Morley Powers Through Adversity to Claim Rotax Junior Victory in Tremblant Rain

With a ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals on the line via the RMC Quebec, the Rotax Junior category saw a boost in entries at the Coupe de Montreal in Mont-Tremblant.

The Juniors were one of the lucky classes who got to qualify and race their PreFinal on slick tires during the weekend, as they took to the track on Saturday afternoon for these sessions. This also meant that the only time they competed on rain tires was their Final on Sunday.

Alexis Baillargeon (HM Propela/Kart Republic) topped the tricky qualifying session that had a light drizzle fall almost immediately after the drivers left the grid. Antoine Bazinet (Premier/TonyKart) posted the second-best time, followed by Jeremy St-Cyr (PSL/BirelART) and Olivier Chasse (HM Propela/Kart Republic), as only three drivers posted a lap time within a second of Baillargeon.

Disaster struck for Baillargeon on the opening lap of the Prefinal as his kart came to a slow on the main straight white leading, ending his race prematurely.

Inheriting the lead, St-Cyr was in control for most of the PreFinal with Chasse in tow until Ahmed Mostafa (REM/Kosmic) and Jackson Morley (Prime/BirelART) chased them down late in the race.

Both drivers tried to pass for the lead, but St-Cyr managed to keep them behind. However, contact with Morley on the final lap earned him a 5-second penalty, pushing him down to P5 in the results. Morley was scored as the winner, followed by Edward Kennedy (Energy NA/Energy Kart), Mostafa and Jackson Lachapelle (HM Propela/Kart Republic).

Rotax Junior podium from left to right: Jeremy St Cyr, Jackson Morley and Cole Medeiros (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

The final race was dominated by Morley, who was battling a stomach bug on Sunday that nearly kept him from racing. He persevered, wore his backup helmet and put his head down, never giving up the lead and eventually pulling away to a 3.3-second victory.

St-Cyr had a great battle with Cole Medeiros (REM/Kosmic) for second in the middle stages of the Final, eventually getting by and pulling away, but unable to make much gain on Morley. The pair would join him on the podium in P2 and P3. A little further down the road, Bazinet completed a great weekend in P4, followed by a top-five debut for Lachapelle with HM Propela.

Baillargeon was able to recover to P7 after starting 22nd on the grid. He had to navigate plenty of action in the opening laps that kept him from keeping up with the lead pack.