British Columbia’s Catalyst Driver Development has entered five Canadian drivers in this weekend’s second round of the 2020 Challenge of the Americas at CalSpeed Karting in Fontana, California.
The ITALKART Racing Team made their debut at last year’s ROK the RIO event in Las Vegas and has been working closely with Italian Motors to prepare their race team program, which makes it’s 2020 debut this weekend.
Led by Scott Hargrove, Remo Ruscitti and Stefan Rzadzinski, the karting veterans are leading by example with their young crop of racers. Ruscitti will suit up this weekend, alongside four other drivers in the ROK Shifter division, where competition is very tight at the Challenge of the Americas.
Cole O’Connor was part of the official team debut in Las Vegas and he’s back for more competition. Joining him is Jesse Webb, Even Arnold and Mario Gil, all young guns who have moved up from Junior competition last season to compete in ROK Shifter.
“We are excited to have our team to expand to five drivers at Challenge of the America’s,” explains Remo Ruscitti. “Scott, Stefan and I have put a lot of time into this program over the winter and are happy to have our season start this weekend. We invite everyone in the paddock to come by and say hello.”
You can follow CDD through their social media channels, https://www.facebook.com/catalystdrives/ on Facebook or https://www.instagram.com/catalystdrives/ on Instagram.
Other Challenge of the Americas News
It appears the series will break their previous record number of entries this weekend at CalSpeed. As of closing Thursday, entries reached 137, four more than the COTA previous high of 133. Given the fact that drivers like to register at the last minute, there is a chance that number increases on Friday to set the bar even higher, If all goes well and the momentum continues, COTA3 at Sonoma will look to wrap up the season with another record high.
There are currently 23 Canadian drivers entered in this weekends event, including five racers from the Cassels family. They had to miss the first round while dad Cameron was competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona, but they are all back this weekend, including Sydney and Ryan in Mini Rok, Kyle and Erin in Senior Rok and Cameron in Masters Rok. Their ESteem Racing program is managed by industry icons Darryl Redlin and Joey Guyon and also features Nicole Havrda in Junior Rok and Alex Chartier in Mini Rok.
Alex Berg looks to extend his championship lead in 100cc Junior after sweeping the opening two rounds. Griffin Dowler is seeking another podium finish in ROK Senior, as are his brothers Noel and Adam, who are competing in Rok Shifter and Rok Masters respectively.
