Pauly Massimino starts from pole position in Senior MAX (Photo: EKN)

The first day of racing action for the Race Rotax RMC US Trophy Final 2025 was completed on Saturday at the New Castle Motorsports Park. It was a full day of on track action with the four race groups on the day completing warm-up, qualifying, three rounds of heat races and a Prefinal. The schedule was moved up due to incoming weather to the New Castle, Indiana area during the evening hours and the unknown weather forecasted on Sunday that may include heavy winds and rain. The day began sunny and warm, reaching 80 degrees before overcast during the final heats and Prefinals.

The leader in the clubhouse in Senior MAX is Pauly Massimino (BJR / LN Racing Kart). Since practice, he’s been the driver everyone has been chasing. A 1:02.984 on the ‘Reverse National’ layout – six tenths quicker than last year’s fast time in Qualifying. Massimino held off the field in the opening heat race with three-time defending winner Oliver Hodgson (CompKart) up six spots to second and Cooper O’Clair (Factory Karts) up seven to third. The second heat saw Massimino finish second to Wales driver Cameron Nelson (Pfaff / Gillard) with Hodgson again in the top three. Massimino suffered his worst result on the day, placing fourth a heated Heat #3. Canadian Jensen Burnett (REM / Kosmic) drove to the race win ahead of Hodgson and Nelson.

Canadian Alexis Baillargeon finished in the top two all day in Junior MAX (Photo: EKN)

Massimino retained the pole position for the Prefinal with Hodgson up to the outside front row spot while Nelson and O’Clair filled up row two. The 12 lap race saw Massimino lead all but one, as Burnett came up from P5 to lead on lap two. A big pack of drivers fought for the second spot behind Massimino the rest of the distance, with the exception of Hodgson. Contact lap five dropped him down to the tail of the field. Nelson eventually won the battle to finish runner-up to the top qualifier Massimino. Frankie Mossman (SCR / CS55) improved six spots to third with Burnett ending up fourth. The big mover of the race was Billy Musgrave (Factory Karts), up 21 spots to 10th after two DNFs in the heat races. The Prefinal counted double a heat race for overall points that sets the grid for the Final. Massimino will lead the 37 driver field to the green flag with Nelson on the front row. Burnett and O’Clair go from row two with Mossman and Brazilian Diego Ramos (PSL / Birelart) in row three. Hodgson starts from P7.

The 31-driver field of Junior MAX was led early on by Alexis Baillargeon (PED / CS55) in qualifying with a lap of 1:04.753. The Canadian was beat out by Mate Kobakhidze (Pfaff / Gillard) from the country of Georgia. Kobakhidze. The two battled all 10 laps before Kobakhidze came away with the win by six tenths. In third was Isaac Malcuit (MDR / Kosmic). Malcuit led the second half of Heat #2, earning the win by 99 thousandths over Baillargeon with Kobakhidze in third. The final heat saw Kobakhidze come back with a second win, beating out Baillargeon with Nico Kotowski (TKG / Birelart) up four spots to third.

Two heats and a Prefinal win puts Arthur Pharoah on the pole position in Mini MAX (Photo: EKN)

Kobakhidze and Baillargeon led the field to the green flag for the 12-lap Prefinal. Kobakhidze led six of the first seven laps until contact on Lap 8 put him off the track at the scoreboard corner. Darren Kidd (MDR / LN Racing Kart) took advantage of the situation to assume the lead. It lasted one lap before Baillargeon took control and led the rest of the distance. Roberts finished second but was penalized for contact, dropping him to 12th with the five-second penalty. That promoted Malcuit to second with Kidd in third. Baillargeon earned the pole position for the main event with Malcuit to start from the outside of row one. Kidd and Troy Ferguson – making his Factory Karts debut – go from row two while Sebastian Rist (MDR / CS55) and Kotowski start in row three. Kobakhidze starts from P8 alongside RMC USA West winner Kyle Drysdale (SCR / CS55).

Jack Kotowski leads the Micro MAX field heading into Sunday (Photo: EKN)

The Mini MAX and Micro MAX categories were combined into one race group, with the Micro drivers allowed to run full Mini engine packages at the same weight. British driver Arthur Pharoah (Pfaff / Gillard) set the pace throughout the day, including qualifying with a 1:07.922. Micro driver Jack Kotowski (TKG / Birelart) was second overall, joining Pharoah on the front row for the heat races. Kotowski was able to go on to win the opening heat race overall with Pharoah in second. Samuel Chaverri (PSL / Birelart) was second in Mini with Holden Myers (CompKart) in third. Jack Klym (BBR / Falcon) was second with Greyson Kenific (Velocity / Sodi Kart) third in Micro. Contact in the opening corner to start Heat #2 collected Kotowski along with a host of others. This allowed Pharoah to win by more than two seconds ahead of Hudson Howard (JHDD / Kart Republic) and Myers. Andres Mareclo Pena (Hi5 / CompKart) won the Micro race over Kenific and Kaiper Nelson (CB / Merlin). Kotowski slipped down the order at the start of the third heat while Myers took the lead. He led just two laps before Pharoah retained the lead and went the rest of the distance for the win. Myers was second with Chaverri in third. Kotowski worked up to 14th before contact forced him to retire. This gave the Micro win to Klym ahead of Kenific and Nelson.

John Bonanno swept the action on Saturday to claim the overall victory in Masters MAX (Photo: EKN)

Pharoah and Myer led the field to the green flag in the Prefinal while Chaverri and Howard were in row two. Pharoch led the first seven laps until Chaverri took the lead. He led just two circuits before Pharoah claimed the spot and win on the final circuit. Howard moved up to second with Chaverri in third. Kotowski won the Micro Prefinal ahead of Klym and Kenific. Pharoah will be joined by Chaverri on the front row for the Final on Sunday. Myers and Howard make up row two with Lockhart and Yousef Adi (REM / Kosmic) in row three.

The Masters MAX category was led all day by John Bonanno (Fulkrum / CompKart). A 1:05.093 led the way in qualifying over Scott Roberts (SCR / CS55) and John Crow (Factory Karts). It was Crow that ended up runner-up to Bonanno in all three heat races. Bonanno won by one-second, three seconds, and two seconds over the three rounds. Roberts led one lap in Heat Three but fell back to third by the end. The 12 lap Prefinal saw Crow jump out to the lead over the opening laps. On lap three, Roberts took the point for the first time before Bonanno grabbed control on lap four. From there, Bonanno drove away to a five second advantage. Roberts won the battle for second over Crow with Chris McGinley (Fulkrum / CompKart) a close fourth. Doug Foxworth (Hi5 / CompKart) was fifth. The driver elected to use results from the Prefinal as the Final results, passing on the possible racing in the rain on Sunday. The victory is the first for Bonanno since 2020 with the US Rotax Grand Nationals event held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Sunday will be a warm-up and Final, with on-track action to begin at 9am EDT – dependent on weather. The forecast calls for rain, colder temperatures and large wind gusts.

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