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Thursday, 09 January 2020 01:00 |
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Defending series champion Ryan Norberg begins training for his ‘drive for five’ in 2020 (Photo: EKN)
The first major event of the 2020 season is set for this weekend in the sunshine state. The Superkarts! USA will welcome racers to the AMR Motorplex in Homestead, Florida for the opening weekend of the 2020 SKUSA Winter Series. A pre-entry total of 229 drivers in 13 categories are set to tackle the 7/10-mile course outside the Homestead-Miami Speedway for two rounds of competition on the weekend.
Wednesday and Thursday were unofficial practice with Friday hosting five official sessions for testing. Round 1 is set for Saturday, including qualifying, Prefinal and Final. Round 2 is a repeat format on Sunday.
The largest category entering the weekend is the X30 Senior class at 50 drivers. It was a year ago that Ryan Norberg was making his debut with the Rolison Performance Group operation aboard a Kosmic. It eventually led to a SKUSA Winter Series championship off three wins and a fourth-straight SKUSA Pro Tour title with three wins in six rounds. The effort to put ‘one on the thumb’ and complete a five-year streak of Pro Tour titles begins this weekend. The bulls eye has grown even larger on the back of Norberg with 49 others in the field. There are numerous drivers that will be in the hunt. Notable international stars include Brits Taylor Barnard (KSNA / Kart Republic) and Louie Westover (Solo Kart USA). Defending SuperNationals winner Zachary Claman-Demelo (REM / Kosmic) is set to compete. He will not be the only driver with IndyCar experience, as 2019 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Santino Ferrucci is set to make his return to SKUSA competition. Ferrucci (CRM / Swiss Hutless) raced at the recent WKA Daytona KartWeek and was upfront all weekend. One of the stories to watch is the graduation of Junior drivers making their Senior debuts. Four of the top-six from last year’s SKUSA Winter Series are in the field; Luca Mars (SCR / Redspeed), Diego Contecha (Orsolon / Tony Kart), Luke Lange (SCR / Redspeed), and Branyon Tiner (RPG / Kosmic). Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:07 |
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Croc Promotion USA's AJ Myers stormed back on Sunday after his Saturday issues to score his third win of the Winter Series
(Photo: OnTrack Promotions)
The final round of the Superkarts! USA Winter Series provided the intensity expected with championships on the line. The drivers had all put in a full day of wheel-to-wheel competition on Saturday running in the clockwise direction around the 12-turn AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex Presented by MG Tires, and that experience brought more drivers into the mix on Sunday. The racing in X30 Senior boiled over during the final laps, and after the dust cleared and the penalties had been assessed, Rolison Performance Group’s Ryan Norberg emerged with his third win of the year and the Winter Series title. Rain tires were the right call for the Pro Shifter main and, in the tough conditions, Croc Promotion USA’s AJ Myers again emerged as the star, matching Norberg’s total of three wins to earn the title. Luca Mars was a front runner all weekend in X30 Junior and was in the fight for the Sunday victory, which came his way after the on-track winner was assessed a jump start penalty. All in all, the racing was very good to cap off the Winter Series and bodes well for what we’ll see on the 2019 SKUSA Pro Tour, which opens with the WinterNationals at CalSpeed Karting during the first weekend of March.
Weather played a role in Sunday’s storyline as a short burst of hard rain arrived just as the Briggs 206 driver hit the track for their main event. The rain would return later in the day, but it was not near as aggressive and lasted only long enough for National Director of Competition Joe Janowski to kept tires as ‘racers choice’. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Sunday, 10 February 2019 11:59 |
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Rolison Performance Group's Ryan Norberg scored an impressive come-from-behind win at the third round of the SKUSA Winter Series in Homestead (Photo: OnTrack Promotions)
The expected excitement of the third round of the SKUSA Winter Series did not disappoint, as the racing was epic in a majority of the categories. Run in the reverse direction as the opening rounds in January, the 12-turn AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex Presented by MG Tires presented a new challenge as multiple passing opportunities quickly emerged. Three-time SKUSA Pro Tour X30 champion Ryan Norberg cemented his reputation even further by recovering from contact-filled opening laps that shuffled him from pole to sixth, working back to the lead to score a stunning triumph. In Pro Shifter, MRC’s Billy Musgrave broke through for his first win after point lead AJ Myers (Croc Promotion USA) suffered a rear sprocket failure while leading in the main. The third storyline centered on the masterful performance by Canadian Mackenzie Clark (Prime Powerteam / BirelART), who positioned himself in the lead trio in X30 Junior and then managed the race with precision, moving to the lead in the late-going to score his maiden national level victory. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Saturday, 09 February 2019 09:07 |
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Mad Old Nut Racing / Croc Promotion USA's AJ Myers is focused on continuing his dominance of shifterkart racing to start 2019 (Photo: OnTrack Promotions)
For the second straight year, Superkarts! USA has launched its coast-to-coast national season with their Winter Series in Florida. The organization launched the new ‘pre-season training’ program in 2018 and drew incredibly strong numbers, and the momentum continued in January with over 230 entries battling it out over the two days of competition. The drivers and teams have returned to AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex Presented by MG Tires for the third and fourth rounds of the series, which will crown the champions. The primary candidates made themselves known during the opening weekend, but with the track being run in the reverse direction this time around, all bets are off.
The question in the new Pro Shifter category is apparent: can anyone stop 2018 SKUSA Pro Tour champion AJ Myers? The Mad Old Nut Racing / Croc Promotions USA pilot swept the opening weekend in Homestead, earning a perfect score for the first two rounds over two-time SKUSA SuperNationals winner Billy Musgrave (MRC / Aluminos). The duo ran 1-2 throughout the weekend, with Mathias Ramirez (PSL / Birel ART) sitting third. Ramirez will be back to challenge Myers and Musgrave, as will with Andrew Bujdoso (Mad Old Nut / Croc), Kyle Wick (CRG) and Max Hewitt (CRG). The field is gaining international flavor with five different countries represented, including Brazilian Pedro Piquet (CRG), the son of Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet. Read full story on eKartingNews.com |
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Tuesday, 15 January 2019 17:11 |
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Ryan Norberg led the action in X30 Senior on Sunday en route to victory (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)
With the excellent weekend weather continuing in South Florida, Superkarts! USA capped the opening event of their Winter Series program on Sunday with tremendous racing coming from all of the 11 race categories that were on the docket. The layout at the AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex Presented by MG Tires offers many overtaking opportunities and the competitors leveraged all of them throughout the day to keep things exciting. Rolison Performance Group’s new recruit Ryan Norberg put his skills on display, coming back from a disappointing last lap loss on Saturday to flat out dominate the X30 Senior action on Sunday. Likewise, Croc Promotion USA’s AJ Myers remained unbeatable in the Pro Shifter class, winning again over Billy Musgrave. With over 230 entries filling the paddock, the SKUSA Winter Series did not disappoint in terms of competition and thrilling on-track action.
In the PSL Karting sponsored X30 Senior class, Norberg (Kosmic) dropped the hammer at the start of the weekend’s first session on Saturday and never lifted, qualifying on pole to set up his Prefinal win. The American led 24 of the 25 laps in the main, only to get nipped by 2018 World Karting Champion Lorenzo Travisanutto (Kart Republic) on the final lap. Highly motivated to take care of unfinished business, Norberg dominated the Sunday action in sweeping all three sessions, completing the attack with a 0.933-second win over his teammate Patrick Woods-Toth (Kosmic). Competing in his first national event as a Senior, the 15-year-old Canadian qualified sixth and then won his Prefinal over last year’s SKUSA Pro Tour X30 Junior champion Arias Duekmedjian (Praga) to secure an outside front row starting spot. Woods-Toth slotted quickly into second behind Norberg and the duo proceeded to drive away from the field, finishing 1-2 with a three-second back to third. Woods-Toth also posted the fast lap of the race to earn the bonus points towards the championship. Leading Edge Motorsports’ Duekmedjian completed the podium, wrapping up a tremendous Senior debut as he overtook KartSport North America’s Travisanutto at one point to advance to third. Travisanutto just did not have the pace he enjoyed on Saturday, taking fourth ahead of CRG Nordam’s Olin Galli (CRG). Read full story on eKartingNews.com. |
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