Canadian International Championships

The 5th annual Canadian International Championships were held in Ottawa Canada at Sutton Aviation Raceway, which is located just outside on the side of the hangar of Sutton Aviation, the track covered by a circus tent. Owner and racer Billy Sutton puts in countless hours of work for this event, and it is working. This year the attendance was 370 entries, making it the largest electric race in Canada. Pitting is inside the hangar with just a short walk to the racing circuit, and the pits were packed. With a manufactures row, all of the racers had easy access to many of the teams and could ask questions, or get set up advice easily.

Once outside and entering the tent, racers were greeted by a very difficult and busy circuit. With a fresh layout for the event, there was no home track advantage and whoever got comfortable first was going to be quick. More of a resemblance of a Supercross track, there were many rhythm lanes that would make or break your lap time. Overall 22 jumps made this a lap time in the 30 second range, with a quick lap in 4Wheel Mod in the 28’s.

Practice started off Thursday and continued into Friday. Friday afternoon was used as a session of timed practice for seeding rounds of your 3 best consecutive laps. The first round of 2Wheel qualifiers were ran Friday evening, and would continue Saturday morning with all things 2Wheel (Buggy, Truck, SCT). After the 4th round was completed, it was on to the 4Wheel divisions for their 3 rounds, followed by round 4 on Sunday Morning.

The main events were next, and race director Zoof was on par with the best of them as he ran through the program. Starting with the B main which the winner would bump to the A final for the Canadian Triple A’s. This style has A2 with an inverted grid, making it difficult for a run a way victory, although Canadian superstar Damian Lamy did make it happen at last year’s event. Continuing on with the normal order of main events working towards the A’s.

In 2Wheel, TQ Mikey Brown from Washington was P1 however a mistake would drop him down in the field as the new leaders would race for the win up front between Alex Miller and Keven Hebert, with Hebert taking it on the last lap. A2 would have the inverted field racing towards the checkers. Dave Henry would use his starting position to the fullest and make everyone else chase him down. With the race winding down, Hebert had found his way to the front followed by Henry and Brown in tow. A late mistake by Hebert would give Henry the win and take it to the third A to decide the winner. A3 Mikey Brown got crossed up on the 2nd lap and went to the back giving the lead to Alex Miller. Miller held on for much of the race, but Hebert was working his way closer forcing Miller into a mistake that would give Hebert a comfortable lead which he would hole to the end taking the overall in 2Wheel Mod.

4Wheel would again have Mike Brown with the TQ in the class. As A1 began, racing was tight throughout the field, and a mistake would drop you back several positions. With several lead changes it was anyone’s race. Towards the end things started to settle down and Mikey Brown was leading Leonard Schinzano. Coming into the last lap, Schinzano made an impressive pass on Brown jumping to the inside of him at the loop for the win with loud approval from the spectators. A2 would have Mikey Brown battling with Abiye Birku for the win with Brown getting it. A3 would be a run a way victory from Damian Lamy, which would give him 3rd overall. Behind him was a battle between Brown and Schinzano that would go to the end with Leonard Schinzano taking 2nd giving him the overall in 4Wheel followed by Mikey Brown with the second step on the podium.

New this year was an overall award given to the driver with the best scores in 2Wheel and 4Wheel presented by JConcepts. This new award went to Mikey Brown.

Once again this is an event that should be on everyone’s calendar. A fun event with a laid back atmosphere makes for a great weekend north of the border. A huge thanks to Sutton Aviation, Billy Sutton, the crew and all of the racers. See you next year Eh!