Zachary Claman DeMelo claimed the victory in 100cc Senior after penalties (Photo: EKN)

After an afternoon of wet weather main event racing on Saturday, the drivers of the 2025 Challenge of the Americas enjoyed a cool but dry day of competition on Sunday for Round Six of the championship. The racing was incredibly dynamic in a majority of the six categories with exciting action throughout the final laps. Last lap contact and subsequent penalties dictated the winner in the 100cc Senior race, awarding the victory to Zachary Claman DeMelo (Mike Manning Karting / CS55), who finished second on the track. Erik Doan (Nash Motorsportz / EOS) came out of a wild battle in the 100cc Junior to score a crucial win in his bid for the series title, while Michael Avansino (Ron White Racing / CRG) dominated the action in Senior Shifter to extend his winning streak to six on the year, clinching the class championship in the process.

Six straight for Michael Avansino in Senior Shifter (Photo: EKN)

With a deep field of 41 drivers in the Forward Direction Motorsports 100cc Senior class, it should be of no surprise that there was wild action throughout the field in the main event. The race for the win quickly became a two-driver battle between top qualifier and Prefinal winner Chase Hand (GFC Karting / GFC) and Stephen Eisert (SpeedSense Motorsports / Exprit), as the duo pulled away from their challengers. Everything came down to the final lap through the final run through Tic-Tac-Toe when contact was made, sending Hand into a spin and out of the lead. Eisert emerged with the lead after the contact, but his pushback bumper was activated along with a penalty for the contact, dropping him to 12th. Hand recovered to cross the line in sixth, but the win went to Zachary Claman DeMelo, who held off Keagan Kaminski (Formula Works / GFC) all race long. Flavio Aquini (Italcorse) delivered a strong performance all day and was fourth at the checker and the penalty elevated him to third, his first podium of the year. Colby Romero (Birelart) finished fourth, his second top five of the weekend after an impressive third-place finish in the wet Saturday. Hand would be elevated to fifth in the updated classification.

Michael Guasch was awarded the win in Masters Shifter after penalties (Photo: EKN)

Ron White Racing’s Michael Avansino (CRG) extended his winning streak in the Swedetech Racing Engines Senior Shifter category to six, maintaining his perfection in topping every official session of the season. His Sunday win clinched the series championship as well with the Utah rounds still to come. Avansino rocked the hotshot at the green flag and powered away to a 9.168-second victory over the course of the 20 laps. Anthony White (West Coast Motorsports / Birelart) chased down Anthony Freese (West Coast Motorsports / Birelart) mid-race to take over second, but it didn’t end well for Freese, who retired on lap 14 with a mechanical. Evan Concepcion (Scuderia Littel / GFC) assumed third for his third straight podium result.

In Neliton Race Concepts Masters Shifter, Patrick O’Neill (Ron White Racing / CRG) was able to get past early leader Michael Guasch (Shifterz / Maranello) and then paced the rest of the race, only to get penalized three positions for an on-track infraction. This elevated Guasch back to the victory after he hounded O’Neill for the remainder of the race after being dropped to P2. Point leader Joe Ruch (Shifterz / Maranello) and Marcin Kloda (Shifterz / Maranello) were never more than a second behind, and they finished second and third to give the Shifterz team a podium sweep. Michael Faker (GFC Karting) was fifth in the order behind O’Neill after his penalty was served.

Erik Doan earned a second win on the season after a great battle in 100cc Junior (Photo: EKN)

The Nash Motorsportz 100cc Junior main event was action-packed with several drivers attacking to get to the lead. In the late going, Luca Popescu (Formula Works / GFC) and Cole Anderson (GFC Karting) took control of the front of the train, setting up for a potential GFC 1-2. However, in the hectic final laps, Nash Motorsportz drivers Erik Doan (Kosmic), Payton Anderson (Kosmic) and Nathan Dupuis (Exprit) found their way to front and crossed the line in that order. The final results changed after Anderson was penalized for contact, which moved Dupuis to second and Andersen up to third. Payton was fourth in the final classification while Sergei Karamselli (Gillard) capped the top five.

Dan Jones backed up his win from last year in 100cc Masters (Photo: EKN)

The Ruthless Karting 100cc Masters main event quickly developed into a battle between Dan Jones (Ron White Racing / CRG) and Christopher Mann (Ruthless Karting / Exprit), as they ran nose-to-tail for the entire race. Mann kept the pressure on but never pulled the trigger and chased him across the line for second. For the second straight year, Jones scored the Sunday victory when the Challenge came to his home track. The duo held a solid gap over the fight for third which was being waged between point leader Scott Falcone (Precision Works / Pantano) and Matthew Meech (Precision Works / Tony Kart). Like Mann, Meech pushed on Falcone throughout the race, but just couldn’t mount a challenge over the final laps. Luke Tracy (Vemme Kart) rounded out the top five.

After a great battle, Aidan Go earned victory in 60cc Cadet (Photo: EKN)

The 16-lap main event in The Karting Collective 60cc Cadet was filled with non-stop action, featuring a lead group of as many as 12 drivers scrapping it out for the win and positions within the top 10. Numerous drivers took turns up front but, in the end, Aiden Go (Nash Motorsportz / Parolin) emerged as the winner to let the rest of the field fight for the final two spots on the podium. Mason Brody (Nash Motorsportz / Energy) was in the fray all race long and worked through the chaos of the final laps to finish second, but a penalty for contact dropped him to fourth. Sebastian de Moissac (Vemme Kart) needed to come from last in the Pre-Main to get into a position to fight for the podium. He advanced from 17th to sixth in the Pre-Main and then was there in the end to come away with a well-deserved third that ended up being runner-up with the Brody infraction. Point leader Luis Martinez (Croc Promotion) was advanced onto the podium as well in third, coming up from 11th on the grid. Nathan Ramirez (Parolin) was classified fifth behind Brody moved back to fourth. Go’s victory makes it four different winners on the season with Lincoln High’s victory on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, the championships tighten in a few classes in Sonoma, widened in another, and one was clinched. All eyes now turn to Burt Brothers Motopark in Utah for the season finale on the June 13-15 weekend.

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