For those looking to plan their winter season of karting, the dates and locations of all three popular programs have officially been set, and thankfully there are no conflicting dates between the Florida Winter Tour, the new SKUSA Winter Series and Challenge of the Americas.
Now, it’s up to the drivers and teams to decide which engine program they want to race and to book accordingly.
New for 2018, SuperKarts! USA has opted for a two round, four-race championship for their IAME engine program and confirmed this week that they will race at Homestead Karting and Ocala Gran Prix, two favourites for the Florida region.
The Florida Winter Tour is now under the operation of Rok Cup USA and has ditched the double-championship format and will focus only on their Vortex Rok engine program in 2018 and stick to their three-round format, host races at Palm Beach Karting, Ocala Gran Prix and the Orlando Kart Center. Their Ocala round will follow the weekend after SKUSA Winter Series is there and it will be interesting to see if this can draw more drivers for either championship with the opportunity to race on back-to-back weekends at the same location.
On the west coast, the Challenge of the Americas returns and has switched from Rotax Max engines to Vortex Roks. They will stick to their three round format as well, ending in April during what is usually a slower time for karting. They will race at PKRA in Arizona, as well as CalSpeed Karting and SimRaceway in California.
Winter is just around the corner. Where will you be racing? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
The events can also be found on our Competitions section.
2018 Winter Karting Events and Dates:
SKUSA Winter Series Rounds 1 & 2
January 12-14, 2018
AMR Miami-Homestead Motorplex
Homestead, Florida
Florida Winter Tour Round 1
January 18-21, 2018
Palm Beach Karting
Jupiter, Florida
Challenge of the Americas Round 1
January 26-28, 2018
Phoenix Kart Racing Association
Glendale, Arizona
SKUSA Winter Series Rounds 3 & 4
February 9-11, 2018
Ocala Gran Prix
Ocala, Florida
Florida Winter Tour Round 2
February 15-18, 2018
Ocala Gran Prix
Ocala, Florida
Challenge of the Americas Round 2
February 23-25, 2018
CalSpeed Karting Center
Fontana, California
Florida Winter Tour Round 3
March 15-18, 2018
Orlando Kart Center
Orlando, Florida
Challenge of the Americas Round 3
April 13-15, 2018
Simraceway Performance Karting Center
Sonoma, California