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Written by eKartingNews.com
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Sunday, 22 April 2012 00:00 |
 The final day of on-track action was just as sizzling as the weather in Phoenix, Arizona as the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour MG Tires SpringNationals was completed on Sunday. The skies were clear and the temperatures soured to triple digits at the PKRA Formula K Raceway, challenging the drivers and mechanics alike. Thankfully, there were no reported health issues with the weather for drivers nor those in attendance, and the on-time schedule set by the SKUSA Track Staff put the final event to be completed just after 5:00 pm. Although their were no red flags on the day, drivers were still on edge throughout the schedule as some poor decisions were made. Despite this, the great racing that was provided for a majority of the time trumped those bad moments, as eight drivers stood at the top of the podium to end the weekend. Fritz Leesmann and Phil DeLaO led the way with top honors in the headline categories, both scoring the win on Sunday and the event winner $1,000 check for S1 and TaG Senior.
Extreme Karting/Vemme Kart S1 Pro Stock Moto
Back in 2010, Fritz Leesmann (CRG) began his Pro Tour championship run with a sweep at the inaugural SpringNationals at Infineon. This year, Leesmann had to wait until day two before scoring a near sweep to put himself in the championship lead for the S1 title. An almost perfect day on Sunday helped Leesmann earn 310 points of the possible 320 on the day, propelling him into the point lead leaving Phoenix. The only blemish on Fritzer’s day was in qualifying where New Zealand driver and defending champ Daniel Bray (GP) scored the pole position, as the only driver below the 44-second mark. Leesmann would not be denied in the heat races, driving to the 10-lap moto wins and the pole for the Main Event. Grabbing the holeshot, Leesmann drove away to lead the entire 20 laps to a four-second victory. Behind him was a great battle for second that continued throughout the day. Bray ran second in the opening heat, but was moved back to third when Saturday winner Joey Wimsett (CRG) worked by in the second heat. They continued the duel into the feature race, with Wimsett grabbing the spot early. Bray was able to work by for position, but Wimsett kept the pressure on. With some defensive maneuvers, Bray held off Wimsett for the spot at the checkered, but officials gave Bray a one position penalty for blocking. The penalty placed Wimsett on the second step of the podium with Bray in third. Rookie Nicky Freytag (FA Kart) had his best day of the weekend, driving to fourth in his S1 debut on the Pro Tour with fellow freshman Jake French (Birel) fighting into fifth.
Read the full story on eKartingNews.com
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Saturday, 21 April 2012 19:06 |
Please be advised that the schedule has been adjusted for Sunday. Please note the following changes.
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Warm Ups are now 5 minutes.
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Qualifying is now 7 minutes (Except for S1).
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TaG Sr will be split into (2) run groups based off of Saturday'a Qual times.
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Group B - Fastest 22 drivers
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Group A - Remaining 21 drivers
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Will be posted in the morning
All of these changes are reflected in the revised schedule you can DOWNLOAD HERE. |
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Written by eKartingNews.com
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Saturday, 21 April 2012 00:00 |
 The first round of the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SpringNationals provided a day full of action and excitement around the PKRA Formula K Raceway in Phoenix, AZ. Heat was a major factor on the day with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees for much of the day. The SKUSA staff dug dip, working a long 12-hour day to make sure all the full action went into the books. On-track, the story was a day of first-time winners, as all eight feature victors earned their first Pro Tour Main Event trophy. In the headline categories, Phil DeLaO walked away with the TaG Senior category for a perfect point day while Joey Wimsett outran the veterans in S1 for his debut win.
DRT Racing TaG Senior
A record-breaking total of 43 drivers opened up the 2012 season for the TaG Senior division. With the massive amount of drivers, the field was randomly split into two groups for qualifying. Arizona driver Phil DeLaO laid down a monster lap in the first group, with no one able to match his pace. Quicker by over three-tenths in the timed session, DeLaO continued the torrid pace as the day wore on. Untouched in the two heat races with wins by more than three seconds, DeLaO went wire-to-wire for a near nine-second victory in his Pro Tour debut. SKUSA #3 plate holder Matt Johnson (Energy) appeared to be the top challenger, but a electrical issue on his engine put him on the sideline in the Main Event. As the race continued, it was Canadian Remo Ruscitti (Italkart) up to the second position. His teammate Michael Valiante (Italkart) was holding third until Shawn Cricca (FA Kart), up from 12th on the grid, worked around to steal the final podium position. Valiante finished fourth with TaG Senior sophomore Austin Elliott (Top Kart) finishing fifth.
Read the full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Written by eKartingNews.com
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Thursday, 19 April 2012 00:00 |
 This weekend begins the third season of the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour with the running of the MG Tires SpringNationals. The Phoenix Kart Racing Association (PKRA) Formula K Raceway will host the April 20-22 event with over 175 drivers in eight categories set to do battle for SpringNationals glory and move ahead during step one of three towards a Pro Tour title. 2012 will be a year of progression, both for the series itself and the drivers within the program. A number of champions from a year ago, along with many others, are moving up the internal SKUSA Ladder System, in TaG and Stock Moto, with a number of championship contenders returning as well.
The PKRA facility will be hosting its first SKUSA event since the May 2000 ProMoto Tour event. The first era of the organization hosted a large event that included some current big names in motorsports, including Scott Speed, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Charlie Kimball, Jonathan Bomarito, Darren Elliott, and S1 winner that weekend Alan Rudolph. Many others who will be in Phoenix this weekend were part of the event 12 years ago, and we'll talk about them during our weekend coverage.
Read the full story on eKartingNews.com
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Monday, 16 April 2012 13:56 |
 Sorry! The SKUSA staff has closed their pre-registration and is heading to Arizona shortly! You will be able to register at the track and purchase the other items you will need for this event starting at 10am this Thursday, April 19th or Friday morning starting at 6:30am. Click here for the RECENTLY UPDATED race schedule for this event, and here for directions to the track! You can also click here for the most current pit map. Please send an email to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call 951-491-0808 if you need to purchase items at the track such as a pit spot, tires, fuel or oil, so that we can add to to the list and be prepared for your arrival.
See you at PKRA! |
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