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Sunday, 11 June 2023 00:00 |
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Jacob Gulick completed the double in Pro Shifter with victory in the main event on Sunday (Photo: OTP.ca)
While the potential for rain was in the forecast throughout the weekend at the Utah Motorsports Campus for this year’s Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SpringNationals, the wet stuff didn’t arrive until the second half of the KA100 Senior main event on Sunday, and even then, not in enough quantity to bring the race to a halt. After a short lightning break as the small storm cell passed through, the Mini Swift drivers took to a damp track, and the decision to go with slicks or wets made things intriguing. More on that later. Overall, the day’s racing was ultra-aggressive once again, and even the drivers commented on the poor racecraft in post-race interviews. Despite this aggression, or maybe because of it, the racing in the headline X30 Senior and Pro Shifter categories was edge-of-your-seat type of stuff.
In the Pro Shifter class, GFC Karting’s Jacob Gulick (GFC) backed up his breakout win on Saturday to score another triumph over the stacked field of gearbox racers, having to come back from a tough start that dropped him to third. The X30 Senior race was as wild as expected, and with six drivers in the hunt, J3 Competition’s Oliver Hodgson (CompKart) emerged from the inferno to score his first major national SKUSA victory in the United States. The day also saw new winners, as eight categories battled for wins in Round Four of the SKUSA Pro Tour.
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Saturday, 10 June 2023 00:00 |
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Chad Dokken Racing's Joe Turney won in X30 Senior on Saturday (Photo: OTP.ca)
The opening day of action at the Superkarts! USA SpringNationals may have featured some aggressive and chaotic racing, but it was also highlighted by a number of incredibly impressive performances at the Utah Motorsports Campus. Tire management played a key role in late-race pace, and the massive draft found on the long frontstraight eliminated any true breakaway victories, so those getting to the top of the podiums needed to do so on merit. Chad Dokken Racing driver Joe Turney (Kart Republic) caught and passed early leader Ryan Norberg (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic) to earn his second win of the Pro Tour season in X30 Senior, while GFC Karting’s Jacob Gulick delivered a career performance to earn his first national-level SKUSA victory over his teammate Kyle Wick (GFC Karting / GFC) in Pro Shifter.
Speed Concepts Racing X30 Senior saw Turney take his fourth win in Superkarts! USA competition in 2023 in the highly competitive X30 Senior class, including his Winter Series victories. The British driver has been the driver to beat across all series when it comes to single-speed competition, and whether it’s across the pond or here stateside, he’s proven he is always a threat for the win, which he proved to the SKUSA paddock with his win over reigning class champion Ryan Norberg (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic), who finished in second. Norberg moved to the lead early and looked poised to score the win, but Turney turned things up midway through the race and hunted down the multi-time SKUSA champ, eventually taking the lead. Turney would hold off all of Norberg’s subsequent advances through to the checkered flag. Harley Keeble (Piquet Sport / Sodi Kart) has delivered head-turning opening rounds of the season here in the States, and the Brit backed these up with a third-place finish on Saturday in Utah. Behind the lead trio were Red Army drivers Diego Ramos (PSL Karting / Birel ART) in fourth and defending FIA Karting World Champion Matheus Morgatto (PSL Karting / Birel ART) in fifth, a handful of seconds back from the leaders. J3 Competition’s Oliver Hodgson (Compkart) turned in a masterful drive from last (31st) to cross the line on Morgatto’s bumper in sixth.
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Friday, 09 June 2023 08:09 |
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Utah Motorsports Campus
The 2023 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour reaches the halfway point of the season this weekend with the annual SKUSA Pro Tour SpringNationals. Team and competitors head to the Utah Motorsports Campus for the June 9-11 weekend to contest the third and fourth rounds of the championship program. Following the WinterNationals held at the beginning of April, the national schedule resumes with nearly 190 entries in nine categories set to battle at the Grantsville, Utah facility.
The Utah Motorsports Campus is hosting the SpringNationals for the fourth straight time, beginning in 2019 (absent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic). This will be the fifth visit to the 9/10-mile course, with the first coming in 2012 for the SummerNationals that season, when the facility was known as Miller Motorsports Park. All four editions of the SpringNationals at UMC have been contested in the clockwise direction. Friday features five rounds of practice to prepare the competitors for the two days of racing. Saturday hosts Round Three with Qualifying, Prefinal (10 laps) and Finals (20 laps, 18 for Cadets) with Sunday following the same format for Round Four. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Tuesday, 23 May 2023 11:44 |
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The future of the iconic Superkarts! USA SuperNationals has been confirmed for the immediate future, as EKN has learned from the organization owner Tom Kutscher that he’s signed a three-year agreement for the event to be held on the grounds of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway through 2025. This year’s race – SKUSA SuperNationals 26 – will take place on November 8-12, one week ahead of the Formula 1 event in Las Vegas.
“As an organization, we are so excited and expecting another year of amazing international participation at SKUSA SuperNationals 26,” stated Tom Kutscher of Superkarts! USA. “After tireless months of negotiations, back and forth with multiple venues, finding enough asphalt to race, all while F1 is in town was a massive task for everyone involved.”
In 2021, SKUSA was forced to move the 24th running of the SKUSA SuperNationals from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway at the last minute, but this year, the adjustment was required by the debut of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Las Vegas Strip will be transformed into an F1 festival for their November 18-20 event, and the explosion of hotel room costs and demand put SKUSA in a place where a date and venue move was the only option.
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Thursday, 18 May 2023 11:20 |
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SuperKarts! USA has determined that at the current time, it would be best for the Pro Shifter class to move forward without the SSE at the Pro Tour or Winter Series. The Master Shifter class will remain mixed, as will SKUSA Mexico and our regional series. |
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