Canadians Earn Pair of Podiums in SKUSA Winter Series to Kickoff 2021

Finally, we’re able to see some karts are back on track as the turn of the New Year means we get to head down to Florida for some racing action in the sunshine.

While we’ve been preparing for the first round of the ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour, taking place this coming weekend in Pompano Beach, a handful of Canadian racers were apart of the SKUSA Winter Series event in Homestead this past weekend. 200 entrants hit the track with great action on the track.

An impressive day on Saturday for Jensen Burnett saw the Energy Kart driver post the fastest lap in Qualifying to kickoff the new year in style. Unfortunately, he crashed in the PreFinal and had to start the Final near the rear of the 25-kart Mini Swift category. Advancing seventeen positions in the Final, Burnett worked his way to third place and a step on the SKUSA podium. Burnett was in contention on Sunday, but he, unfortunately, had to return from the Final with five laps to go.

The second Canuck to find the SKUSA podium was Davide Greco. Competing in the Pro Shifter division, a slim but competitive group took to the track. On Saturday, Greco managed to finish second place, while he took third on Sunday.

Other Canadians in action included Ayden Ingratta. The youngster is set for a great season in Junior and he showed he will be one to watch on Saturday. Staying inside the top-two all race long in X30 Junior, Ingratta moved into the lead at halfway and then held on all the way to the finish. However, officials accessed him a 10-second penalty for passing under yellow flags and his first international win will have to wait as he was credited with an eleventh place result. Sunday was another great day for Ingratta who ended up fourth, just missing the podium.

Rocco Simone got some more international competition under his belt, competing in Micro Swift. On Saturday he raced in the pack to come home thirteenth among the thirty entrants, while on Sunday he was seventeenth.

Thomas Nepveu qualified inside the top-ten of the very competitive X30 Senior division, but his luck in the Finals didn’t go his way. He ranked P14 on Saturday and P24 on Sunday after a pushback bumper penalty.

Making his first start in SKUSA competition, Mathieu Cousineau learned what it was like to compete in X30 Senior. A pair of DNFs may not look great on paper, but for sure Cousineau gained valuable experience in only his second season of two-cycle competition.

Finally, rounding out the Canadians in attendance, Alexander Berg had great pace in X30 Junior but scored a DNF in Saturday’s Final. He rebounded on Sunday to finish eleventh.

Many of these drivers will stay in the state of Florida to compete in this weekend’s ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour and we look forward to bringing photos, content and action on CKN.