eKartingNews.com is proud to present our Preview Series for the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 27. Leading up to the on-track action of the 2024 edition of the marquee SKUSA event, EKN will preview each of the nine categories that will compete on the temporary circuit located outside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas from November 13-17.

Trackside coverage is set to begin on Tuesday, November 12 as the EKN crew sets up our SuperNationals 27 home, roaming the LVMS grounds with Paddock Insider and social media content. Coverage continues into Wednesday as karts hit the track for the first time. EKN Live begins on Thursday, November 14 as qualifying is conducted for both the morning classes and the afternoon divisions. Listen LIVE to the heat races throughout Friday, November 15 and into Situation Saturday, November 16, including the five Last Chance Qualifiers held on the day. That sets everything up for SuperSunday, with the main events for SuperNationals 27 audio streamed live on eKartingNews.com/live and eKartingNews.com/radio.

Complete coverage of the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 27 can be found at the EKN EVENT PAGE.

KA100 Junior

Turner Brown looking to become first ever back-to-back winner in KA100 Junior (Photo: EKN)

SKUSA SuperNationals 27 will be the sixth time that the KA100 Junior category has been offered at the annual event. Since making its debut in 2018 with 35 drivers, the class has grown in numbers each year to now welcome a division-record 82 entries, five more than last year’s event total. Over the previous five editions, five different drivers stood at the top of the podium on SuperSunday, including current F3 driver James Wharton from Australia in 2018 and rising motorsports star Brent Crews in 2019, who earned his first SuperNats triumph.

Turner Brown (Rolison Performance Group) was able to add his name to the win list last year, scoring not only the KA100 Junior victory but also the X30 Junior triumph to become the third different driver to win two Junior categories in the same SuperNationals (Jeremy Fletcher – 2021; Connor De Phillippi – 2005). The 13-year-old has a chance to defend both this year, coming off two wins at the SKUSA Pro Tour in 2024 in KA100 Junior. Brown spent time in Europe this year as well, representing USA at the FIA Academy Trophy, finishing fifth in the championship.

The driver to beat Brown in the SKUSA Pro Tour championship was Diego Ardiles. Ironically, Brown and Ardiles swapped teams during the season, as Brown went from Speed Concepts Racing to Rolison Performance Group while Ardiles left RPG for SCR. Ardiles was one of the more decorated Junior drivers in 2024, earning the SKUSA title along with the United States Pro Kart Series crown and Florida Winter Tour championship. The Costa Rican hailing from Florida finished a close third in last year’s SuperNationals after placing sixth in 2022.

SKUSA Pro Tour champion Diego Ardiles comes in as one of the top Junior drivers in North America (Photo: EKN)

Enzo Vidmontiene (Trinity Karting Group) is among the three former SuperNationals winners in the field. Vidmontiene won the Mini Swift class back in 2021 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He finished seventh in his first outing, but was a DQ last year prior to SuperSunday main event due to off-track unsportsmanlike conduct. He finished third in the SKUSA championship chase and third at USPKS. The third former SuperNationals winner in the field is Jackson Gibson (Ruthless Karting) – the Micro Swift victor in 2022. The driver from Oregon recorded a DNF last year in KA100 Junior.

Canadian Ty Fisher (Racelab) and Jackson Wolny (Speed Concepts Racing) are the remainder of the top-five in the SKUSA championship in this year’s field. Both Fisher and Wolny went winless in the category but have been among the contenders all season. The full top-10 of the SKUSA Pro Tour standings in 2024 will be in the field, including Isaac Malcuit (PSL Karting), Chace Gassiot-Lee (Nash Motorsportz), Dean Pedersen (Nash Motorsportz), Alexander Vanchev (Rolison Performance Group), and Travis Pettit (Racelab). Vanchev is making the move from Sodi Racing USA to RPG, winning the ROK Vegas VLR Junior main event in his team debut this past weekend.

Former Mini Swift winner Enzo Vidmontiene is among the many contenders in the field (Photo: EKN)

Three of the five podium finishers from last year are in the field. Along with Brown and Ardiles, Sebastian Garzon (Orsolon Racing) is seeking to improve by one spot in 2024. Garzon is the 2024 SKUSA Winter Series champion, finishing second to Ardiles in the USPKS standings with one win over five rounds. Charlie Smith (Nash Motorsportz) makes it four drivers from the top 10 in 2023 returning. Smith ran a limited schedule in 2024.

This year’s field is young, with 57 drivers making their first KA100 Junior start at the SuperNationals, including 13 who were in Mini Swift last year. Four of the Junior rookies finished in the top 10 at the SuperNationals in Mini. Max Cristea (Trinity Karting Group) was fourth last year, Alessandro Truchot (Parolin USA) seventh, Tristan Murphy (Supertune USA) 10th, and Pettit who finished eighth. Truchot spent much of the season racing Mini in Europe, picking up wins in WSK competition.

Other notables in the field include John Antonino (MPG Academy), Sarah Bradley (Speed Concepts Racing), Challenge of the Americas champion Nico Sarphati (GFC Karting), Texas Sprint Racing Series champion Tyrone Kemper Jr. (Speed Concepts Racing), and David Ybarra (CRG Nordam).

SuperNats Stats

1 – KA100 Junior SuperNationals winner in the field

3 – Former SuperNationals winners in the field

12 – Different countries represented in the field

17 – Drivers in the field that did not transfer into SuperSunday in 2023

19 – Drivers from outside of the USA

82 – Record number of drivers registered for class

Provisional Entry List – KA100 Junior

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