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| June 18, 2012 News |
| Cooper and Szigeti Triumph in ICAR ECKC Battle |
The third round of the Eastern Canadian Karting Championships marked the series’ first trip to the unique Circuit ICAR facility and a full paddock meant that intense racing would be a given. The resultant on-track competition was exciting, as the main events provided both closely-fought battles and dominating performances.
British driver Ben Cooper emerged as the victor in the DD2 category, but he needed to fight all day to score the win, while Steven Szigeti was embroiled in a cage match of his own in Senior Max. The Tony Kart driver stepped up his game in the Final and will take the point lead to Mosport in two weeks. Other Rotax winners included Stuart Clark (DD2), Parker Thompson (Junior), Giancarlo Mazaferro (Mini) and Matthew Latifi (Micro).
The weather for raceday was a little on the warm side, but it was otherwise a perfect setting for the competition. The track had been taking rubber all weekend and grip levels were sure to be high. The layout at ICAR rewards aggressive racing lines and the need to use all of the curbing in several sections of the track guaranteed that it would be physically taxing on all the competitors. This would be a great test for the ECKC racers.
 | SRA Karting's Ben Cooper and his tuner adjusted the approach to their chassis set-up following the opening round of the ECKC at Mosport and the result at ICAR was his first series victory in DD2
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
DD2
Despite coming off a win in the Coupe de Quebec race on Saturday, British transplant Ben Cooper stared down a rough start to the day and eventually found ultimate success aboard his SRA Karting Birel. After a cracked exhaust put him on the sidelines in qualifying before he could even set a time, Cooper’s SRA teammate Christophe Boisclair (Birel) stepped in as the quick man in the session, turning a 44.742-second lap to outgun PSL Karting CRG drivers Nicholas Latifi and Pier Luc Ouelette for the pole position in the Prefinal. Prime Kartsport’s Brendan Bain (Maranello) and SRA Karting’s Zachary Richard (Birel) capped the fast five. Due to his issues, Cooper was classified in 18th and would start the Prefinal from the outside of the ninth row.
Ouelette pushed Boisclair throughout the 12-lap Prefinal, eventually making his move on the final lap after showing great patience. The move came heading into Turn 1 and gave the PSL Karting driver the lead. Cooper had advanced quickly through pack to reach the leaders and followed Ouelette by Boisclair to steal second, as he had stormed back to complete a brilliant recovery. Boisclair was able to hold on for third, but could have lost another spot as Bain was less than a half-second back. With Cooper on the rebound, the Prefinal was Latifi’s turn to get hit with bad luck, as he was out on the opening lap after contact in the first. This would set up yet another drive from the tail of the field, this time for the final.
At the drop of the green flag, the lead trio diced aggressively with Cooper eventually working his way into the lead over Ouellette and Boisclair. From the tail of the grid, Latifi matched Cooper’s Prefinal attack and made quick work of the rest of the field, storming to fourth, but by that time the leaders were long gone to fight it out amongst themselves. Cooper stretched away consistently and convincingly, as a chassis set-up adjustment to provide a better kart for the second half of the race had certainly paid off. The Brit had full control of the race and would drive to a 3.466-second win, although that margin was extended slightly thanks to last lap contact between Boisclair and Ouellette. Boisclair would go on to finish second, joined on the podium by Ouelette, Latifi and Tyler McEwen (Birel).
DD2 Final Results
 | Steven Szigeti steered his SH Karting Tony Kart to an impressive win in the Senior Max class at ICAR
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
Senior Max
The SH Karting duo of Jesse Lazare and Steven Szigeti were the powerhouses in the Senior Max class out of the gate on Sunday morning, timing in first and third in qualifying. Lazare was top dog with a 45.911, while Szigeti was back from his Tony Kart teammate by just 0.208 seconds. Splitting the duo on the timesheet was Racing Edge Motorsports’ star Kevin Monteith (Birel). Prime Kartsport’s Luke Chudleigh (Maranello) and American shifter star Fritz Leeseman (CRG), who was in town running with Mike Dobblestyn’s PSL Atlantic operation, completed the top-five.
The Prefinal gave us a great indication of the fight that would come, as Chudleigh worked from fourth to the lead in the late-going of the race, although his strong move in the Turn 1 hairpin to takeover the point was thwarted when Lazare came back around on the run up to Turn 2. Lazare would complete the final lap unchallenged to maintain the pole for the Final, while Chudleigh took second, ahead of Szigeti, season-opening double winner Marco Di Leo (Intrepid) and Monteith.
The Final got off to an ugly start as a first corner pile-up eliminated Chudleigh, as contact left him with severely bent front-end components. Lazare and Szigeti took full advantage of the carnage behind them to get a jump on their competition in the 20-lap final. Monteith began to apply pressure midway through the race, but slipped to over a half-second behind Lazare at the checker, who in turn had to watch Szigeti stretch away to the win. The margin of victory was 1.001 seconds, and will very likely give Szigeti the point lead heading to the next round at Mosport. Di Leo was the point leader heading into the ICAR event and was a top-five pilot at day, ending up in fourth overall. M-A Lesvesque capped the top-five.
Senior Final Results
 | Stuart Clark was perfect in DD2 Masters with his Prime Kartsport Maranello, topping all three sessions, including the all-important Final
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
DD2 Masters
Prime Kartsports’ Stuart Clark (Maranello) was the man to beat in DD2 Masters on this day, as he swept all three official sessions to extend his lead in the championship point standings.
A 45.460-second run in qualifying set him at the top of the charts ahead of PSL Karting’s Luc Sauriol (CRG) and Marc-Andre Bourgeois (CRG). Once they went wheel-to-wheel in the Prefinal, Bourgeois showed his local knowledge as he turned up the wick and pushed Clark at every corner. It was an exciting run, as Bourgeois was all over Clark on many occasions and looked poise to make a bid for the lead in the late-going. Clark dug deep to maintain the point and was rewarded with the pole for the Final. Paul Carvalho (CRG) completed the top-three in the 14-lap sprint.
Despite acknowledging the strength of Bourgeois in a post-Prefinal interview with EKN.ca, Clark would not be denied in the Final as he stretched away quickly to a comfortable margin over two seconds. Sauriol was able to advance to second and held that spot to the checkered flag, while Bourgeois and Carvalho joined them on the podium with Martin Verville.
The strong outing at ICAR has put Clark into a solid position in the championship standings.
DD2 Masters Final Results
 | East and West, Parker Thompson is getting it done in Junior Max, scoring another ECKC victory at ICAR to stretch out his point lead
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
Junior Max
A strong 27-kart field was on-hand at ICAR to fight for the win in Junior Max. Western Canadian powerhouse Parker Thompson (Tonykart) came into the event as the point leader following a strong weekend at Goodwood in May. It was, however, Tommy Lemaire-Ouillet who emerged with the pole position, posting a lap of 46.333 seconds in the faster Group Two session. Tyler Kashak (Intrepid) and Thompson were second and third, while Olivier Bedard (Birel) and Jeffrey Kingsley (Birel) rounded out the fast five. Thompson stayed on form in the Prefinal, chased all race by Kashak and the charging young American Santino Ferrucci (Energy), who was running out of the Energy Kart Canada tent. SRA Karting’s Kingsley improved up to fourth, while Samuel Fontaine (CRG) joined the top-five, turning the fastest lap of the race in the process.
A first lap, opening corner melee may have ended the top-five hopes of a number of drivers in the Final, but the lead trio remained the same as Ferrucci assumed control of the point during the opening circuit. Thompson then jumped up to steal the spot away from the American on lap three, bringing Fontaine along with him. Fontaine would eventually make his own way to the lead as well, setting up the scrap for the win and he paced the lead duo through the second half laps of the race. As the laps wound down, Fontaine and Thompson were able to stretch away and the latter remained on the year bumper of the CRG pilot, making his bid for the win on the last lap, under braking into turn one. The move was successful, giving Thompson the sweep of the weekend and an extension of his point lead heading to Mosport in two weeks. Fontaine took an impressive second, while Kingsley was third, coming in ahead of Ferrucci, who was not able to maintain the pace of the lead duo. Kashak completed the top-five.
Junior Final Results
 | Gianfranco Mazzaferro dominated the Mini Max class during the ECKC round at ICAR
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
Mini Max
The Mini Max class was all Gianfranco Mazzaferro (Zanardi) as he was the class of the field in all three sessions.
In qualifying, Mazzaferro was almost four tenths quicker than Thierry Cote (CRG) to secure the pole. In the Prefinal, he would win by 2.8 seconds, however, Cote turned a quicker lap, setting the stage for the potential of a hard-fought Final.
This would not be the case as Mazzaferro used the opening corner action to exit the initial turn with a multi-kart advantage and from there, he simply checked out to a 5.349-second triumph. After the remainder of the field emerged from turn one, two and three-wide, Cote ran alone on the track in pursuit of Mazzaferro, finishing second in the final tally. Samuel Lupien (LH) was a further six seconds in arrears, but he had a great battle with Joe Soranno for third. Natael Cantin (Birel) completed the top-five.
This impressive outing for Mazzaferro will push him much higher in point standings, after an up-and-down outing at Mosport in the series opening doubleheader. A sixth in the Saturday Final was followed up by a win on Sunday, so this second consecutive victory has definitely shifted the momentum.
Mini Max Final Results
 | In Micro Max action, Matthew Latifi had things under control to take the win
(Photo: Rob Howden - EKN Canada) |
Micro Max
Just as Mazaferro had control of the Mini Max class, Matthew Latifi (CRG) asserted the same level of dominance in Micro Max. Latifi was over seven tenths quicker than his competition in qualifying, turning a 52.347 to win the pole over the eight-kart field. Matthew Barry (Intrepid) and Alexandre Soma (CRG) completed the top-three in the timed run. Latifi would win by over six seconds in the top-10 Prefinal, but this time, Thomas Simard (Birel) was the prime challenger after qualifying fifth. Simard improved his lap times by over three tenths of a second to finish second. Soma was third ahead of William Chayer (Birel) and Barry.
In the main event, Latifi again flexed his muscles to score the win, running away from Simard by almost 12 seconds to stand on the top step of the podium. Barry took third ahead of Soma and Chayer.
Micro Max Final Results
Briggs Classes
A total of seven drivers were in the combined Briggs & Stratton classes, as Senior, Junior and Masters were all run together. Simon Rosseau was the winner in Senior, Sarah MaKay (CRG) was victorious in Junior and Russel Kroon won in Masters.
Briggs & Stratton Final Results
Looking Forward
The series will now look forward to being back on-track in just two weeks at the Mosport International Raceway facility for Rounds Four and Five of the schedule. The local track knowledge will fall back in favor of the Ontario-based drivers, who will need to step up to even the score. eKartingNews.ca will once again be trackside for the event to provide coverage all weekend long.
Official ICAR Event Discussion Thread
EKN.ca ICAR Event Photo Gallery |
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