SuperNats XXVIII

TBA

2025 Winter Series

15DAYS

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92DAYS

SKUSA Mexico

56DAYS

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64DAYS

2025 TSRS

57DAYS

Supernationals
SuperNationals III - 1999
In 1998, shifterkart racing made huge jump to the forefront of the minds of racers, enthusiasts and industry members alike with the unmatched success of the season-ending ‘98 Superkarts! USA SuperNationals. Springboarding off this exciting race, SKUSA launched its groundbreaking ProMoto Tour in Phoenix in March of ’99, bringing with them a dedicated group of teams and competitors who would race hard, wheel-to-wheel, all summer long.

The wave of excitement continued all year and rolled into Las Vegas that November for an even bigger ‘Festival of Shifterkart Racing’. Increasing by 25% to a total 253 entries, the ’99 SuperNats was highlighted by 60 Formula S1 Pros and a staggering 82 Formula S2 Semi-Pros. Add in over 55 Formula K1 competitors and the makings for an amazing event were all in place.

With the race returning to the Las Vegas Karting Center with title backing from the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, these huge field necessitated four heat race groups for FS1 and six groups for FS2, meaning that they would all run five motos in an attempt to qualify for the mains. The heats took their place on the Friday and Saturday schedules, running deep into the cool Vegas nights.



The Formula S1 battle was thrilling as defending race winner Darren Elliott (CRG) drew first blood in qualifying with a 43.886, which was a couple tenths slower that the ’98 pole time of Phil Giebler. However, it would not stand, as the rear track of Elliott’s CRG was too wide and he was DQ’d. The ’98 winner would need to come from the back of all three of his heat races. This bumped Trackmagic star Memo Gidley, fresh off a year where he ran for both Walker Racing and Payton/Coyne Racing in the CART Fed-Ex World Series, to the pole ahead of teammate Kyle Martin and KLS Racing driver Scott Speed (MBA). Midwest stud Niki Coello (Jolly Kart) was fourth ahead of Steven Robertson (Tony Kart).

Just as he had done in ’98, Gidley swept all three of his heats to win the pole for the main, while Canadian Michael Valiante logged a 2-1-2 trio of results to take the outside of row one. Elliott was stellar in his drives from the back, recording a 9-6-11 set of finishes to start 15th. A hard fought B Main was run to fill the final six positions of the 32-kart grid, and Tom Dyer (Trackmagic) sealed his transfer with the win over Italian Romeo Chiodi (DFM). The final invitation went to Ryan Bailey, the young DFM pilot who had been on the 80cc Junior podium in ’97.



In the race, Gidley got the holeshot and powered away to a 2.212-second win over Valiante, who needed to hold back Elliott over the final laps. Elliott had started on row eight and blasted forward aggressively, using up his tire performance by the time he reached Valiante. It was an amazing run nonetheless. Martin came in fourth, joined on the podium by teammate Jason LaPoint (Trackmagic), the ProMoto Tour champion that year.



In the massive Formula S2 field, AJ Noud (DFM) scored an extremely popular victory over fast qualifier Josh Schreiber (Birel), while First Kart’s Jonathan Urlin helped out the storyline, making a strategic call to use his second set of tires in the final heat to ensure his transfer straight into the final. He would come through to a strong third by the end of the 25-lap dice. JM Racing Tony Kart drivers Mike McNamara and Alfonso Ribeiro rounded out the top-five.



Brett ‘The Jet’ Buckwalter gave Trackmagic another win in Formula K1 (80cc Senior), taking the lead just past the halfway point to win over current Champ Car star A.J. Allmendinger (MBA). The powerhouse, however, was Ron Emmick, topping the qualifying runs before winning all three of his heat races. Emmick would lead the first half of the main on SuperSunday, only to retire on lap 13 with a flat tire. This handled the lead and the win to Buckwalter, who took the top step of the podium alongside Allmendinger, Cory Fancy (CRG), Robby Mott (CTS) and Travis Irving (Topkart).

In 80cc Junior, JJ Langan (CRG) scored a big win over Caleb Sanden (CRG) and Colin Fleming (Kosmic), while current Stars of Karting ICA star Joel Miller (Energy) won in 60cc Novice over current #4 ranked ICC driver Tad Funakoshi (Emmick) and Wade Van Hooser (Topkart). Valiante bagged his third SuperNats win in the Formula C class while Dave Fultz (Topkart) outlasted the field in 250cc.

Words and photos kindly provided by Rob Howden of eKartingNews.com. Be sure to check out future installments recounting the events leading up to this year’s 10th annual SKUSA SuperNationals, coming soon.