Michael Avansino notched his first shifter victory at the Challenge (Photo: EKN)

The third round of the 2024 Challenge of the Americas was run in virtually ideal weather on Saturday at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona. With clear blue skies and 75-degree temperatures, only an increasing wind in the afternoon made things anything but perfect. This set the stage for the some exciting racing that ended with multiple photo finishes at the line. Ron White Racing’s Michael Avansino (CRG) waited out his competition to walk away for the Shifter Senior win, while Forward Direction Motorsports’ Dylan Archer (Pantano) emerged as the victory in 100cc Senior after a bit of a chaotic finish.

To be clear, Avansino all but dominated the action in Swedetech Shifter Senior, topping qualifying before winning the Prefinal over Keawn Tandon (GFC Karting / GFC). In the 20-lap main, Avansino grabbed the holeshot to lead early, but he was attacked early by Tandon and Nic LeDuc (The Karting Collective / Sodi Kart). Avansino was pushed back to third for a time, but contact between LeDuc and Tandon in turn four left Leduc on the sidelines and Tandon relegated back to eighth. From there, Avansino was never challenged as his CRG only got faster as his team owner Ron White had gone low on tire pressure to set up for late race pace. He’s also the third different winner in the season after Daniel Vasile and Kyle Wick scored wins on the opening weekend. Behind Avansino, David Williams (RWR / CRG) battled with Alan Sciuto (GFC Karting / GFC) for the final steps on the podium, with Williams getting by in the late going to make it a RWR 1-2. Tandon fought his way back up to fourth, ahead of Lucas Weisenberg (Formula Works / GFC) in fifth.

Dylan Archer was named winner in 100cc Senior, his first career Challenge victory (Photo: EKN)

In Forward Direction Motorsports 100cc Senior, the race settled in at the midway point with a three-driver fight for the lead between Prefinal winner Keagan Kaminski (FW / GFC), Ryan Persing (Nash / EOS) and Dylan Archer (FDM / Pantano). On lap 16, Persing was running third when former series champion Liam Letzsch (Precision / GFC) attempted a pass in turn four. Contact was made and Persing went over on his head, sliding off into the gravel off track. While he was not seriously injured with officials tending to him, a miscommunication was made between officials and a red flag was partially shown to the lead and then removed. The race continued, however, officials reverted back to the 17th lap prior to the red flag being displayed for the final results. This put Archer to the top of the podium for his first Challenge victory, becoming the third different winner in three rounds. Kaminiski was scored second with Josh Campbell (RPM / LN Racing Kart) completing the podium. Top qualifier Kane Martin (Nash / EOS) was fourth with Gino Sandoval (TKC / Sodi Kart) in fifth.

100cc Junior defending champion Nixx Eggleston claimed his first Challenge win of the season (Photo: EKN)

It was a two driver fight in the Nash Motorsports 100cc Junior class with Prefinal winner Nixx Eggleston (Ruthless / Gillard) and Round Two victor David Ybarra (Precision / CRG) pushing away from the field. Eggleston led for a majority of the race until Ybarra took over later in the run. Eggleston responded with two laps remaining and held on through the final circuits to become the third different winner in three rounds. The battle for third went down to the wire as Payton Westcott slid into the spot on the final circuit to land on the podium ahead of Nico Sarphati (FW / GFC) and Luca Popescu (FW / GFC).

Greg Welch held off KC Cook to become the third different winner in 100cc Masters (Photo: EKN)

Forward Direction Motorsports’ Greg Welch (Pantano) controlled the action in the Ruthless Karting 100cc Master category, dominating qualifying before walking away in the Pre-Main. In the main event, he was seriously challenged by KC Cook (KartNick / Tony Kart) after he had encountered flat tires in both qualifying and the Pre-Mian. Armed with the advantage of new rubber, Cook started last and was quickly into second, and he then slowly whittled away at the two-second lead that Welch had developing over the opening circuits. Cook eventually found himself on Welch’s rear bumper, but just couldn’t complete an overtake and settled for second in the end. Welch is the third different 100cc Masters winner of the year as Cook and Travis Irving took the victories in February. Irving was scheduled to race but needed to head home to attend his daughter’s softball game, only to have it cancelled for rain. He’ll be back for Sunday’s action. Behind Welch and Cook, Matthew Ostiguy (Kosmic) completed the podium in third ahead of Tim Meyer (Kosmic) and Steve Wiener (Kart Republic).

Rob Kozakowski scored the win in Masters Shifter (Photo: EKN)

Canadian Rob Kozakowski (RWR / GRC) inherited the lead in Ron White Racing Shifter Masters when fast qualifier and Prefinal winner Bud Grossenbacher (TB Kart) went out on lap 15 with a broken shift level. Kozakowski stood on top of the podium with Michael Faker (Nevada Kartsport / Birel ART) in second and Colin Livingston (RWR / CRG) in third.

Daniel Ramirez won in his 2024 Challenge debut in 60cc Cadet (Photo: EKN)

The Karting Collective 60cc Cadet main event turned into a two-driver battle between Daniel Ramirez (RPM / Nitro Kart) and Lucas Turango (Nitro Kart). The duo was able to pull away early and Turango’s patience allowed them to build an insurmountable gap before dicing for the victory on the final lap. Turango did the best he could to set up an overtake for the win, but Ramirez ran clean and defensive lines to come away with the win in a photo finish at the line by just 0.068 seconds. Cam Becker (Race Factory) was the top qualifier to start the day and won the Pre-Main as well, but he was shuffled back slightly in the early laps on the final and needed to fight his way back forward to finish third, completing the podium. Drew Jensen (Parolin) finished alone in fourth at the end of the 14 laps, while Paxton Romero (FDM / Compkart) was fifth.

The drivers and teams will be back in action at the Musselman Honda Circuit on Sunday for Round 4 of the Challenge before turning their focus onto the finale weekend in Sonoma on April 12-14.

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