For the second time in as many events, Team PSL Karting produced a dominating performance over the weekend as the CKEQ Vega Cup visited Karting Thetford Mines. The event doubled as the third round of the 2010 Quebec Championship, and pslkarting.com was virtually unchallenged once again in winning six of eight classes and taking twelve total podium positions!

The entire range of Rotax Max offerings were among eighty karts in the paddock Saturday and Sunday, and they were joined by drivers in Rotax Masters, ICC, and Honda Senior. Eight Team PSL drivers qualified on the front row, with four earning outright pole positions. James Dean Laderoute scored his second straight in Micro-Max, Alex Fortin was on pole in Mini-Max, Etienne Lasalle earned ICC pole position and Nicolas Michaud was the fastest kart in Honda Senior. From there the effort stayed strong, as three Team PSL drivers were on pole after prefinals in helping to achieve six team wins on the day. Team PSL drivers also set the fastest lap of the field in seven of the eight Vega Cup classes!

Perhaps the most surprising performance was in Honda Senior where Alex Gauthier and Nicolas Michaud produced a one-two finish after starting on the last row of the grid! Michaud had won the prefinal and Gauthier was third before both were found to have run afoul with fuel - they were running regular pump gas instead of Super, and they were promptly disqualified and sent to the back. The trouble for the other sixteen drivers in the field was that once Gauthier and Michaud added Super to the tanks of their new CRG-PSL RS5 karts - they were even faster! By the end of six laps each was inside the top five, and working lap thirteen they took over the top spots, holding to the checker after fifteen laps. Each driver turned a 1:02.01 on lap eleven as they worked together in breaking free.

It was Gauthier's second-straight Vega Cup win, and another Team PSL driver to win for the second-straight time in the series was Jesse Lazare in Rotax Junior. After just missing pole by less than a tenth, things turned much worse early in the prefinal when he was knocked from the lead and onto the grass. Lazare was able to rejoin, but then spent the first seven laps running last among eleven karts. He passed into ninth on lap eight, eighth on lap eleven, and on the final lap of the prefinal he passed two karts to reach sixth and earn a starting spot on the outside of row three. In the final he was in third position after one lap and raced to half distance in second before taking over the lead working lap eight of sixteen. He set the fastest lap of the race on fourteen, and was 1.5 seconds clear when the checkered flag waved.

Two other Team PSL drivers have won both races on the schedule so far, as James Dean Laderoute swept pole, prefinal and final at both Karting Trois-Rivieres and Karting Thetford Mines, and Dany St-Hilaire has won both in Rotax Masters. Bringing the win total to six on Sunday were Eric Beltrami in DD2 and Etienne Lasalle in ICC. For more information on the event and series, please visit kartingpaintballthetford.ca and ckeq.com. For more information on Team PSL Karting and PSL Engines, visit pslkarting.com. A full list of Team PSL finishers from Thetford Mines appears below:

Rotax Micro-Max

1. James Dean Laderoute - fastest lap

2. Olivier Goupil

3. Nathan Sevigny

4. Alex Fortin - fastest lap

10. Felix Deschenes

1. Jesse Lazare - fastest lap

4. Kevin King

5. Reid Arnold

1. Eric Beltrami - fastest lap

3. Shawn Kahan

1. Dany St-Hilaire - fastest lap

2. Michel Legrand

1. Etienne Lasalle - fastest lap

2. Dominic Legrand

1. Alex Gauthier - fastest lap

2. Nicolas Michaud