Eastern Canadian Karting Championship

Second ECKC Season Closes at RMC Grand Finals

20 December 2011

When the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship was founded in the Spring of 2010, managing partner Daniel Di Leo noted, "For years we have seen great drivers develop their skills in their respective provinces. By creating an inter-provincial championship, the competition will be fierce and will ultimately lead to drivers reaching a new level of skill." Oh how prophetic he has been proven, as Eastern Canadian Karting Championship drivers are now winning races and titles around the world.

Following its first season, six drivers who contested the entire ECKC as their home series qualified to represent Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, and ten of fourteen drivers on Team Canada had starts in the series. Following its second season, twelve drivers who contested the entire ECKC as their home series qualified to represent Team Canada at Grand Finals, and sixteen of a record-setting twenty-one drivers had starts in the series. It’s helped to quickly define the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship as one of the most competitive Rotax Max Challenge Series’ in the world, and certainly the most competitive in North America during the summer season.

Of the ECKC drivers that contested Grand Finals this year, the most notable of course is PSL/CRG driver Pier-Luc Ouellette, who after winning the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship DD2 crown, went on to win the Canadian National Championship and the Rotax World Championship. In fact, every Canadian National Rotax Champion was an ECKC competitor, and others scored additional championships as well. Intrepid drivers Marco Di Leo and Jesse Lazare joined CRG driver Tyler McEwan in claiming a Pan American Championship, while Michael Vincec and Nicholas Latifi earned championships this year in the Florida Winter Tour and Gatorz Challenge of the Americas respectively. The ECKC is certainly delivering on its promise, and the second season proved even better than the first.

Of course, much excitement around the ECKC in 2011 was the fact that its Awards Package contained three tickets to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. In the end, those tickets were awarded to Olivier Bedard, Reid Arnold and Christophe Boisclair, and each took some time to look back on the experience when they returned home to Canada.

"We were really happy with our result because many people who had done the Grand Finals told me the first time made it very difficult to be totally focussed and the pressure of the event often slowed down the drivers," said Bedard, who placed eleventh and was Canada’s top Junior. "I’m glad I was able to control the pressure and focus on the racing. That allowed us to qualify in the top fifteen."

Heat runs of 9-8-26 followed, and from there Bedard transferred directly to the Prefinal, where he lined up P24.

"The first two heats generally went well except for the first two laps each time when I lost a lot of positions," he said of his first two race runs. "The third was much worse, as I was hurt two times in corner one when I was pushed out. I was stressed all day until they posted the rankings, because I did not want to go through the Last Chance race. Finally, we qualified!"

The Prefinal wasn’t what the Team Canada rookie was hoping for, as once again he was bounced around by those in the mid-pack looking to barge their way to the front. In the end, he finished P23, one spot better than where he had began eleven laps earlier. An eighteen lap final was then the only race left, and the SRA/Birel driver produced a great one. Rounding Al Ain Raceway in eighteenth through one, Bedard then climbed to thirteenth through five, and P12 when the race hit halfway at nine laps. He was bounced backward three positions shortly afterwards, yet set his best lap of the race on fifteen and came forward to eleventh by the final flag.

"I wanted to finish this first experience with a good result and I wanted to prove I could overtake and come forward," he said. "I wanted to challenge myself and grow as a driver. We found a setup that worked well and we had almost no tire degradation, which helped me too. I returned the kart with absolutely no scratches, exceptional according to the Birel guys, so next time I can be a little more aggressive!

"I also have to thank all the people that allowed for me to go to the Grand Finals: My parents, JC Perreault, SRA Karting, Max Karting, and the ECKC. I’m now looking to go to next year’s Grand Final in Portugal, and plan to win!"

"The event was amazing. It was professionally run and the facilities were great," said Arnold once back on home soil. "Everything ran like clockwork and every aspect was executed with a high calibre of efficiency and professionalism. I would have liked more sessions, as the format was quite relaxed with none of the typical frantic pace that is normally associated with events, but I always prefer to be on track as much as possible!"

For the sixteen-year-old senior driver making his first start at world finals, dialling into the perfect setup was a challenge that put him a step behind early, and as he knew as well as others, it was a step that was very difficult to make up once heat racing began.

"It is hard to say what happened with me, but I just didn’t seem to get on pace," Arnold said. "Certainly there were areas of my driving that I could have improved on, but I took a while figuring it out. And when you add up all the little things that contribute to being off the pace with chassis, carburetion, tire pressure... it was easy to be a second off. And that was all there was between P1 and P61!"

Things didn’t get much better when Arnold was forced to retire from the first heat, but he was dicing in the second heat and put ten karts behind him as things began to improve. Heat three was delivering more of the same as he was quickly moving forward, but contact sent him backward twice, and a third and final blow ended his week outright. Still, at just sixteen, Arnold has a return to the Grand Finals firmly planted on his to-do list for the season ahead.

"It was a tough crowd to be competing against and with over half the class not even making the finals, you need a lot of luck, driving skill and setup to be there," he said in concluding. "I had hoped to be a bit further up the list, but regardless of my results, I think myself and everyone on the team was honoured to be there. Although I made the team through the trickle effect, I had been very close in all the events I participated in and next year I want to ensure that there is no question. With anything in life, you have to have a goals and that will remain one of mine for the upcoming year.

"I can't thank everyone enough for the opportunity to go. The team was a combination of terrific drivers, families and friends, who helped make the trip that much more memorable. I have to specifically thank Patrick Moreau and SRA for all their help and support in the organization, and Chere Cooke from ASN for her assistance. And all the sponsors, especially the Latifi's and David Tennyson for the amazing team suits and clothes, and all the others: Canadian Tire, Ron Fellows, ASN, Jim Russell Karting. Without these people and sponsors, none of this would be possible. We made a huge impact with our presence and professionalism there and that goes a long way in representing our country. Thank you to all my teammates and everyone involved."

Even with an incredible eighth appearance at Grand Finals, Boisclair was still revelling in the atmosphere in the paddock while in Al Ain. "It’s always the same excitement!" he said of the event. "It’s always really fun at the RMCGF as you have the opportunity to work with people from Team Canada that you don’t normally work with and the competition is really strong. We had a good start with a top-five in first practice, but then we tried some setup and it just didn’t work out at all. We were going backwards in every practice. After the qualifying we decided to make a radical change and it worked out for the best."

That is certainly true, as after starting from P16 in every heat the SRA/Birel driver posted P9 in both the first and second heats. Trouble then came in the third, but Boisclair was still off to the prefinal on a direct transfer.

"The first two heats went well but in the third I got pushed out on the second lap," he said. "I went back on track and finished P21. I was still happy with the result because we ended up qualifying P24 on points and I didn’t have to run the Last Chance even with the third heat result."

A brilliant prefinal then followed, one where Boisclair never took a backward step and was one of only four karts in the field to reach the 55.4 second mark. He then took two more spots post race when jump-start penalties were assessed, and was in position to shoot for the podium in the Grand Final.

"In the prefinal everything was perfect," Boisclair said of the incredible charge. "I had a good start, never lost time when passing people and never got passed. I didn’t have the fastest lap, but it was close enough which gave us a lot of hope to go up front in the final. But the final was at 4:30 and the temperature dropped about 7̊C and it wasn’t good for my setup. I lost a lot of speed and I wasn’t able to catch everyone like I did in the prefinal. I was there fighting for my place and ended up P12.

"Still, I have to thank my mechanic Christian and everyone from Team Canada DD2. We had good team work in Al Ain."

The sophomore season of the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship has now come to a close, but details for season three are already being confirmed. Watch for details early in the New Year, as the third season of Canada’s premiere Rotax Max Challenge begins to take shape.