#CoupedeMontreal
Rotax Report: Exciting Action at SC Performance Karting
Baillargeon, Deslongchamps, Bower and Ye cruise to victories in Mini, Junior , Senior and DD2 while Laplante barely holds on in DD2M
The Coupe de Montreal was back at SC Performance Karting in St-Celestin coinciding with the St-Jean de Baptiste holiday for round three of their six-race calendar this past weekend.
High temperatures, plenty of humidity, the threat of rain at any moment and smoke-filled skies provided a challenging weekend of weather. Still, thankfully rain never interrupted the two-day event and Sunday was an action-packed day of racing on the track.
Race Results | Briggs + Shifter Report | Photo Gallery (Tuesday)
Rotax Micro-Mini: Baillageon gets away early
There was a three-driver battle for the top in Rotax Micro-Mini Max this weekend as Alexis Baillargeon (Blastforce/CL Kart), Jackson Lachapelle (BCR/BirelART) and Olivier Chasse (HMP/Kart Republic) all took their turns leading in the Prefinal, setting up what should’ve been another great battle in the Final.
A shuffle at the start as the leaders entered corner one three-wide brought Louis-Charles Camirand (PSL/BirelART) into the mix as he jumped into second place on the opening lap behind Baillargeon, who made a nice pass on the polesitter Lachapelle before even getting to corner one.
It wasn’t until lap four that Lachapelle and Chasse were able to slip by Camirand and set their focus on the race leader. They worked hard together initially, but Baillargeon was too far ahead and in the second half of the race, their focus shifted to the race for second place.
With a little contact with four laps to go, Chasse was able to get by Lachapelle and that would be how they crossed the finish line with Baillargeon out front by 2.7 seconds.
However, after the race Chasse was accessed a 5-second penalty for the contact and that relegated him back to fifth place and elevated Lachapelle back to second. Also moving up were Camirand and Jeremy St-Cyr (TAG/CRG).
Rotax Junior: Deslongchamps keeps the streak alive
After cruising to victories in the opening two races of the season, Lucas Deslongchamps (HMP/Kart Republic) had some new competition to race with this weekend in Rotax Junior as Major Makovskis (PSL/BirelART) arrived from Ontario to do battle.
The pair were separated by only 0.056 seconds in Qualifying and nearly half a second quicker than their next competitors.
A spirited battle in the PreFinal went to Makovskis initially, but he was forced to start the Finale from the rear after failing technical inspection.
This left Deslongchamps a little breathing room in the Final and when the green flag dropped, he was off to the races.
Makovskis worked his way to second place just before halfway until his chain guard came off and his race was over at the hands of a mechanical flag.
Taking the win by more than five seconds, Deslongchamps remained unbeaten this season with his third victory.
Second place would go to Brando Londono (HMP/Kart Republic) after he enjoyed an early race battle with Carlo Sasso (Exprit Kart). Eventually, Londono was more consistent on the stopwatch and pulled away from Sasso to score the podium in his debut Junior race. Fourth and fifth place went to Jesse Lambert (TAG/CRG) and John Wade (Nonstop/Ricciardo Kart), as Wade came from the tail of the grid to secure a top-five finish.
Rotax Senior: Bower scores his first Coupe de Montreal win
There was plenty of focus on the Rotax Senior division this weekend as a very competitive group of racers took to the track. In Qualifying the top four were separated by less than two-tenths of a second and the top fourteen by just over six-tenths. Needless to say, it was very close at the top.
Olivier Bedard (Premier/TonyKart) and Max Raymer (TAG-KGR/CRG) led the field into corner one but it would be Nolan Bower (PSL/BirelART) who exited the opening complex of corners with the lead, advancing up from his fifth place starting position.
Bedard and William Bouthillier (HMP/Kart Republic) remained close to Bower for the rest of the race but none of the three would make a pass for position.
For the start of the Final, Bouthillier was glued to the bumper of Bower and that allowed him to slip by Bedard in corner one. The pair would race hard for second place early with Bedard working his way back by on lap two.
The front three settled in for the middle stage of the race with Bower leading by a couple of kart lengths over Bedard and Bouthillier but behind them, Ari Korkodilos (Premier/OTK) was on the charge. Posting the fastest lap of the race on lap nine, Korkodilos caught the bumper of Bouthllier and the podium race was on.
Feeling the pressure, Bouthillier attempted a pass for second on Bedard and the two slowed just enough for Korkodilos to slip by both of them on lap twelve.
This opened up a gap for Bower that he would not relinquish, steering himself to his first Coupe de Montreal victory. Korkodilos was able to hold off Bouthillier to claim the second step of the podium while Bedard had to settle for fourth. Lucas Nanji (HMP/Kart Republic) was able to come out on top of the second pack on track and earn a top-five finish, just ahead of Steven Szigeti (SH/SodiKart), Yu Chen Ye (ETI/Kosmic) and Timothe Pernod (PSL/BirelART).
Rotax DD2: Cruise control for Yu Chen Ye
Making the most of his first start of the season, Yu Chen Ye (ETI Racing/Kosmic) drove perfectly in Rotax DD2 to secure his first win of the season.
After he and Ludovic Sabourin (BCR/BirelART) came together in Qualifying, both were unable to post their best lap time and that allowed Cederic Cataphard (CRT/BirelART) to grab the pole position.
However, Yu Chen’s pace in the races was too much for Cataphard and after trading the lead position for a few laps, Yu Chen was able to pull away and win the Prefinal.
This set him on the pole position for the Final and he made no mistakes throughout the 15-lap race, eventually pulling away to a 5-second margin of victory.
Brandon Stephens (Nonstop/Ricciardo) was able to get by Cataphard at the start, but his time in second place lasted only one lap. Cataphard slipped by on the back straight and then put some distance between the two.
A slowing Stephens at the end of the race allowed Felix Menard Labrecque (CRT/BirelART to close in and really put the pressure on during the final lap. But Stephens defended where he needed to and kept Labrecque at bay to the finish line.
Rotax DD2 Masters: Thrilling finish between Laplante and Levesque
There was action at the very beginning of the Rotax DD2 Masters Final and at the very end as David Laplante (Premier/TonyKart) just barely held off Marc Andre Levesque (SH/SodiKart) for the win.
The race started with Alexandre Gauthier (CRT/BirelART) following Laplante closely into corner one to overtake Levesque.
The front three were very close until Levesque dove up the inside of the hairpin corner eight at the last moment. A small amount of contact sent Gauthier into the deep grass and ended his race prematurely.
Great pace early in the race allowed Laplante to pull away but as the laps counted down in the second half, Levesque closed back in on the race leader.
With two laps to go, he was right on the rear bumper and putting pressure on.
Laplante was able to keep him at bay through the final lap with a defensive lap. This left Levesque one last opportunity to exit the final corner with a little extra momentum. A drag race to the finish line would see Laplate just barely hold on, with the two separated by only 0.037 seconds at the line.
A little further up the road, Pascal Acquaah (ETI Racing/BirelART) had an uneventful race to secure a trip to the podium in third place, followed by Francois Dulac (CRT/BirelART) and Yannick Hurtubise (CKR Karts).
The Coupe de Montreal will return to action on July 15-16 when the series returns to Mont-Tremblant. Registration for the event will open soon.
