Medeiros Wins the Rotax Junior Showdown in West

Rotax Junior provided a few surprises throughout the weekend at the Max Karting Group Canada Final, but the two drivers we expected to battle for the championship did just that on the high-speed Stratotech Racing Park circuit.

The pair of Cole Medeiros (REM/Kosmic) and Alexis Baillargeon (HM Propela/Kart Republic) traded race wins throughout the weekend and took on Western Canada’s best, and when the dust settled, Medeiros locked down the title and booked his ticket to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, held this year in Bahrain.

Friday

Baillargeon got off to a strong start, sweeping the races on Friday. He went fastest in Qualifying and won the Prefinal and Final after exciting battles with Medeiros and Nathan Dupuis (BBR Karting/TonyKart).

The Final ended with contact between Medeiros and Dupuis that sent Medeiros off track in the final corner, earning Dupuis a 10-second penalty. Slipping by both drivers was Kingston Gadoury (Premier Karting/TonyKart), who secured a stout result in his debut with his new race team. Medeiros managed to get back on track and finish P3 while Christian Sanguinetti (Premier Karting/TonyKart) and Logan Goddard (Overdrive Motorsports/OTK) completed the top five.

Saturday

Baillargeon kept the momentum going on Saturday, winning the PreFinal over Medeiros, while Dupuis decided not to take in the remainder of the event. Grayson Talaba (BBR Karting/TonyKart) put his name into the ring, finishing P3 in the PreFinal and showing he could contend for victory.

Heartbreak occurred for Baillargeon in the Final, and his championship hopes were dashed when his throttle cable broke while leading early in the Final. This opened the door for Medeiros to take the lead, and he dominated the rest of the way and took the points lead going into the final day.

Gadoury delivered another solid result, finishing second for the second day in a row, while Olivier Chasse (HM Propela) drove through the field to finish on the podium in P3. Talaba slipped to P4 while Matthew Meyers (Apollo Motorsports/RedSpeed), the fastest qualifier on Friday and Saturday, finished P5.

Cole Medeiros celebrates his victory on Saturday (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

Sunday

Everleigh Kozakowski (CB Motorsport/Kosmic) delivered on the final day of Qualifying to put herself on the pole position and she converted it to win the PreFinal while all three of the title contenders had troubles; Baillargeon DNF’d, Medeiros fell back to P7 and Gadoury was P12 with the race completing just before the rain started to fall.

With the drivers switching to rain tires for the first time for their final race of the weekend, the doors opened up for an exciting Feature.

Sanguinetti used the draft to slip by Kozakowski into corner two and unfortunately, she was unable to hold on in corner four and went for an off-track excursion, rejoining well behind the field.

Chasse moved into P2 with Medeiros having a great start to get into P3, followed by Ava Cabral (R2R-Prime/BirelART).

On the move early, Medeiros got into the race lead on lap three, and Baillargeon was quick to get to the front as well, advancing up to P2 while Cabral worked her way by Sanguinetti and Chasse to move into P3 at halfway.

As the track started to dry out, Cabral was the quickest, easily getting by Baillargeon and setting her sights on the race leader, Medeiros. She tracked him down with three laps to go and put the pressure on.

Pulling off a pass in the final corner on the final lap, Cabral celebrated her first Junior win at the finish line, while runner-up was more than enough for Medeiros to confirm the championship. Baillargeon crossed in P3, just over a second back, to move back into P2 in the championship.

Unfortunately for Cabral, her first win would have to wait as her pushback bumper was activated from early in the race, earning a five-second penalty that moved her back to P3 in the results and elevating Medeiros to the top of the podium for the second day in a row.

Talaba joined Medeiros and Baillargeon on the championship podium in P3, just narrowly beating Gadoury and Cabral for the position.

Medeiros is the first Team Canada Junior driver to secure his ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals and will race in the event for the second year in a row. Medeiros currently leads the RMC Ontario championship, which will now see a number of drivers have an opportunity to win that ticket with two races still to go. He is also tied for the lead in the RMC Quebec championship, opening up the opportunity in that series as well.

For Medeiros, securing his ticket this early in the season takes the pressure off going into the Canadian Karting Championships and the Canadian Open.

“I have been working really hard on securing this ticket, and I’m so glad my hard work finally paid off. Getting that Grand Finals ticket early definitely takes a lot of pressure off. Now we can go into the two biggest races of the summer with a clear head, focused purely on execution, and hopefully keep building momentum. It’s a great position to be in. I want to thank my parents and my team for their support. It means the world to me!”