Sandra Blok
Submitted
BEACHBURG – Hot off an impressive double pole and double podium finish, Nathan Blok headed to his home track at Calabogie Motorsport Park this past weekend for rounds 3 and 4 of the F2000 Canada Championship. Blok dominated all weekend in the Tenaquip/Aurora Tools/Zenith Safety Products car No. 88, in front of the home crowd, securing double pole positions and a first place finish.
Blok, being no stranger to the 5.05 km Calabogie track, quickly took command on Friday by laying down the fastest lap in practice. In Saturday’s qualifying session, despite having an on-track altercation with a bird, Blok bettered his time and won pole position with a lap time of 2:01.133, .44 of a second ahead of second place.
Saturday’s race started in very hot and humid conditions with thunder clouds and rain storms looming in the distance.
Blok started from pole position with Chase Pelletier challenging him for the lead going side-by-side into the first corner.
As the two Britian West Motorsport teammates came out of corner 2 Blok was in front. Pelletier stayed right behind Blok in the early part of the race, but Blok gradually started to increase the gap.
When the checkered flag flew, Blok had won the race with a 9.6 second lead.
Shortly after, the heavens opened up and the torrential rain started, causing the rest of the race day to end early.
“ I knew getting a good start would set the tone for the race,” Blok said. “Fortunately that’s what I got, despite a moment in Turn 1. From then on, I worked on building a healthy lead and then saving my tires for race 2 on Sunday.”
The weather changed dramatically and it was cold and windy on Sunday when the F2000 cars hit the track for qualifying. Blok took his second pole position of the weekend with a time of 2:01.231. This time with just under 6-hundredths of a second separating 1st and 2nd .
Sunday’s race started with confusion on the mock grid that had Pelletier positioned in the wrong slot. After trying to fix the problem on an access road, Pelletier’s car stalled and the field was sent out around him while a safety truck restarted him. When the green flag fell Blok immediately took control and the lead of the race. Pelletier, who had caught up to the back of the grid by the start of the race, was working his way through the field. By the time he made it back up to the 2nd place position Blok had an 11 second lead on him. Blok settled into a rhythm and continued to gradually increase his lead to more than 13 seconds, when disaster struck on lap 10. Blok’s throttle cable broke and he was forced to pull off onto the access road at corner 8, handing the race over to Pelletier.
“The start was really confusing and disappointing,” Blok said. “Chase and I had closer lap times and I was looking forward to a fight for first place. Up until lap 10 I had a perfect weekend, but the car had other plans.”
Blok added, “I would like to thank the Britian West team for all their hard work throughout the weekend and especially my sponsors for making this weekend happen. I would also like to welcome Calabogie Peaks and SRB Technologies as new partners.”
Rounds 5 and 6 of the F2000 Canada Championship are being held June 27/28 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Unfortunately due to funding issues, Blok may be forced to skip this race weekend, but is looking forward to competing in the DAC Trillium Trophy Race at the Shannonville Motorsport Park July 18/19.
For information on Nathan Blok and sponsorship visit www.nathanblok.com or contact Steve Blok at 613-582-3867
The Series: The F2000 Canada Championship Series is a competitive wings and slicks open wheel racing series sanctioned by CASC – Ontario Region, and proudly supported by Hoosier Tire, Stäubli, Lincoln Electric, and Move Motorsports Management. The series is comprised of a six event, double-header format and competes at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Calabogie Motorsports Park and Shannonville Motorsport Park.
