This time is finally here, the 2013 ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Karting Championships are officially under way at Goodwood Kartways, just north of Toronto. After months of preparation and weeks of practice, Friday represented Canadian Tire SuperPole Qualifying day at the Nationals, where all nine classes hit the track for qualifying and their first of three heat races.
The largest class of the weekend saw 38 karts hit the track at Goodwood for Briggs & Stratton Senior Qualifying. It is very impressive to see the class continue to grow and drivers from all areas of Canada convene for the Canadian Championships.
Vincent Cyr (Birel) posted the quick lap time of 41.425 seconds which was 0.004 seconds quicker than his teammate JF Lafountaine (Birel as the two swept the front row. Gerald Caseley (PSL Moncton/CRG) took third with a time of 41.548 second just a head of Harland Goulbourne (REM/Birel) and Kyle Edgar (K&K North America/K&K) who completed the top five.
With more drivers than the maximum 34 allowed on track, the officials decided to run the last chance race on Friday and eliminate four drivers from the competition. Although this wasn’t a crowd pleasure, it unfortunately had to be done. In the LCQ Marc Stehle, who finished second at ECKC Goodwood, led from flag to flag. But a tech issue removed him the from the results and out of the event.
Cyr converted his pole-position to an early lead ahead of Lafontaine and Caseley as the drivers managed to build an early gap on those behind. On lap two Lafontaine and Caseley moved by Cyr in the infield allowing Edgar, Cory Cacciavillani (CF Racing/Birel) and Maxime Couturier (SH Karting/Zanardi) to catch. On lap five Cacciavillani and Couturier passed Edgar, moving him to sixth and started to gap the Senior Rookie. Cacciavillani and Couturier weren’t be able to close the gap to the leading trio as they stayed put and pulled away from the field. On the final lap Caseley tried to make a move on Lafontaine for first but didn’t have enough for the French Canadian pilot as he would go on to take the win ahead of Caseley, Cyr, Cacciavillani and Couturier.
The action resumes tomorrow as the Seniors have two more heat races left. With lots of action in heat one, things should get interesting tomorrow as drivers look for as few points as possible before Sunday.
