Marco Di Leo is defending champion in Rotax Max Senior/photo by Cody Schindel, Autosports Media Group
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My weekend racing preview can be viewed in the post below but one of the items I mentioned in it deserves a bit more attention.
The 2011 Eastern Canadian Karting Championships will be held this weekend at Goodwood Kartways, north of Stouffville, and the best and most ambitious kart racers east of the Manitoba border are champing at the bit.
A full day of testing is scheduled for Friday; races in all classes will go on Saturday and Sunday with the finals scheduled to start both days at 3:15 p.m.
Special attention will be on the Rotax Junior, Senior and DD2 classes as the champions will qualify for spots on Rotax Max Team Canada and get to compete at the 2011 Rotax World Championships.
Here is a brief rundown of racers to watch:
Rotax Max Senior
Hometown driver Marco Di Leo is the defending class champion and no karter on the planet knows the intricacies of Goodwood as well as he does, considering that his family owns the place. He qualified for Team Canada when the Canadian National Championships were last held atthe circuit.
The same is true of sophomore senior Steven Szigeti, as he also qualified for Team Canada the last time he raced at Goodwood.
A third reigning champion is Michael Vincec. Another hometown racer, the Stouffville driver won the recent Florida Winter Tour DD2 class championship, and has already qualified for the 2011 version of Team Canada.
Rotax Max Junior
Defending champion Jesse Lazare is back and looking for a repeat. Zachary Claman DeMelo won the Mini-Max Championship last season and is coming off podiums and wins at the Florida Winter Tour. Olivier Bedard won pole at the Canadian National Championships last year at Mont-Tremblant, then won the first heat.
Rotax DD2
The DD2 class championship last season was a two-way fight and at least one of those drivers — Darren White — will be at Goodwood.
One of the racers he’ll be up against is former DD2 World Champion and Canadian karting superstar Pierre-Luc Ouellette. Others include Cory Luciano, Enrico Menotti, Stefano Romano, Tyler McEwan and Nick Latifi.
The 2011 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship alternates between Ontario and Quebec. After Goodwood, Karting Trois-Rivieres will run race three on May 29. Races four and five will be held June 25-26 at Mosport while the finale will offer a preview of the Canadian National Championships as the Jim Russell Karting Academy at Mont-Tremblant will welcome drivers on July 17.
For more information, go to www.eckc.ca
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