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California ProKart Challenge
| PKC South Gears Up for Round Two at Willow Springs |
| Thursday, 18 February 2010 10:57 |
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Coming off a successful opening round to the 2010 season, the ProKart Challenge South program is gearing up for the second event at the Willow Springs International Motorsports Park. Just a couple hours north of the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, the Rosamond, California facility hosts a number of motorsports courses, including the 6/10-mile kart track the PKC competitors will do battle on. Nearly 100 drivers attended the opening round to pursue their first victory of the season and begin their mission for a possible series championship. Many will be returning for round two to continue on their quest. “The opening round for our South program was a great event to kick off the 2010 season,” stated Tom Kutscher, president of Superkarts! USA. “I’m happy to see the big fields we had, along with the star-studded drivers that competed. In our sixth year for this region, I feel we have established ourselves as one of the top programs in the area, especially for shifterkart and TaG racing. With the great opener, it should set up for another stellar event at Willow Springs.” With the Stock Moto sensation blossoming in the region, the new restructured S1-S2-S3 ladder of progression was a distinct success. The elite driver battle was strong in the S1 category, while some future stars shined in the S2 category, allowing newcomers to come to grips with the Stock Moto package in the S3 class. Brett Felkins established himself as the driver to beat in the early run for the S1 title, scoring the feature win at CalSpeed. He will be chased by round one early pacesetter Clinton Schoombee and Tommy Thompson. In S2, Billy Musgrave is the current point leader following the first round action, as he bested Bryce Miller and former S5 driver Race Liberante. Vinny Maestas swept the CalSpeed event in S3, and will be the target for the rest of the field at Willow Springs. The S4 category claimed top honors for highest entry total – and saw great racing take place throughout the opening round. Jason Campbell scored the feature win and currently leads the point race, with Willy Musgrave and three-time SuperNationals winner Jeff Littrell putting the heat on. In S4 Magnum, Robert Morales paced the field the entire day, minus the feature where Todd Scholta scored the victory. Morales, however, finds himself leading the point chase, and will look for his first win of the year in Rosamond. G1 – the Masters open shifter category – nearly matched the numbers S4 put up; however, it was controlled by just one driver – Fernando Diaz. Leading all on-track proceedings, Diaz holds a perfect score going into round two. He’ll have to be on his game as three-time champion PP Mastro will look to reclaim the top spot. TaG Senior also recorded high entry numbers with loads of talent, both young and experienced. Two-time SuperNats Junior winner Gustavo Menezes came away with the victory and point lead over fellow rising star Kyle Shriver. Former Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Phil Giebler, two-time TaG Masters champion Billy Cleavelin, Larry Fraser and others were among the contenders on the weekend. The championship lead in the TaG Master division will be up for grabs with the absence of round one winner Paul Bonilla. Ron Rossetti and Jeff Bobbitt are on-deck, and will fight it out at Willow Springs to take over the spot at the top. In Junior competition, the growing S5 Junior Stock Moto category saw Scott Phillips win the battle at CalSpeed scoring the feature win – yet Augie Lerch leads the war with the top spot in the point standings heading into round two. The top spot in TaG Junior will also be open, with Louie Pagano unable to contest round two, leaving Chris Cricca and Emmanuel Mestre as the top contenders. The second round of the six-race PKC South championship will begin on February 26 with practice day, gates opening at 7am and track hot from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Race pre-registrations are currently being accepted, with racers able to save $35 on their entry fee by submitting an entry prior to midnight on February 24. SKUSA memberships will be mandatory for the event, and forms are available on the SKUSA or ProKart Challenge websites. A notice to all attendees: the facility requires a $10 gate fee; thus, ProKart Challenge will not require spectators to purchase an additional pit pass unless they will need access to the hot pit section of the paddock. No reserved pit spots will be provided for the event. Camping and overnight parking of trailers on site will be permitted Thursday thru Saturday night at no charge. Devonshire Inn and the Inn of Lancaster are offering special pricing on rooms when mentioning ProKart Challenge at booking, with details listed on the series website. A live scoring feed as well as blogging will be available Saturday during the racing action. For more information on the opening round – including the tentative race day schedule – or anything related to SKUSA and the ProKart Challenge, visit http://www.prokartchallenge.com and http://www.superkartsusa.com or call the SKUSA head office at 951-491-0808. |