Fantastic finale!

Champagne and Morad claim final two championships at Goodwood

Left to right: Series Founder Ron Fellows,
Matt Champagne, Robert Wickens, Daniel Morad, Kyle Herder,
Sunoco's Jamie Sutherland

GOODWOOD, Ontario - September 16, 2002. The Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship held its final event of the year at Goodwood on Sept. 15, and with two of the four classes decided before the teams arrived, all eyes were on the two remaining classes, Canada Junior and the 100+ mph Formula Senior Class. Heading into the weekend, Canada Junior could go to any one of the top six drivers, while Formula Senior would be decided by a battle between Hurricane Racing MBA driver Matt Champagne and Birel USA's Mike Roth.

Two of the Pfaff Motors Fast qualifier awards were settled on Saturday when MBA's Justin Mullins surprised everyone by taking the Formula Senior pole. Birel's Cale Meeks suffered a one position penalty for 'driving in the pits' that knocked him off the Formula Junior pole and handed it to his Birel teammate Mike Meier. In Canada Senior, Gold's Rob Oakman was the only driver in the 43 second bracket, which was good enough for the pole. In the hotly contested Canada Junior class, First Kart's Robert Wickens took the Pfaff Motors Fast Qualifier award, and the five bonus points that go with it. 

In Formula Junior in race 9, Cale Meeks ran down early leader Mike Meier to take the win. Behind him came Meier and Robert Wickens, who came from the back of the field. In race 10, Weeks once again over took early leader Mike Meier for the win. Meier spun to end his season, while Wickens and Scott Martin rounded out the podium.

In Formula Senior in race 9, saw Marco Di Leo jump MBA's Justin Mullins to take the early lead in his First Kart. Di Leo held on until the late going when Mullins made his way past for the lead. On the final lap, Matt Champagne stole second from Di Leo to make it a MBA one-two. Title contender Mike Roth was running fourth in the early stages of the race, but an engine failure ended his title hopes. In race 10, it was all Champagne as he won the race and the championship. Second in race 10 was Juliana Chiovitti ahead of Mark Sampogna.

In Canada Junior race 9, Robert Wickens spun on the pace lap which sent him to the back of the 20 kart field. Calvin Reid took the lead on lap 2 from Daniel Morad and never gave it back. Morad finished second and Justin Mascoll was third. In race 10, Calvin Reid won over Justin Mascoll and Morad. Morad, with his second and third places on the day, ended up with the Canada Junior Championship for 2002.

In Canada Senior race 9 action, a first lap tangle scrambled the field. The race came down to Rob Oakman, Calvin Reid and Shawn Gardner at the front - and they finished in that order. Eight of the 15 karts failed to finish. Birel's Kris Martin was fourth, followed by Marco Di Leo and Eric Neilson. In race 10, Aaron de Heus collected the win after Marco Di Leo was penalized for a last lap infraction with Juliana Chiovitti. Dave Patrick was second and Shawn Gardner third.