EKN’s Paddock Insider is a new Trackside coverage addition, bringing you notes, updates and breaking news as it happens. The article will be a timeline of events as they happen during the Rotax Challenge of the Americas event in Tucson. The information will not be seen anywhere else, including interviews and photos. Please feel free to comment and discuss our coverage and today’s action in the EKN Global Members Discussion area below: For complete coverage head to the EKN Event Page.

The 2015 Rotax Challenge of the Americas is underway at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona. A total of 100 drivers make up the six categories for the weekend, with four of the divisions fighting for Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals tickets.

Rolison Performance Group holding 15 drivers under they team tent in Tucson (Photo: EKN)

Rolison Performance Group Continues Growth
Success on and off the track the last few seasons has helped to build the program under the Rolison Performance Group stable. A gathering of returning drivers mixed in with a lot of new people to the program, RPG is loaded with 15 drivers under the brand new tent this weekend in Tucson. Mike Rolison, the owner and manager of the Oregon-based race team, continues to grow through the successful names that come in to provide driver coaching, tuning, and data analysis. Wesley Boswell, Kevin Glover, Arie Ouimet, Bonnier Moulton, Mike Beeny – all are champions during their time in the seat, and are grooming some of the top names in the sport today at RPG. Following the weekend here for the Challenge, Rolison heads east to the Florida Winter Tour for two weekends of racing before heading back west to prepare for another busy three-week period in February.

CompKart Makes 2015 Debut
J3 Competition launched the new CompKart in November and enjoyed a successful debut in Las Vegas. This weekend marks the 2015 debut for the brand, along with their drivers making their first Challenge starts. 2014 Team USA driver Michael Ilavia is in DD2, with his brother David in Junior Max. Thursday with the rain showers that swept into the Tucson area, it gave J3 and their driving duo a chance to give the chassis its first real on-track wet weather action.

Louie Pagano in his new colors for 2015 (Photo: EKN)

New Karts for 2015
With the new season comes change. Drivers are starting out the year on a new chassis, a new brand, or a new team. Louie Pagano and Jake Craig are among the bigger moves for 2015. Pagano, a former Junior Max champion at the Challenge and last year’s runner-up in the Senior Max division, has moved over to the 2Wild Karting program. Craig, who was with that program, is now aboard the Formula K with RaceLab (found out more from the interview with team owner Steve Rickman HERE). Masters driver Scott Falcone is among the new faces at the Rolison Performance Group tent, adding another name to the list of OTK drivers at the Challenge this weekend. The new homologated chassis and bodywork products from the chassis manufacturers is on full display in Tucson.

Fast Friday
The area saw wet weather all Thursday, but Friday was a clear day with bright sunshine and high winds giving the drivers and mechanics a challenge on selecting the right gear. Young driver Brenden Baker (Tony Kart) laid down a fast lap early in the Senior Max final session, posting a 50.852. Team USA driver Mason Marotta (Tony Kart) was second with rookie Christian Brooks (Tony Kart) third in his first Friday as a Senior driver. Many of the 29 drivers have the ability to be among the contenders this weekend. Coming into the weekend, Sting Ray Robb (Tony Kart) and Nick Brueckner (Tony Kart) was on the short list of championship contenders. Robb, who qualified on the pole position twice last year at Tucson, led the final session in Junior Max. Only six drivers make up the DD2 field, but all six should be right there throughout the weekend as we seen last year. Sabre Cook finished vice-champion in 2014, and started the weekend as the fast driver in the final session, posting a 50.206-second lap. The same for the Masters Max field, with a ticket to the RMCGF on the line. John Crow put his kids to bed last night, and drove straight here to Tucson without any sleep, got to the track, and continued to pace the 17-driver field all day. On the final session of the day, he posted a 52.466-second lap, edging out Paul Bonilla (Tony Kart) and Scott Falcone (Kosmic). His 52.405-lap was best by 22 thousandths over Brueckner. Sebastian Alvarez (CRG) and Josh Pierson (Tony Kart) led the way in the Mini Max and Micro Max divisions.

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