SuperNats XXVII

230DAYS

2025 Winter Series

2025 TBA

2024 Pro Tour

78DAYS

SKUSA Mexico

15DAYS

2024 PKC

23DAYS

2024 TSRS

36DAYS

Next ProKart Challenge Event


PRE-REG OPENS TODAY at 7 PM
Will close April 16 at 11:59 PM PDT
 

Round 2 - Buttonwillow (Reverse) April 20-21, 2024
Buttonwillow Raceway Park
24551 Lerdo Highway
Buttonwillow, CA 93206
(661) 764-5333
buttonwillowraceway.com
Google Maps
Please contact the facility for Kart Track hours.  No Friday practice.

California ProKart Challenge

Superkarts! USA Stepping Up with Return of Pro Tour in 2010
Friday, 24 July 2009 12:06


From the first day that Tom Kutscher sat at the Superkarts! USA helm following his purchase of the shifterkart organization, the karting enthusiast had one underlying goal – return the program to its glory days. The popular SKUSA ProMoto Tour vaulted gearbox racing to the forefront in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, making famous the names of top drivers like Darren Elliott, Jason LaPoint, Bobby Wilson, Scott Speed and Ron White. Kutscher was a top competitor in the series’ Formula G1 category for Masters drivers, spending considerable time on the podium himself. During this stretch, he reveled in the electricity of the trackside atmosphere, the paddock camaraderie and the quality of the racing. After watching the series fall from grace, Kutscher eventually assumed control of SKUSA and has been systematically putting it back together by developing regional programs and re-stoking the magic in its annual SuperNationals. Looking into the future, the Californian will now take the next logical step in bringing back a national series in the promotion of a three-race Pro Tour for 2010, which will expand the popularity of the SuperNats with the running of a SpringNationals in April and a SummerNationals in July. As customary, the SuperNationals will once again cap off the year of competition in Las Vegas in November.

“My memories of the ProMoto Tour are spectacular, and I’ve always known that events of that quality, prestige and excitement are needed within the Superkarts! USA program,” admitted Kutscher, excited about his newest effort. “Expanding the SuperNationals model with a pair of additional venues is motivated by our desire to grow our platform into new regions of the country. Providing a sample of the SKUSA equation to new racers will be a lot of fun. The ultimate goal is to have three events that are presented in the quality of the SuperNationals.”

Demand for such a program has been high, and Kutscher is ready to tackle this new challenge. “I’ve been asked countless times to bring back the ProMoto Tour, and I think the timing is right,” Kutscher continued. “We’ve been working on this for a couple of years, so that it would be ready to roll out when it was needed, and I think the continuing growth of our Stock Moto program and the return of the SuperNats to the Rio all point towards putting a series back together.”

The new ‘SKUSA Pro Tour’ program will kick off in April – once the assorted ‘winter series’ have been completed and the teams and drivers have been able to enjoy a little downtime to reset for the season. While the venues have yet to be confirmed, the inaugural SKUSA ‘SpringNationals’ event is being targeted at the southern half of the United States, likely in the middle of the country, to take full advantage of the warmer weather. To balance out the schedule, the ‘SummerNationals’ will be held in July in a more northern location, again centrally located. Kutscher is expecting to run one event at an existing karting facility during the inaugural year of the Pro Tour, focusing on the move to all temporary venues in 2011. Temporary circuits that eliminate testing will keep the costs down, and they also provide for exciting and unique experiences.

“We want to bring the SKUSA experience to racers all across the country – and working our way from East to West all the way to the SuperNationals will help us develop new regional enthusiasts as well,” Kutscher explained. “I can see the SummerNationals working in conjunction with our ever-expanding Central States Challenge, which will certainly help make sure that it is a huge event. We’ve got a great event in the works for that stop on the Pro Tour.”

The program will remain true to SKUSA’s unique class structure, which maintains the unbeatable thrill and experience of shifterkart racing paired with the affordability of a spec stock engine package in the Honda CR125. Although the final class structure for the new ‘Pro Tour’ is not yet confirmed, racers can expect to see the stock moto-based S3 and S4 categories featured prominently, along with the popular addition of the G1, TaG Senior, TaG Masters and TaG Junior classes, all four of which drew hugely at last fall’s SuperNats when the Senior class attracted 100 competitors to the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in November. The recent surge in support of the S5 Stock Moto Junior class, which will likely see a full field of 40 drivers in Las Vegas, may put this category in the line-up as well.

“The Stock Moto and TaG classes are the foundation of our program and keeping a focused line-up is extremely important to our brand of racing,” Kutscher adds. “By offering a limited number of classes, we are able to offer our customers lots of track time without having to bring multiple karts to the track.”

The first two events will feature two full and separate days of competition on Saturday and Sunday, putting the series race total at five when you factor in the single main events at the SuperNats. The series will also give SKUSA the opportunity to restart its national number program, awarding special number plates to the top-10 in each category at the end of the five-race schedule. At the end of the SuperNationals, SKUSA will award the prestigious #1 plates to the country’s best drivers.

Superkarts! USA will be releasing more information on the Pro Tour as the season continues, beginning with the official class structure, the event schedule and the introduction of the organization’s new licensing system. SKUSA is also preparing several updates on this year’s SuperNationals, which is already close to filling several of its classes.