Thursday, 09 January 2020 01:00 |
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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