The Maritime Pro Kart Series concluded its 2006 activities at the IKC home track in Burlington, P.E.I. on September 17th
with all the title contenders in attendance. All classes were hotly contested and several points races came down to the wire.
Best time of the day was 36.673 seconds (nearly equalling the track record) by Gerald Caseley, who also won the prefinal heat
as well as the final in the Senior Light class. In Junior, Chad Targett started in first place and stayed there all day, winning
the final by more than seven seconds, thereby winning the PandaRacing Driver of the Day Award. Novice A.J. Nason also won
all timed events, edging out Julien LeBlanc and Jake Poirier in all three.
In a very gentlemanly fashion, all racers
used their finely honed competitive skills to present a very exciting finale to the 2006 MPKS Series. ARMS Officials present,
Chief Scrutineer Schnare and Kart Director LeBlanc, were on hand to insure that MPKS rules were respected. No major incidents
were reported which indicated the high level of sportsmanship.
 |
Jessica Chapman gets some last-second advice before her qualifying run
(Photo:
Courtesy Danny LeBlanc) |
In the Novice class, no less than eight racers took to the tarmac to show their mettle. As previously noted, Nason
took all honors but was closely pursued by both Julien LeBlanc and Jake Poirier all weekend.
With the win, A.J. Nason has become 2006 Novice Champion with a total of 855 points. Julien LeBlanc finished a close
second with 810 points, while Jake Poirier clinched third with 728. Dylan Lenentine and Jessica Chapman rounded off the top
five.
The Junior class was the most hotly contested, with 14 racers vying for the honors. Targett came out on top,
but was closely pursued in all but the final by Nathan Kelly, Brodie McQuarrie and C.J. Arsenault. Kelly and McQuarrie even
posted identical times in qualifying. In spite of the hot action, posted times did not improve during the day, possibly due
to low usage of the track in recent weeks.
Nathan Kelly comfortably won the Junior championship with 855 points over C.J. Arsenault's 728. Benoit LeBlanc got third
with 632 points. Chad Targett finished the season in fourth, while Brodie MacQuarrie finished fifth.
Senior Heavy
was the theatre of several incidents, all off-track. Pole winner Rejean LeBlanc experienced mechanical problems late during
the qualifying session and inadvertently forgot to weigh in, resulting in his times being disallowed. He thus started from
the back in the prefinal, working his way up to second, finishing a barely visble 0.006 seconds behind winner Rob Poirier
in the #0. His transponder was found to be defective, but, after verification, his position was reinstated. LeBlanc was the
points leader in Senior Heavy coming into the last leg of the MPKS. In the final, Rob Poirier valiantly held off LeBlanc to
score a double win and eat into LeBlanc's lead.
After verification, Rejean LeBlanc barely held onto the Senior Heavy championship 760 to 756 over Rob Poirier. Poncie
Rose finished the year (and the final) in third, with 670 points. Josh Arbeau and Johnny Boucher got a distant fourth and
fifth respectively.
 |
Joel LeBlanc and Aaron Kennedy have their own way of congratulating new champion Gerald
Caseley
(Photo: Courtesy Danny LeBlanc) |
Gerald Caseley demonstrated his mastery of the Burlington track in Senior Light with his third triple win in as many
MPKS races, cementing his chances to be crowned Senion Light champion in his rookie Senior season. On the track, he was closely
pursued most of the day by Aaron Kennedy, Joel LeBlanc and Jonathan Stewart. In the final, Caseley wisely stetched his lead
to more than 3 seconds as LeBlanc and Kennedy traded places, LeBlanc finally prevailing by two tenths of a second on the final
lap.
Thanks to one drop, Gerald Caseley swept the Senior Light championship with a perfect 900 points. 2004 champion Rob MacLeod
finished second with 721 points, while Jonathan Stewart claimed third with 666 points. Aaron Kennedy was fourth and Joel LeBlanc
finished fifth in the title race.
Podiums featured a novelty, with Perrier water being distributed the first three
finishers in all classes. The budding Alonsos instinctively knew how to put the water to best use, in the best Nigel Mansell
tradition.
