ProKart Challenge (PKC), the leader in Southern California kart racing, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Indianapolis based Superkarts! USA (SKUSA).The acquisition of SKUSA is the key component in ProKart Challenge’s mission of delivering the regional kart racer an unparalleled racing experience and competitive environment throughout the country. The deal to purchase karting’s #1 regional race program was initially made late last year, but took much longer than expected to clear the legal hurdles necessary in order to finalize the agreement.

“There has been much speculation over the last several months regarding ProKart’s purchase of Superkarts USA!,” said ProKart Challenge series founder, and new SKUSA chief executive officer Tom Kutscher.

The legal wrangling took its toll on both parties according to Kutscher, primarily because of the lack of information available to outsiders looking towards the organization for answers during the transition. Due to legal advisement, Kutscher was forced to remain silent about the purchase during the transition, encouraging some pundits to speculate about the future of the organization.

Kutscher dispels any false rumor and innuendo stating, “The reality is recent talk about the future of SKUSA has been extremely positive in some circles - and sadly, negative in others. Regardless, we are happy the interest level in this purchase continues at a fever pitch. I am pleased to say the deal is finally complete, and that the information pipeline will now flow from the organization to the racer in a timely fashion.”

The acquisition took much longer to complete than expected, forcing the organization’s mission of taking the very successful ProKart Challenge business model and applying it on a national platform (within the previously existing SKUSA framework) to begin later in the year than anticipated. This will limit the growth in 2006, but enable the new SKUSA to build real brand equity for 2007 and beyond.

“As a reborn organization, we have a clean slate, and a new beginning,” according to Kutscher, who emphasizes that during the rebuilding effort, “we are starting from the ground up, and intend to restore SKUSA’s luster over a period of time. In order to do that successfully, we must start with a solid core - and we have that already in place.”

Thus, SKUSA for now will be a Western and Midwestern organization in 2006 - comprised of the ProKart Challenge series in the west, and Terry Riggin’s long running Great Lakes SKUSA region in the Midwest.

With two solidly run regions committed (and already up and running this season), SKUSA will now turn its focus and energy on further positioning the crown jewel of the organization, the SuperNationals, as the number one kart race in the Western Hemisphere, and perhaps the world.

It will be a banner year for the SuperNationals in 2006, promises Kutscher, noting that the race - to be held November 9-12 at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas NV - will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and, according to Kutscher, “this year’s SuperNats will be the biggest and best ever.”

A steady stream of information on the 10th running of the SuperNats, SuperNationals X, is forthcoming and Kutscher is keen to note, “We may have lost our planned momentum to broaden SKUSA’s reach nationally this year, but we gained an inside edge on promoting one of the world’s most important karting events, the SuperNationals. With additional lead-time and our dedicated staff, we expect to attain new levels of success with the event both inside and outside of the karting community this year.”