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Senna Van Walstijn grabbed fast time in Pro Shifter in his first SuperNationals start (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)
The first official day of competition was put into the books on Thursday for the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 27. The over 500 drivers took to the track for the second day of action on the temporary circuit outside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, following a full day of practice on Wednesday. The morning and afternoon groups took to the track for two rounds of practice and the qualifying session to set the grid for the heat races over Saturday and Sunday. Clear skies all day eventually rolled into the night time with the afternoon groups qualifying under the lights after a couple red flag situations on the day. In the end, it was Dutch driver Senna Van Walstijn and Spainard Ruben Moya that set fast times in Pro Shifter and Pro X30.
The first category on the track for the morning group was KA100 Junior presented by Birel ART USA. The 84 driver category was split up into four groups for qualifying based on the final practice session lap time. Mateo Calderon (Supertune USA / Tony Kart) was in the second group out and held the provisional pole position through the first three groups. It looked as if he might keep the spot until the second half of the final group. 2023 class winner Turner Brown (RPG / Kosmic) was up to the top spot but on the final circuit, John Antonino (MPG Academy / Kart Republic) put in a 52.330 lap time. He edged out Brown by 56 thousandths for his first career SuperNationals pole position. Max Cristea (TKG / Kart Republic) was third overall, only recording three laps in the session. Canadian Ty Fisher (Racelab / TB Kart) was fourth in the final order with SKUSA Winter Series champion Sebastian Garzon (Orsolon Racing / Tony Kart) completing the fast five. Calderon’s time was good enough for tenth.
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The California ProKart Challenge heads to Santa Maria Karting Association facility on May 18-19 (Photo: Spencer Russell – photosbysmr1)
Year 20 of the California ProKart Challenge will complete the first half of the championship chase when the series heads to the Santa Maria Kart Track on the May 18-19 weekend. The first two rounds of the 2024 Superkarts! USA regional series were held at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park, and now the program heads to Santa Maria near the Pacific Coast for Round Three.
Home of the Santa Maria Karting Association, the 7/10-mile circuit has been a longtime fixture for the California ProKart Challenge – located just minutes away from the Pacific Ocean. The challenging 13-turn course will be contested in the counterclockwise direction. The single round weekend format will continue in Santa Maria with five practice sessions on Saturday wrapped up with qualifying at the end of the day. A warm-up precludes the Prefinal and Final sessions on Sunday for the championship categories.
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Austin Garrison ran away from the X30 Senior pack to score a popular win (Photo: OTP)
The third round of the Superkarts! USA Winter Tour was contested on Saturday in comfortable mid-80s weather and the previously forecasted rain held off all day. Throughout the Prefinals and Finals, the intensity of the racing felt like it was kicked up a notch from the opening weekend in January, and the fight for the championship titles was certainly on the mind of many drivers. When the dust has settled from some incredibly competitive main events, Speed Concepts Racing’s Austin Garrison (Redspeed) scored a popular win in X30 Senior while Peyton Phillips (RPM / Tony Kart) earned his first national series win with an impressive run in KA100 Senior. AJ Myers (Magik Kart USA / Magik Kart) was the class of a short field in Pro Shifter and was focused on using the weekend for warm weather seat time ahead of the start of the SKUSA Pro Tour.
We couldn’t have asked for a much more intense Speed Concepts Racing X30 Senior main event. Fast qualifier Austin Garrison (SCR / Redspeed) fell back to sixth in the Prefinal, which was won by Joe Turney (DAP), but he’d be back in the fight before it was all said and done. Turney moved from a tough qualifying performance (ninth) to fifth after the opening circuit of the 12-lap Prefinal, and then steadily powered forward to score the win and the pole for the final. Turney led the opening laps of the main, but Garrison was on the move and he took over the top spot on lap three, holding it to lap 10 when he was dropped to second. Garrison mentioned in a pre-race interview that he knew that he’d have late race speed, and that was certainly the case, retaking the lead from Turney on lap 15. Garrison was able to pull away as the fight behind him got heated and, over the final laps, he pulled out to a 2.980-second advantage at the checkered. Garrison’s win made it three different winners over the first three races.
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Superkarts! USA today announced a new partnership with industry leading racewear brand Alpinestars, which will see the renowned name become the ‘official race gear of SKUSA.’ The move underscores a newfound commitment to the sport of karting by Alpinestars, in addition to their existing motorsports programs.
SKUSA shares the excitement of the collaboration, and more importantly the benefits it will offer racers. The partnership will usher in a renewed focus from Alpinestars’ dealers to activate and service every SKUSA ProTour event with on-site support. Participants have been ill served by companies in the past, with no real means to purchase safety equipment at events. Local Alpinestars dealers will be on-hand at each ProTour race with ample Alpinestars product for sale.
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Joe Turney secured the X30 Senior title with a fourth victory on the season (Photo: EKN)
The 2023 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SummerNationals went into the books on Sunday, completing Round Six of this year’s championship program during the final day of action at the SummerNationals. A clean day of weather at the New Castle Motorsports Park following the crazy first three days in New Castle, Indiana. A couple red flags delayed the action on the day, however, all drivers were cleared of any injuries. ‘Championship Sunday’ will go down as one of the most memorable days in the 14-year history of the program, watching the first international title winner in the X30 Senior division thanks to Brit Joe Turney giving Kart Republic its first as well. And for a second straight time, Pro Shifter has a two-time champion in PSL Karting’s Marijn Kremers after a wild last lap behind race winner AJ Myers.
The final class in the order on the weekend was the Speed Concepts Racing X30 Senior category, providing the final bit of drama for the 2023 season. Five-time SKUSA Pro Tour champion Ryan Norberg (RPG / Kosmic) laid down a monster lap of 1:04.180 in qualifying to clear the field by two tenths. It was three-time winner and championship leader Joe Turney (CDR / Kart Republic) that took the win in the Prefinal as he along with Alessandro de Tullio (IM / Kart Republic), 2022 FIA Karting World Champion Matheus Morgatto (PSL / Birel ART) and Nate Cicero (RPG / Kosmic) pushing Norberg back to fifth in the order. That gave Turney the ability to finish 10th or better in order to claim the SKUSA title ahead of Norberg. The first four laps featured four different leaders with Morgatto jumping ahead in the opening circuit before ADT took a turn. It was Turney next to the lead before Norberg assumed the spot. That is when Norberg and Turney put in the pace, getting away from the field. Turney took the lead back on lap 10 before the shuffled for the spot once again on lap 15 and 16. Turney held the position with the white flag waving and Norberg went on the attack. He was able to pull the over under out of the ‘Scoreboard’ corner getting the advantage by the time they reached ‘Cell Tower’ turn. Norberg went defensive into the double left handers, but allowed just enough space for Turney to dive inside at the second left for the over under. That was all he needed as Norberg’s pace slowed with the move, allowing Turney to drive to the checkered flag for his fourth win of the season, second on the weekend to celebrate his first SKUSA Pro Tour championship. De Tullio drove alone in third with Morgatto climbing back to fourth after falling down to 10th early on. British driver Brandon Carr (RPM / Tony Kart) was hard charger of the race, gaining 18 spots over the 18 laps to finish fifth.
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