The RMCGF Chase is On! Rotax Racers Invading Phoenix This Weekend

After the successful start to the winter karting season saw Matthew Taskinen secure Team Canada’s first ticket to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals at the Rotax Winter Trophy in Orlando, Florida, the next key Rotax event to acquire a ticket has arrived.

The RMC USA West event takes place this weekend in Phoenix, Arizona where six more of those coveted Grand Finals tickets will be awarded and a big number of Canadians racers are in attendance.

The Phoenix Kart Racing Association circuit is fantastic and hosted a Rotax race last winter as well. The event organizer, Race Rotax, has upped the ante this year and will race under the lights for Saturday’s main events. Simplified down to one race weekend with two complete race days, drivers will need to be consistent and make no mistakes if they want to acquire enough points to secure the weekend championship and the Rotax Grand Finals ticket available in their category.

In total, Canadians make up 35 of the race entries this weekend covering five different provinces. Apollo Motorsports has travelled from Edmonton, Alberta with a good-sized team. BBR Karting has brought their squad from British Columbia and a small group of racers from Overdrive Motorsports in Calgary are also in attendance. Notably, three race programs from the east have also made their over for the weekend as Prime Powerteam, Racing Edge Motorsports and JMF Karting travelled west after the races in Florida to visit Phoenix for the first time.

The competition will be stout this weekend, especially in Rotax Senior where 36 drivers are entered and only one ticket is up for grabs to the champion. Junior Max will be exciting as well with a solid grid of 17, while Rotax DD2 is all Canadian except for one, giving us some good odds to add to Team Canada.

Friday will feature both day and nighttime practice with an afternoon start to the day. Saturday will be race one. Starting at 1:00 PM, the race day will run into the sunset to set the grids for the evening Finals, scheduled to start at 6:00 PM and race under the lights. Racers will then return Sunday morning to kickoff race day two where the Finals and Champions will be crowned in the afternoon.

CKN will be trackside this weekend in Phoenix, providing updates and content throughout the event. Live Timing can be followed on Alpha Race Hub and live audio from the man himself, Henry Beaudette, will be available on eKartingNews Live.

Canadian Entries:

Micro Max

• Jayden Francisco, ON
• Lincoln Lima, ON
• Jack Klym, SK
• Yousef Adi, ON

Mini Max

• Heston Jeffery, AB
• Mateo Pai, BC
• Christian Sanguinetti, AB
• Joshua Wheeler, AB
• Harrison Jeffery, AB

Junior Max

• Cole Medeiros, ON
• Ava Cabral, ON
• Nathan Dupuis, ON
• Leonardo Serravalle, ON
• Ahmed Mostafa, ON

Senior Max

• Arnaud Sabourin, QC
• Savanah Kallis, AB
• Griffin Dowler, AB
• Nicole Kyswaty, AB
• Michael Nickle, ON
• Dylan Ludwig, AB
• Timothy Pernod, QC
• Mark Newson, AB
• Ian Qiu, BC
• Aidan Shimbashi, ON
• Antoine Lemieux, QC
• Bradley Bitz, AB
• Frederique Lemieux, QB
• Oliver Mrak, ON

Rotax DD2

• Griffin Dowler, AB
• Matthew Taskinen, AB
• Lucas Pernod, QC
• Bennett MacKay, AB
• Ludovic Sabourin, QC
• Gianluca Savaglio, ON

Masters Max

• Noel Dowler, AB