Latest News
Western Canadian Championships: Saturday Racing Sets Up Exciting Championship Finale
It was another exciting day of racing at the Greg Moore Raceway in Chilliwack, British Columbia as the Western Canadian Championship held it’s penultimate race of the series on Saturday. Excellent weather once again treated drivers with perfect driving conditions around the tricky GMR circuit.
With race five of six on tap, there was plenty of action on track with the championship battles tightening up before the final day of competition on Sunday.
Here is a recap of the five classes on track on Saturday.
Rotax Senior Controlled by American Driver Luke Selliken
It was a different story in Rotax Senior as Friday winner Coltin McCaughan (CKN/TonyKart) struggled in qualifying as American Luke Selliken (RPG/Kosmic) topped the charts and Jordan Redlin (PSL West/CRG) was second. Most of the drivers opted to use their second set of tires in Qualifying, as drivers sought after any advantage they could get.
The PreFinal kicked off with a bang as the field bombarded into the first corner. Exiting three-wide into the next tight right-hander meant someone had to give, and it ended up being McCaughan who was sandwiched between Skylar Dunning (KGK/Kosmic) and Tristan Merke (TonyKart) and the three all ended up in the rough stuff. Merke and Dunning were done, while McCaughan continued with a beat-up kart. Out front Selliken cruised to an easy PreFinal win over Choquer as Redlin and Derek Wang (FA Kart) completed the front-four.
Choquer made a nice move to grab the lead early in the Final, but Selliken returned to the point almost immediately and from there he was able to check out from the field en route to scoring the win.
Running in second most of the race until a late charge by Wang pushed him down to third in the order, Choquer knew that the front two didn’t count for points therefore didn’t push too hard to regain the spot back from Wang. Choquer also had pressure from Redlin with two laps left, but Redlin overshot his pass in corner three and that allowed Choquer to counter the move and create enough of a gap to finish third on the podium ahead of Redlin and McCaughan.
With one race day remaining, Choquer owns a very minuscule lead over McCaughan, where Sunday’s Final will come down to a winner take all scenario for the Championship and the ticket to the Grand Finals.
Luke Selliken (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)
Van Eerd Earns Another in Rotax Junior to take Championship Lead
Like Rotax Senior, most of the Juniors utilized their second set of tires for Saturday Qualifying, all of those except Friday winner Clay Van Eerd (CVE/TonyKart). American Kyle Wick posted the fastest time with Van Eerd second, Sting Ray Robb (BBR/TonyKart) third, Evan White (OverDrive/Expirit) fourth and championship leader Ryan Martin (RPG/TonyKart) in fifth.
A shuffle in the early laps of the PreFinal saw Robb assume the lead while Van Eerd had to battle back from fourth after a tough start from the outside. Once out front, Robb was able to take off while Wick had his hands full of Van Eerd until and engine failure forced Wick to the sidelines with two laps remaining.
It was a similar story to the start of the Final as Van Eerd fell back to fourth while the inside line gained a nice advantage over the slow off-polesitter. Robb managed to hold onto the lead while Van Eerd worked his way back by Jeff Fulham (KGK/Kosmic) and White in the opening laps.
Tracking down the leader at the midpoint, Van Eerd opted to stay put knowing Robb didn’t count for the points championship as the two went on to cross the finish line 1-2, while Fulham held on to third and Martin, who was running as high as fourth fell to seventh at the line.
Unfortunately for Robb, he was excluded in post-race tech, moving Van Eerd to the top step of the podium with Fulham and Wick standing second and third.
With another clean sweep of the points, Van Eerd overtook Martin for the championship lead, but like Senior it will all come down to SuperSunday in order to decide a champion.
Rotax Junior Top-3: Clay Van Eerd (c), Full Fulham (r) and Kyle Wick (l) – Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN
Torgerson Doubles up in Mini-Max
In Mini-Max we once again saw American driver Austin Torgerson (Ruthless/TonyKart) rule the category at GMR, leaving the championship contenders to race for second.
Torgerson swept the days action, earning the pole-position, winning the PreFinal and then checked out early in the Final en route to win number two on the weekend.
Behind him, Carson Vogel (BBR/Kosmic) and Marco Kacic (PSL West/CRG) continued their championship battle. Vogel was able to once again gain the upper hand and with it, all but secure the championship while Kacic was forced to stand on the third step of the podium on the day after a poor start forced him to fight his way back forward and not battle Vogel like he did a day prior.
Austin Torgerson (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)
Big Micro-Max Win for Ryan Dezell
After disappointment on Friday, Ryan Dezell (Kosmic) returned to the top of the WCC podium with an excellent drive on Saturday.
In a heated battle for the lead, Dezell found himself behind Jonathon Portz (Kosmic) and Ashton Torgerson (Ruthless/KGB) in the early stages of the Final. But the front two were battling hard and when contact between the leaders opened the door for Dezell, he was sitting there patiently awaiting his opportunity. Torgerson was able to keep the pressure on Dezell for the lead, but a last lap pass by Dezell was enough to secure the victory.
Portz finished third, a ways behind the leaders at the finish line, but we expect the three of these young drivers to once again duke it out on Sunday. Brad Bachalo (RPG/Kosmic) ran all alone in fourth place, while Darryen Hliwa (PSL West/CRG) held off Jason Leung (PDB) to round out the top-five.
Ryan Dezell (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)
Exciting Final in Briggs Junior 2
American Sting Ray Robb (BBR/TonyKart) used strategy in the Briggs Junior 2 Final to claim the victory in a very exciting race. Challenged by the Dezell sisters, Jessica and Christina, Robb was forced to do everything he could to maintain his lead position. The three traded the lead often in the first half of the race, but at the mid-way point, Robb was able to separate the two and then wait until the final lap to settle things with Jessica.
The older Dezell sister did all she could to keep the American driver behind her, but a nifty outside-inside move in corner nine allowed Robb to grab the lead for the final time and take the win at the finish line.
Sting Ray Robb (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)
With only one day remaining in the 2014 Western Canadian Championships, look for plenty more excitement on Sunday in Chilliwack.
