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| November 10, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: SKUSA SuperNationals IX – Thursday Pit Notes |
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 | Aerial photo of this year's SuperNationals track
(Photo: Super Kart Illustrated) |
By our calculations, the event currently has a total of 267 entries. The largest class is TaG Senior at 51 drivers while SuperPro comes in second with 40. There are a further 34 drivers in Semi-Pro 125cc. The smallest class total is a tie between Novice Shifter and Comer at 11 entries each.
While not racing, newly-crowned ICC national champion Alex Speed is in Las Vegas this week wrenching for ICC driver John Zartarian. Father Mike Speed is here as well, prepping the Team Speed entry of Birel driver Ryan Phinny.
The SuperNats has traditionally been the season-ending event for class movement as top Juniors make their Senior debuts in Las Vegas. This year, there are a total of four new Senior class competitors taking to the Semi-Pro 125 class. Stars of Karting 80 Junior national champion Zach Schiff (First Kart) is the only one of the rookies running in both the Semi-Pro and SuperPro classes, although he will be concentrating on the Semi-Pro division as his primary target. Fellow 80cc Jr. grads Levi Roberts (Top Kart), Michael Vincec (CRG) and Kyle Marcelli (CRG) are also on-track in their ICC-powered entries and we will be keeping a close watch on their performances this weekend. Another platform for graduation is the big jump from Cadet to JICA, which is however believed to be too much of a leap by many in the paddock. After completing strong seasons in Cadet competition, there are a total of seven former Cadet drivers making their JICA debuts here at the SuperNats this weekend.
After qualifying on the pole last year in a privateer Energy entry, Tad Funakoshi looked good today in Greg Bell’s Leading Edge Intrepid. Funakoshi has shown excellent speed on the temp circuits and is focused on avenging last year’s Prefinal trouble that pushed him from the pole to the tail of the field for the main.
After initially launching with a total of 30 pre-entries in our EKN Event Previews, the SuperPro class has bulged with the addition of ten new drivers, pushing the qualifying grid to an impressive 40 competitors. Since our release of the line-up, ten names have joined the program and there are five with a real chance at a top five podium finish. As released on EKN last night, reigning SKI Driver of the Year Alan Sciuto will run this weekend on an Extreme Karting GP. Matt Jaskol is also in the field with a CRG while former SKUSA Moto World Champion Phil Carlson his in town, running a Honda-powered Tony Kart with long-time mechanic Mike Robbins. PTK Racing’s JJ McTernan was also a late entry and should be a factor while GP factory shoe Gian Cavacuiti will hit the asphalt with fellow GP driver and former SuperNats Formula S2 winner AJ Noud. After a slower start, the SuperPro field is back on the high-side and with just 32 grid spots available, the battle to make the Show is going to be exciting.
With the event shaping up to be a great one, let’s have a quick look at some of the key numbers from this year’s SKUSA SuperNationals:
EKN’s By the Numbers
267 - Total entries
32 - Field size for Finals
7- Tony Karts in SuperPro
1 - Trackmagics in SuperPro
8 - SuperPros who are going home early
3 - Honda CR125 engines in SuperPro
5 - Cadet drivers making their JICA debut (Spinazzola, Miinch, Maroney, Menezes, and Zimmerly)
15 - Parilla-powered karts in the 21-kart TaG Masters field
Tomorrow’s schedule has Qualifying set for noon with the opening round of heats to begin around 4:30pm PST. We will be bringing you live updates in the official EKN forum throughout the day as well as full results and a day’s-end wrap-up report. Our audio coverage of the tomorrow’s action will include two additions of the Trackside Live with the SuperPro ‘Hour of Power’ practice and Heat 1 play-by-play from EKN Publisher Rob Howden. |
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