New Brunswick International Speedway was the place to be on Sunday as the Maritime Pro Kart Series ran it’s 2nd round of the season, hosted by the Fredericton-based NB Kart Club.

   The Novice division kicked things off, and the guy to beat after qualifying was 9-year-old Denver Foran in the #00 Kart. His 26.717 second lap was good enough for pole and was joined on the front row by points leader Julien LeBlanc. A.J. Nason and Jake Poirier started on the second row.

   In the Pre-Final, A.J. Nason in the #44 catapulted from his 3rd spot on the grid and took the lead and the win, leading Foran and LeBlanc home. In the Final, LeBlanc got by Foran and was battling for the lead against Nason when he went wide and got a cone caught in his sidepod. His day was done and so local boy A.J. Nason took his first Feature win of the 2006 season, leading Foran’s #00 and Jake Poirier in the #8 home.

   With the win, A.J. Nason is the new Novice points leader with 555 points, Julien LeBlanc dropped to second with 492 points, and Denver Foran is third with 482 points.

   The Junior division was once again littered with karts, and PEI’s C.J. Arsenault in the #99 got his first pole of 2006 with a time of 23.856 seconds. Defending champion Chad Targett in the #85 started on the outside pole. The second row was filled with rivals Benoit LeBlanc in the #6, and Brodie MacQuarrie in the #66. Points leader Nathan Kelly started the race in 7th.

   The Pre-Final was underway and LeBlanc got the jump on Targett and took second. Arsenault and LeBlanc pulled away but soon Targett caught up and got his 2nd place back. In the Final, Arsenault lost his lead late in the race by a charging Chad Targett. He went on to win the Feature, his first since the last round of 2005 in Moncton, but other championship contenders were not so lucky. Brodie MacQuarrie started a strong 4th but got caught up in all sorts of accidents and finished 10th. Points leader Nathan Kelly started 7th but after having his chain fall off in the Pre-Final (relegating him to 13th and last on the grid for the final) he charged back to a brilliant 5th.

   Benoit LeBlanc’s 482 points is enough for the lead of the championship after Round 2, Nathan Kelly dropped to second with 444 points, and third is currently C.J. Arsenault with 392 points.

   As qualifying drew to a close, no one predicted the crazy day the Senior Light crew were about to encounter. On pole for the second time in a row was “Rapid” Rob MacLeod in his #5 kart. Beside him on the front row was PEI driver Jonathan Stewart’s #92, while #44 Gerald Caseley and #41 Aaron Kennedy were starting from row two. These 4 drivers were the top 4 in points coming into the event.

   The Pre-Final shuffled Aaron Kennedy back into 8th, while Caseley led Stewart home with MacLeod third and #78 Brendan McKeown fourth. The final was absolute mayhem. Stewart and #14 Leigh Smallman collided into the first corner and took out Kate Gorman in the process. Smallman was out of the race already.

   The wild ride of the day went to #55 Jeremy Simmons as he catapulted his Tonykart into a barrel roll on lap 8. The safety equipment did it’s job and Simmons suffered nothing more than a bruised ego. Following the flip the race was restarted, with Gorman pulling out. After the lap 1 crash her kart became impossible to turn due to a bent steering. The winner would eventually be Gerald Caseley who led Nick Thebeau’s #85 kart home just ahead of MacLeod. Thebeau’s kart was later disqualified for a motor infraction and MacLeod was bumped to 2nd.

The surprise of the day came from rookie driver Shawn Ricker who, despite racing in only his third ever kart race, finished the feature in 7th ahead of the likes of Jared Meade, a multiple race winner in the Maritime Series.

   Rob MacLeod still leads the points series with 514 points, Gerald Caseley is hot on his heels with 501, while Jonathan Stewart is third with 465 points.

   Local ex-kart champion Josh Arbeau made a return to kart racing in the Senior Heavy class, filling in for Ryan Dobbelsteyn in the #12 CRG. He showed why he was champion by taking a dominant pole ahead of Rejean LeBlanc on the front row. Brent Roy and points leader Poncie Rose filled the second row.

   The Pre-Final did not change a thing and so the feature started with Brent Roy stealing second from Rejean LeBlanc. Roy got caught in some engine trouble mid-race and his pace slowed down. LeBlanc eventually got his 2nd place back as Arbeau won in dominant fashion. Rob Poirier was able to sneak into 3rd and Roy Finished 4th.

   Rejean LeBlanc now took over the lead of the Senior Heavy class with 495 points, Rob Poirier is second with 456 points, but Poncie Rose is only two points behind him in third, with 454 points.

   The series will now heat up as Round #3 of the Maritime Pro Kart Series will be run at Scotia Speedworld outside of Halifax on August 27th. The Final Round will be run at Burlington Amusement Park in Burlington, PEI on September 17th. Admission is free.