SuperKarts! USA completed their Florida Winter Series only a three short weeks ago, but have kept their foot on the gas, hosting the first round of the SKUSA Pro Tour this past weekend in Fontana, California. The SKUSA WinterNationals hit the track at CalSpeed Karting, a circuit we recently attended for the Challenge of the Americas, and the weather was eerily similar. Sunny practice days were ruined by cold temperatures and very racing on Saturday and Sunday morning, challenging the 200 racers that were in attendance for a full roster of IAME and Stock Moto categories.
Headlining the show for our Canadian contingent was a pair of podiums in the X30 Junior category. On Saturday in heavy rain, Ontario’s Dale Curran started on the front row and went to the lead on lap ten in the Final before pulling away to a six-second victory.
On Sunday it was British Columbia’s Jason Leung who stood on the podium, making up seven spots in the final to finish second place on a much drier race track. It was a great rebound after finishing fourteenth on Saturday.
After qualifying in the top-ten, Curran spun early in the Sunday PreFinal and had no chance to sweep the weekend. He would end up twentieth, surrendering the points lead he built up on Saturday.
Three more Canadians were in X30 Junior on the weekend, but all seemed to find some trouble. Mackenzie Clark had the best result of twentieth, while Marcello Paniccia was thirty-third on Sunday. Alexander Berg was also in attendance, but he seemed to struggle, scoring a weekend best result of thirty-sixth.
In X30 Senior, which also featured nearly 50 entrants, Ryan MacDermid was the hard charger on Saturday, advancing up twenty-four positions in his Prime Powerteam BirelART to finish thirteenth. On Sunday he could only manage to place eighteenth. Thomas Nepveu had a Saturday DNF, like nearly half the category, and drove home his PSL BirelART in fifteenth on Sunday. Liam Rhodes made his SKUSA debut in Senior but sadly was unable to finish both Finals.
The lone Canadian in Mini Swift was Cole Newton and while he showed promise throughout the weekend, ended up with a twentieth on Saturday and twenty-eighth on Sunday.
Finally, Dan Monteiro suited up in the S4 Shifter category amongst four competitors. He drove home second place on Saturday but was unable to finish on Sunday.
A two-month break is now on the horizon for the SKUSA staff as the Pro Tour will resume on May 3-5 for their SpringNationals, held at the Utah Motorsports Campus in Tooele, Utah.
