals, the last two coming via clean sweeps. Harris has won three consecutive years in ECKC competition including the 2014 season finale, and as the reigning TRAK Champion he’ll be looking to win early this year and add to the total going forward.

Harris is a perfect four-for-four this season at Goodwood. Xavier Harris (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Boyle is much the same in Rotax Junior as after a DNF in his first start of the season he has won his last three with clean sweeps from pole to Final. Beginning his last season of Junior competition, Boyle leads both the TRAK and CRFKC point tables at this point and has been dominating at Goodwood so far. With Jordan Slipacoff joining in Junior, Goodwood/Intrepid looks to have a powerful one-two punch in the class this season. Slipacoff has a win and three podiums to date and is always at his best in big events.

New to the Intrepid lineup but not to karting, Hamilton has been nearly flawless in Briggs & Stratton. The Junior driver has swept three TRAK starts and nearly completed an epic comeback-to-win in his first CRFKC start last weekend. After three pole-to-victory days to get the year rolling, Hamilton qualified fourth in the first inter-club race but fell to sixth in the Prefinal. Then seventh after the opening lap of the Final, he meticulously picked his way forward into contention. He reached second with two laps to go, set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap and was edged by just a nose at the line, 0.094 seconds back in second. Hamilton returns to ECKC competition this weekend.

Also back and sure to contend are a number of Goodwood/Intrepid veterans. Tyler Kashak, Max Preston, John Cariati, Dave Anderson, Tyler McCullough and Di Leo himself will be on track among what will surely be the biggest line-up of the season. For more information on Goodwood Kartways/Intrepid Canada, visit the new goodwoodkartways.com and like it on Facebook. For information on how the race team can assist you there, please contact marco@goodwoodkartways.com.

*Team Facts: Goodwood Kartways is in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada, where drivers can progress from turning rental kart laps to world championships. The Goodwood Kartways race team annually represents the facility at National and International Championships like the Florida Winter Tour, Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, Canadian National Championships and SKUSA SuperNationals.

It has also had drivers contest the Pan-American Rotax Max Challenge, the World Karting Association Manufacturer’s Cup, the Rotax European Championship, the Rotax International Open Championship and the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. Goodwood Kartways operates in conjunction with Intrepid S.r.l. in Verona, Praga Kart, HRS Racing Engines, IMAF Racing Seats and Vega Tires.