Karting: Summary of the Canadian Championships in Grand-Mere (photos)

Source: www.canadiankartingnews.com

The Canadian Karting Championships were held this past weekend on Grand-Mere's karting circuit. The country's 188 best racers competed hard to clinch the title in one of the 8 categories.
Here's a recap of the action with a photo gallery.

Rotax Max Sr
Lorenzo Mandarino was in second place at the start of the Rotax Sr. session but gained a big lead in corner 2. Olivier Sirois held close in second place with Massimo Scotti in third. Mandarino and Sirois pulled away for a good headway over Scotti, and Sirois passed Mandarino in corner 2. Then on lap 8, they switched again in corner two yet again. They were side by side down the front straightaway on lap 10. Jean-Francois Valour had meanwhile moved himself up to 5th place over the course of the race. Mandarino and Sirois passed each other several times, only for Alexandre Laboissonniere to pass Mandarino, leaving him in third at corner 9. Mndarino lost third place from the inside on lap 22 to Philippe Gelinas.

1. 46 Olivier Sirois
2. 39 Alexandre Laboissonniere +0.051
3. 94 Philippe Gelinas +0.640
4. 2 Lorenzo Mandarino +0.712
5. 22 Jean-Francois Valour +3.316

Rotax Max Jr.
With 32 drivers on the grid, the Rotax Jr.s were headed by Steven Szigeti and Josianna Plante. There was a yellow flag on the start, but Kevin King flew to the front after the first turn. Szigeti passed Monteith in corner two for 2nd place. By lap 4, King had grown the gap between himself and Szigeti. Kevin Monteith was following in third, but was passed by Jean-Francois Lafontaine in lap 6. Monteith fell back in the field but made a pass for fourth in lap 11. Tommy Beshro made up places by the 18th lap, putting him in sixth place.

1. 4 Kevin King
2. 39 Steven Szigeti +0.126
3. 27 Jean-Francois Lafontaine +4.494
4. 74 Francois Joubert +5.077
5. 3 Tommy Bashro +6.901

Formula Sr.
Fritz Leesmann was yet again at the head of the pack for the Formula Senior race. At the start of the race, the field was given a yellow caused by two karts not in position. Mitchell Lacombe passed Leesmann in lap 3 Guillaume Trudel, who had started in second place was bumped down into fourth position.Lacomb and Leesman did another few passes, but Leesmann came out of the corner and sped ahead of everyone. After that, the field got rather spread out, and Leesmann gained a four second lead over Trudel, now in second. By the end of the race Lessmann came out with an 8 second lead and the checkered flag.

1. 61 Fritz Leesmann
2. 96 Guillaume Trudel +9.204
3. 22 Mitchell Lacombe +9.769
4. 14 Tom Cadieux +10.171
5. 7 Marc Flood +16.469

Canada Jr. Final
Bryson Schutte was followed by Kevin Monteith and pulled away from the rest of the field. Reid Arnold made a pass on the fourth lap, placing himself in third place. Schutte and Monteith battled ahead of the field for first place, while Arnold and Michael Taibi fought over second. Keegan Doddelsteyn and Artem Korolev were also in a battle over the third position. On lap 9, Korolev gained a position. Doddelsteyn lost positions and ended up back three positions. The first four karts drafted ahead of the field aiding Arnold to pass Monteith and Michael Taibi on the inside. Arnold the was putting pressure on Schutte for the lead, and passed him on lap 21.

1. 23 Reid Arnold
2. 15 Michael Taibi +0.015
3. 02 Bryson Schutte +0.100
4. 5 Kevin Monteith +2.266
5. 91 Artem Korolev +13.322