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Superkarts! USA's Tom Kutscher (Photo: EKN)
After a long season of race promotion and ground breaking organizational efforts, you’d think that Superkarts! USA’s Tom Kutscher would be setting up for a relaxing off-season, taking a little time off before SKUSA’s California ProKart Challenge regional series fires up again in early February. But for the head of the sport’s leading shifter and TaG program, nothing could be further from the truth, as his company is currently in the middle of an important period of evolution. This progression is focused on improving stability while fueling growth, which has seen Superkarts! USA make some aggressive and calculated moves over the past 18 months. In the last year and a half, they made the decision to move away from the multiple-engine TaG program that was part of their foundation, trimming away the engines that were not utilized in any large numbers (Motori and Rok). They also elected to remove the Rotax FR125, whose continuing technical development caused issues and required investment in testing to maintain equality in TaG racing. The end result is that SKUSA will move into 2015 focused on a single supplier of engines for their ‘TaG’ categories, which is a current trend in our sport. Three different models of IAME products will power the single-speed side of the SKUSA equation, with the X30 and Leopards being legal for TaG Senior and TaG Master in 2015. The TaG Junior classes will stick with the Leopard-only approach for one more year, and as recently announced, an ambitious trade-in program will put all of SKUSA’s TaG Cadet drivers on the IAME Mini Swift air-cooled engine for 2015.
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Patrick Woods-Toth claimed the opening round victory in X30 Senior, but finds himself trailing Norberg in title chase (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)
The third second of the Superkarts! USA Winter Series is set to conclude this weekend at the AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex presented by MG Tires. The Homestead, Miami facility will welcome competitors once again, returning after the opening event in January. The difference between the two events, the track direction and possibly weather. For Rounds Three and Four, the 7/10-mile course will go in the clockwise direction. While a short rain shower hit the area last month, more precipitation is forecasted for the February weekend which may have a big impact on those reaching the podium and earning top spots in the championship chases.
Wednesday and Thursday were unofficial practice with Friday hosting five official sessions for testing. Round 3 is set for Saturday, including qualifying, Prefinal and Final. Round 4 is a repeat format on Sunday. The championship chase will conclude on Sunday, with drivers taking the best three of the four rounds to count toward the final point standings.
eKartingNews.com is set for the opening event of its 2020 Trackside Live program. The voice of Superkarts! USA, EKN’s own Rob Howden, will be calling the action all weekend. Those unable to attend can listen in to the live broadcast – presented this weekend by Franklin Motorsports, Margay Racing, and Rolison Performance Group. Bookmark www.ekartingnews.com/live and follow the EKN social media channels for more throughout the weekend in Florida. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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The KA100 Senior division – featuring 74 entries – is set for its fourth edition at the SKUSA SuperNationals, and it will also welcome a fourth different winner. None of the three former victors will be competing at SuperNationals 25, including defending winner Brandon Lemke. Inaugural winner Steven Barros was ‘one-and-done’, Pauly Massimino is competing in X30 Senior only, and Lemke has elected not to defend his victory from 2021.
In fact, the top-10 will look a lot different this year with only three drivers returning from last year’s finishing order. The lone podium finisher coming back is Nicholas Terlecki (Franklin / Exprit), who placed third in his Senior debut at the SuperNationals. Double SummerNationals winner Oliver Calvo (SCR / Redspeed) finished eighth in his second year in the category a year ago. Those wins put Calvo fifth in the SKUSA Pro Tour championship chase. Caleb Shrader (RPG / Kosmic) finished ninth at SuperNationals 24 in his Senior debut and has been among the top 100cc drivers all season long in 2022 finishing fourth in the SKUSA Pro Tour standings. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Hannah Greenemeier looks to repeat in X30 Senior (Photo: EKN)
The 2022 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour is set to kick off this weekend (March 31-April 2) at the NOLA Motorsports Park. The fifth edition of the SKUSA WinterNationals at the Avondale, Louisiana will host the opening two rounds of the championship program, which celebrates the 13th season. The ‘Big Easy’ always provides a threat of rain, with Saturday looking to be the day that could be the most impacted in terms of wet weather racing.
This weekend’s is the largest WinterNationals on record before walk-up entries at 224 in the five-year history of the event. The first edition came in 2017 at NOLA and was there the year after before moving to the CalSpeed Karting facility in 2019. COVID-19 halted the 2020 edition as Friday practice was wrapping up and the world changed over the coming days. The WinterNationals returned in 2021 to NOLA, with all four previous editions featuring over 200 entries. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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The Stock Honda CR125 engine package will remain as the absolute foundation of the Superkarts! USA program for years to come
A new focus on a single manufacturer for their TaG program has provided Superkarts! USA with some much needed long-term stability, and this is only amplified when paired with the organization’s continued support and dedication to the Stock Moto shifterkart program that utilizes the Honda CR125 engine package. It is impossible to argue that SKUSA is not the leader in the category, as they continue to position the formula has a key segment of their operation. That said, SKUSA’s increased partnership with the IAME product line has brought about speculation that the Italian manufacturer’s gearbox engine could become a replacement for Stock Honda program in SKUSA’s shifterkart categories. SKUSA wishes that it be known that this is by no means the case. SKUSA remains fully committed to the Stock Honda program and they see many years of working closely with Honda and HPD.
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