KA100 Senior podium

Round Five of the 2026 Champions of the Future America season saw racers enjoy their first weekend away from Winchester, California, and instead, at Spring Mountain Karting Complex in Pahrump, Nevada. Double points and cash prizes meant there was plenty on the line for the drivers who made the trip.

Racers competed on the complex’s Full Track layout and added an extra challenge for any racers who had only competed at K1 Circuit so far this year.

Tire supplier Presa by Maxxis once again provided all event tires with its usual professionalism, ready to meet the challenge of any new demands their tires experienced in the Nevada desert.

Every category had a first-time winner this weekend: Lucas Freitas Melo (Nash Motorsportz), Lachlan Postle (Formula Works), Troy Ferguson (Kartnick), Archer Eversman (Axis Kartsport), Romain Thievin (Woodsford Racing), and Cayden O’Connor (Axis Kartsport).

MINI U10: Freitas Melo Builds Momentum With Win

Mini U10 podium

Sebastian Matyjaszczyk (Precision Works & Pickle Rick Racing), who went into the weekend second in the championship, started the second half of the season with a bang as he secured two Qualifying Heat victories and a Super Heat win. The only other driver to take a Qualifying Heat win was Dan Duculescu.

But it was Lucas Freitas Melo (Nash Motorsportz) who led after the first lap over Matyjaszczyk and Duculescu. Meanwhile, the championship leader, Carson Bishop (Bishop Motorsports), who was already enduring a challenging weekend, exited the track after the opening lap with chainguard issues, costing the youngster valuable points in the double-points event.

By Lap 5, Duculescu was up to the lead over Freitas Melo and Matyjaszczyk. Yet on Lap 7, Freitas Melo moved into the lead past Duculescu, with Matyjaszczyk still in third. And that’s how they remained as they crossed the finish line, with Freitas Melo winning his first COTF America race, Duculescu finishing second, and Matyjaszczyk finishing third. Landry Donahue finished fourth, Doren Pascucci (Pascucci Racing) finished fifth, and Jaxxon von Freckleton finished sixth. Vettel Baker (Precision Works) suffered a mechanical problem on Lap 1 to join Bishop on the “Not Classified” list.

Despite a difficult weekend, Bishop still leads the championship by 33 points over Matyjaszczyk, who in turn leads Freitas Melo by 50 points.

MINI: Postle’s First Podium is a Win

Mini podium

The championship leader heading into the weekend, Maddax Carlucci continued his winning ways with two Qualifying Heat victories and the Super Heat win to score another Final Race pole position. Meanwhile, Kendall West (Position-One Motorsports), who was third in the championship heading into the event, scored a single Qualifying Heat win and a strong series of results in the heats to line up on the front row alongside Carlucci.

A slow start from Carlucci saw the driver drop to third, giving West, who took a gamble on scrubbed tires, the early lead and promoting Benjamin Tavi (Nash Motorsportz) to second place. But on Lap 3, Lachlan Postle (Formula Works) in third, Tavi in second, and leader West went three-wide, with Postle emerging in the lead over Tavi and West. Carlucci then passed West at the start of Lap 4. The gamble did not appear to pay off for West, as on Lap 6, Asher Biezonsky (Competition Speed) passed him to take over fourth place.

A close battle between Carlucci and Biezonsky saw the two drivers swap the final podium position lap after lap heading into the final Lap of the race. But while going wheel-to-wheel with Biezonsky shortly after taking the white flag, Carlucci caught too much curb, spun, and dropped several positions—a major blow to the championship leader.

Lachlan Postle would go on to take his maiden COTF America win by three seconds over Tavi and Biezonsky. West would have to settle for fourth, August Stringer (DC Racing) would take fifth, Lincoln Cloyes (Zach Woodsford Racing) sixth, Aaron Seneviratne (Position-One Motorsports) seventh, and Carlucci would finish in the eighth and final position.

Despite the spin, Carlucci retains the lead in the championship. After a strong weekend, Kendall West moves into second, just 28 points behind Carlucci. And Asher Biezonsky drops to third, a mere four points behind West.

KA100 JUNIOR: Ferguson Finishes First!

KA100 Junior podium

Troy Ferguson (Kartnick) enjoyed the best start to a race weekend so far this season, winning all three Qualifying Heats—his first victories in the championship. However, a 5-second penalty for a track limits violation saw him finish seventh in the Super Heat, costing him points towards pole. After consistent finishes in the Qualifying Heats and a maiden Super Heat victory, Daniel Ramirez (Axis Kartsport) scored his first pole position for the Final Race.

At the start, Ferguson made a strong outside move on Ramirez to take over the lead, with Diesel Biezonsky (Competition Speed) in third. But that lead lasted only one lap as Ramirez reclaimed first to start Lap 2, while championship leader Sebastian Hauser (HRT) passed Biezonsky to take third, then Ramirez for second as the Axis Kartsport driver continued to battle with Ferguson. Biezonsky followed Hauser to take over third position from Ramirez. But the second lap wasn’t over yet—a daring inside move from Hauser saw him take over the lead from Ferguson, and Biezonsky was again opportunistic, following Hauser to take second place from Ferguson. As the Kartnick driver lost momentum, he lost another position to Ramirez, crossing the line fourth at the end of the chaotic second lap.

But the chaos wasn’t over yet. On Lap 3, during a frenetic battle for fourth, Ramirez got into the side of Arran Speirs (Nash Motorsportz), pitching the two drivers off the track and collecting the two Formula Works drivers, Keegan Ellsworth and Jet Whipple.

On Lap 5, Ferguson took Biezonsky for second, and Braydon Wagner (Formula Works) moved up into third after passing Biezonsky the following lap. Luis Martinez (Position-One Motorsports) took Biezonsky for fourth on Lap 8. On Lap 11, Martinez went to pass Wagner for third, but that allowed Biezonsky to retake third and dropped Wagner back to sixth.

Hauser produced another dominant drive to cross the line in first by 1.5 seconds over Ferguson and Biezonsky. However, a post-race penalty of 5 seconds for not respecting track limits saw Ferguson take his maiden COTF America win, over Biezonsky in second, and Martinez would celebrate his first COTF America podium finish. Wagner finished fourth, Sebastian Johnson (Axis Kartsport) finished fifth, Nixon Ellsworth (Formula Works) finished sixth, Declan Mixon (Zack Woodsford) finished seventh, Hauser would finish eighth after his penalty, Alek Dininski (Kartnick) finished ninth, and Ramirez would go on to finish tenth.

After Round 5, Hauser remains at the top of the championship, 25 points ahead of Wagner. Ferguson now sits third, 28 points behind Wagner.

KA100 SENIOR: Eversman Wins From Pole

A competitive weekend between Axis Kartsport and Formula Works, leading up to the Final saw four different winners from the first four heats in the KA100 Senior division: Keagan Kaminski (Formula Works), Archer Eversman (Axis Kartsport), Iain Kim (Axis Kartsport), and Johnie Stamps (Formula Works), the championship leader heading into the weekend. But it was Eversman who scored enough points throughout the heats to take his first COTF America pole position for the Final, with Stamps alongside.

A fantastic start from Eversman saw him get away unchallenged, while Stamps had a slower start but still salvaged second position ahead of Kim. However, Kim passed Stamps before the end of the lap to make it an Axis Kartsport one-two early on.

The first half of the race saw nonstop action between the Formula Works and Axis Kartsport racers, who made up the majority of the top 10 karts, resulting in constant reshuffling of positions. Their battles allowed those who started further back to catch up, including Matthew Cagle (Formula Works), who had already made up twelve positions in the first nine laps.

On Lap 10, Cagle took second over Mateo Calderon (Axis Kartsport), making it a 1–2 for Formula Works and a 3–4 for Axis Kartsport with Calderon and Eversman. On Lap 11, Cagle took the lead from teammate Kaminski, but the battle between teammates brought the Axis Kartsport drivers onto their bumpers. The two teams then began to work together again to build a gap over the two red-and-black karts behind them.

By the final lap, Stamps had found his way back into the top three but had to defend the entire lap from the two Axis Kartsport drivers, Eversman and Kim, who were all over his rear bumper.

Matthew Cagle crossed the line to seemingly take his second consecutive win, with teammate Kaminski less than a second behind. However, post-race penalties for Cagle and Kaminski would see them drop to 9th and 7th, respectively. Meanwhile, Stamps fought desperately for what appeared to be a final podium position, but Eversman drag-raced Stamps to take the spot by two-hundredths of a second. With Cagle and Kaminski’s penalties, Eversman would inherit the win, Stamps would finish second, and Iain Kim would take his first podium of the season. Calderon would finish fourth, Spencer Kempton (HRT) fifth, Jack Babiec (Formula Works) sixth, Ayden Aquino (SJ) eighth, and Rylan Cordon (Axis Kartsport) tenth.

With a strong haul of points, Stamps is still the championship leader, but only 17 points ahead of Eversman, who has jumped from fourth to second in the standings. Cagle will rue the results, as he drops to third, 135 points behind Eversman.

KA100 HERITAGE: Thievin Takes Top Step on Debut

KA100 Heritage podium

Championship leader Tony Gomez (Lakeside Karting) took two wins and two runner-up positions, earning him pole position for the Final. However, newcomer to COTF America and veteran racing/stunt driver Romain Thievin (Woodsford Racing) demonstrated he could be the one to take the fight to Gomez, with two wins of his own in a Qualifying Heat and Super Heat.

And fight Thievin did, as he took over the lead of the Final Race on Lap 1 from Gomez, but Gomez snatched it back the following lap. On Lap 4, Thievin reclaimed the lead from Gomez and went on to comfortably win in his COTF America debut. Gomez took home another haul of points in his championship quest, while Andrei Isac (TecnoKart) finished in the third and final position.

Tony Gomez now leads the championship with a commanding 223-point lead over Joshua Daley, while Andrei Isac sits just 41 points behind Daley in third.

X30 Pro: O’Connor Wins By .016 Seconds over Karamseili

X30 Pro podium

Cayden O’Connor (Axis Kartsport) came out swinging with a victory in Qualifying Heat 1, but Sergei Karamseili (Maxwell Sim Racing Team), the championship leader, swept the remaining heats to take his first COTF America Final Race pole position. But given the battles seen between Karamseili and O’Connor, it was anyone’s guess who would come out on top in the Final Race.

Karamseili got a superb start to not only retain the lead on the opening Lap but also enjoy a small gap of slightly under half a second. O’Connor remained glued to the back of Karamseili and passed the Maxwell Sim Racing driver for the lead on Lap 5. At half-distance, O’Connor and Karamseili were less than a second apart, while enjoying a 5.5-second gap over third-place Marcus Rosch Grajales (2B Racing) from Mexico.

On the final Lap, Karamseili was all over O’Connor, producing a dramatic finish that saw the two go wheel-to-wheel, swap paint, and drag race to the finish line. But O’Connor did just enough to hold onto the win over Karamseili. Rosch Grajales finished third.

Sergei Karamseili’s 46-point lead over second place in the championship has now swelled to a 233-point lead over O’Connor. Having missed the past two rounds, Erik Doan now sits third, a single point behind O’Connor.

Round 6 Next Month

COTF America returns home to K1 Circuit in Winchester, CA, for the remainder of the season. Round 6 takes place on June 27-28 on the Reverse Track Layout with D’s, chicanes, and the Tic-Tac-Toe complex.

Share on Facebook

Tweet