Eastern Canadian Karting Championship

Awards Watch - ASN Canada FIA National Karting Championships & SRA Karting International

25 August 2010

The first pair of Eastern Canadian Karting Championship class champions began collecting on their Awards over the weekend as both Zachary Claman DeMelo and Karter Hickling were competing at the ASN Canada FIA National Karting Championships at Le Circuit Karting Mont-Tremblant compliments of ECKC Awards. Claman DeMelo, the Mini-Max Champion, and Hickling, the Micro-Max Champion, were awarded free entry/tires/fuel/oil/paddock spot and all required credentials at Nationals compliments of Series’ Partner SRA Karting International. To say the least, they were successful as both were on the podium and Claman DeMelo is the new Canadian Champion!

The TonyKart driver was in dominating form among the class of twenty in Mini-Max as he took pole position on Friday and was only beaten to the checkered flag once over the weekend. After winning heats one and three, and finishing second in heat two, Claman DeMelo had maintained his pole position and won the prefinal by 5.6 seconds. The final brought more of the same, as he went flag-to-flag in leading every lap on his way to the National Championship. With the win, Claman DeMelo was also awarded a spot on Team Canada, and will now be headed to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals later this year as an observer.

For his part, Hickling was also on the front row from qualifying, timing second in Micro-Max. He then improved one spot through each heat, going third, second, first, and was back on the front row when the field took the green for the National prefinal. He finished that race in third, and slotted in the same spot through the first five laps of the final before going back to second on lap six and keeping the spot heading to the checkers. He also had a familiar rival next to him on the podium, as season-long sparring mate and ECKC runner-up James Dean Laderoute won the National Championship. Laderoute and Hickling took the ECKC Mirco-Max title fight down to the wire in season one, and produced a riveting finale at Mont-Tremblant leading in to Nationals.

"This is exactly the type of results we expected when we formed the ECKC," said founding partner Daniel Di Leo. "We wanted to up the ante both on track and off track in Canadian karting, and produce a series where the drivers would be consistently tested by their fellow competitors and really have to be on top of their game to earn ECKC podiums and championships. The organizers all believed that by significantly increasing the level of competition in a season-long championship, drivers would then be able to compete for podiums and wins when they went on to bigger events like Nationals, Internationals, and Grand Finals. Many ECKC competitors were front and centre at Mont-Tremblant, and we’ll look on with interest now as award winners and class champions continue on to compete in Spain, Florida and Italy."

DD2 Class Champion Kyle Herder will be in two of those as he will join Claman DeMelo and Hickling to race at the opening round of the Florida Winter Tour on an ECKC Award, but prior to that will compete at the Grand Finals in Italy after winning the Canadian National Championship Sunday afternoon. In fact all eight eligible ECKC Champions were in action at Mont-Tremblant and performed very well, with six of eight qualifying on the front row after dry qualifying Friday! Claman DeMelo, Marco Di Leo, Stuart Clark and Sean McPhee each earned pole position, and Herder and Hickling were also on the front row. Then, by the end of a very wet-weather weekend, Claman DeMelo and Herder were National Champions, Hickling took second on the podium and McPhee took third.

Watch for more information in the weeks and months ahead, as Di Leo and Jesse Lazare will be competing at the Rotax International Open in Zuera, Spain, compliments of Lilydale, Goodwood Kartways and PSL Karting; Clark, McPhee, Kevin Monteith and Jamie MacArthur will complete three-day Mustang competition courses compliments of ICAR; and Claman DeMelo, Hickling and Herder will contest the opening round of the 2011 Florida Winter Tour compliments of the Florida Winter Tour.