Chase Hand was awarded with the victory in 100cc Senior (Photo: EKN)

It was a very warm day at Burt Brothers Motorpark on Saturday for the penultimate round of the Challenge of the Americas with the temperature rising above 90 degrees. The racing in the 100cc Junior and Senior categories was also hot with some first-time winners on the day, including Nolan Gagnon in Senior Shifter and Payton Anderson in 100cc Junior. In the 31-kart 100cc Senior field, Chase Hand was awarded the victory after on-track winner Keagen Kaminski was dealt a jump start penalty, completing the perfect day for Hand following the pole in qualifying and the win in the Prefinal. Anderson was equally as impressive in 100cc Junior, sweeping the day with a flat-out perfect driver in the main event.

Nolan Gagnon secured his first Challenge victory in Senior Shifter (Photo: EKN)

The battle for the race win in Forward Direction Motorsports 100cc Senior was waged between a pair of Formula Works drivers in Chase Hand and Keegan Kaminski. The GFC pilots were the class of the field on sheer pace, lapping over three tenths faster than their competition in the 18-lap main event. Hand started the day off with an impressive performance in qualifying to take the pole position and he then teamed up with Kaminski in the Prefinal to pull away and lock down the front row for the big show. The race quickly turned into a GFC runaway as the duo quickly built a gap and just worked together until the final circuits. When it was time to fight for the win, Kaminski slipped through to lead until things got busy in the second half of the final lap. Kaminski defended the inside of the left hand turn 13 but not enough, as Hand threw it down the inside only to drift past the apex, opening the door for Kaminski to execute the over-under. From there, he drove to the race win unchallenged, but his fate was sealed at the green flag when he jumped the start and was nailed with a three-second penalty. This handed the victory to Hand for a second victory on the season.

Michael Faker claimed his first win in Shifter Masters (Photo: EKN)

Behind the lead duo, the fight for the final spot on the podium was waged all race between Jonathan Portz (Neliton Race Concepts / Exprit) and Forward Direction Motorsports’ drivers Archer Eversman (Pantano) and Dylan Archer (Pantano). Portz was pushed back to fifth for a time, but he fought his way back to the front of the trio to take the final spot on the podium. Eversman finished up in fourth ahead of Archer.

The turnout in the shifter categories is disappointing light this weekend in Utah, with four drivers in Senior Shifter and just two in Masters Shifter. Nolan Gagnon (Nash / Italkart) dominated the action in the Swedetech Senior Shifter category, winning over Anthony Freese (West Coast Motorsports / Birelart) and Evan Concepcion (Scuderia Littel / GFC). In Neliton Race Concepts Masters Shifter, Michael Faker (GFC Karting) topped Chris Muecke (Italcorse America) for the win.

Payton Anderson secure her first Challenge victory in 100cc Junior (Photo: EKN)

The day’s star in the Nash Motorsportz 100cc Junior category was Payton Anderson (LN Racing Kart). The 14-year-old Utah resident laid down the fastest lap in qualifying, paired up with her Nash Motorsportz teammate Eric Doan (EOS) to pull away to the Prefinal win and then simply walked away in the final to score her first Challenge of the Americas victory. Anderson’s performance in the 18-lap main event was flawless, and earned her a 6.193-second win over Doan. Separate battles for second and fourth kept things exciting behind the eventual winner as Doan was embroiled in a serious battle with Braydon Wagner (FW / GFC) for the runner-up position. It was actually a four-driver pack for a majority of the race, with Sergei Karamselli (Apex / Redspeed) and Luca Popescu (FW / GFC) in the group, but Doan and Wagner pulled away in the late going to fight it out amongst themselves.

Another victory for Scott Falcone in 100cc Master (Photo: EKN)

Scott Falcone (Precision Works / Pantano) was challenged early in the category’s main event by Christopher Mann (Ruthless Karting / Exprit), but while Mann was on his Falcone’s bumper for the early laps, he did not make an overtaking attempt. Before the midpoint, Falcone started pulling away as Mann’s pace dropped off by about a half-second, in contrast to the leader’s consistent lap times. Falcone would eventually pull away to a 2.755-second advantage for the win that essentially clinched the series title. Mann finished second while Bruce Norman (GFC Karting) completed the podium in third.

Luis Martinez claimed another victory in 60cc Cadet (Photo: EKN0

Four drivers were at the forefront of the action all day in The Karting Collective 60cc Cadet. Luis Martinez (Croc Promotion) led the way in qualifying by nearly three tenths before Kao Saito (GFC Karting) led the way in the Prefinal. It was Saito and Lucas Tarango (Ruthless / Nitro Kart) at the front early in the Final before Martinez led the way. He set the pace from lap four, all the way to the checkered flag for a fourth victory on the season. Tarango was able to win the battle for second ahead of Saito with Nathan Ramirez (Team KartNick / Parolin) taking fourth over Hudson Hidalgo (Team KartNick / Parolin).

The first day of action in the Challenge Briggs 206 Shootout featured Qualifying and Heat 1. The timed session was led by Grant Hearne (Tony Kart) with a 1:10.440 with the top three separated by just 72 thousandths, including Kingston Deamer (Kosmic) and Gustavo Marmorato (LN Racing Kart). The heat race featured Hearne leading the first six of eight laps until he was shuffled down to fifth. At the line, Deamer completed his run from fifth to first on the final lap, edging out Collin Ruess (Exprit) by two thousandths of a second. Marmorato was third with Ayrton Littel (GFC) posting fast lap of the race up to fourth with Hearne fifth.

With Round Seven now in the books, all that remains of this year’s Challenge of the Americas is one more day of action on Sunday. Saturday’s action went free of red flags, which is always a positive, and the racing was fantastic throughout the fields.

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