The sun was shining and the skies clear, perfect weather for racing this weekend. Racers came out from Sudbury to give NCKC some strong competition. Karters on Saturday in both the Senior and Junior class were frantically tuning and testing changes trying to maximize their top speeds to make themselves more competitive for our visitors.
Sunday morning came up quickly, too quick for some. Practice showed many that there was still more tweaking to do if they were going to stand at the top of the podium.
Junior qualifying was tight, with only one second separating the first place driver from the 11th place driver. Our Sudbury friend Junior Lindgren would start the prefinal in first, with Alex Gutknecht in second, Sudburys Ben Villano in third, followed by Ryan Armstrong, Dagan Hartmann, Amy Armstrong, Emily Conty, Connor Cose-Manuel, Jamie Woodward, Carter Jones and finally Gavin Cose-Manuel.
Alex Gutknetch quickly moved himself into first at the start of the prefinal, but was passed by Junior Lindgren 6 laps in. Ryan Armstrong and Brian Villano topped off th front runners. Dagan Hartman was running in 5th for the first half of the prefinal, but spun out in lap 8 giving Emily Conty 5th place for the start of the Feature. Amy Armstrong was tight behind Emily, and would start the Feature in 6th, Connor Cose-Manuel starting 7th, Carter Jones 8th, Jamie Woodward 9th, Gavin Cose-Manuel 10th and finally Dagan Hartmann.
In the feature Eric Gutknecht had a strong start leading the pack, until lap 3 when Junior Lindgren took over the lead, but spun out in the hairpin in lap 5 which put Ben Villano in second and Ryan Armstong in third place. Emily Conty fought hard to over take Ryan for third, but just didnt catch him before the end of the race. Carter Jones spun out just before the bowl in lap nine, and was unable to continue the race. Ryan with 6 laps to go got right up to Ben Villanos bumper, and put himself in a position to pass, but Ben shut Ryan out, giving Ben a second place finish and Ryan with third. Emily Conty raced hard for fourth place, Connor Cose-Manual finished fifth, Amy Armstrong, sixth, Dagan Hartmann 7th, Gavin Cose-Manuel eighth, Jamie Woodward ninth, Carter Jones and Junior Lindgren did not finish the race.

The Senior class had to pull up their socks and drive flawlessly if they were going to have any chance at beating last seasons National shifter champion Tom Cadieux. Tom earned pole position for the prefinal. Anthony Conty, only 0.4 seconds behind, starting in second, Frank Jones only 0.3 seconds behind Anthony would start third, following close behind Frank, only 0.03s slower was Lee Williscroft, then Brandon Parker, Chris Moodie, Chester Lalonde and finally Carter Lalonde.
Tom Cadiex quickly took hold of first place in the prefinal with a meticulous start and only built kart lengths between him and Anthony Conty throughout the race. Lee Williscroft pushed himself into third, and except for a brief overtaking by Brandon Parker, maintained a third place start for the feature. Chris Moodie earned a fourth place finish when Brandon caught some grass pushing him to the back of the pack. Chester Lalonde passed Frank Jones earning the number 5 kart a fifth place finish and start in the feature. Frank Jones finished 6th, Brandon Parker 7th and Carter Lalonde 8th.
Anthony Conty had a strong start and for the first time this weekend he was at the head of the pack., Tom Cadieux sitting in second. Within three laps, Tom pulled ahead of Anthony, passing him in the bowl. Chris Moodie pulled up tight behind Anthony, eager to take over second place. Brandon Parker took advantage of the battle for second and gained quickly on the two racers, drafting Chris in preparation to block Anthony out should Chris make an attempt to pass. 10 Laps in, Chris made his move and passed Anthony, Brandon, tucked tightly behind Chris, blocking Anthony, putting Brandon in third and Anthony sitting in fourth. Brandon, then built a cushion between him and Anthony, drafting Chris, and with enough space between third and fourth place, Brandon passed Chris and held him off to the finish. With these four racers switching positions, Tom Cadieux had room to spare and secured first place. Although Chris tried, Brandon held on to a second place finish. Chris placed third, Anthony fourth, Lee Williscroft fifth, followed by Frank Jones, Chester Lalonde and finally Carter Lalonde. Brandon unfortunately failed tech, and was therefore disqualified. The results then were changed to the following, Tom Cadieux in first, Brandon Parker in second, Anthony Conty in third, Lee Williscroft fourth, then Frank Jones, Chester Lalonde and finally Carter Lalonde.

Masters class, although smaller this week due to various conflicts with peoples holidays, was still a competitive class, Sylvain Coulombe grasped pole position for the prefinal. Chris Craig, second on the starting grid for the prefinal, followed by Greg Jewell, John Wayne Ross and finally Tony Solimine. In the prefinal, it was Sylvain Coulombe and Chris Craig up front battling for pole. Sylvain held on until the end finishing first for the feature. Greg Jewell although not able to catch up to the front runners finished second when Chris Craig ran into the barriers only feet from the finish line. John Wayne Ross finished third, Tony Solimine fourth and Chris Craig fifth.
Sylvain Coulombe lead the pack in the start. Followed by Chris Craig, then Greg Jewell. The top three battled hard and in lap 12, Greg Jewell made his move and passed to put himself into the first place position. Sylvain put the heat on Greg and stuck tight behind him, but an opening never came and Greg Jewell held on to first with Sylvain taking second place 0.1 seconds behind Greg. Chris Craig fell behind, but not by much, finishing third. John Wayne Ross pulled in, in fourth place and Tony Solimine in fifth.

It was a perfect day for racing and there was some great racing to be seen. Thank you to all our volunteers, without whom we would not be able to race. And to all the family and friends who come out every race to support our racers. See you all at the next NCKC event, which is the Grand Prix weekend on July 25-26