(Photo: EKN)

EKN’s Paddock Insider is part of our Trackside coverage, bringing you notes, updates and breaking news as it happens. The article will feature notes from trackside at the Race Rotax RMC US Trophy Final held at the New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana. This is insider info will not be seen anywhere else.

Journey to Bahrain Begins Today

Friday is the first official day of action for the 2025 Race Rotax RMC US Trophy Final at New Castle Motorsports Park. The event moved from August back to October this year, with the later dates for this year’s Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals set for November 29 to December 6 in Bahrain. Five tickets will be awarded on Sunday following the racing action here in New Castle, Indiana to compete at the ‘Olympics of Karting’ with drivers representing their countries while trying to earn a world title in Rotax competition.

The format for the weekend has changed since Thursday. Seven practice sessions will be held on Friday with Micro and Mini combined. There will now be three rounds of heat races on Saturday after qualifying with a Prefinal moved to Sunday prior to the Final, all completed before Noon.

While the look of the event is similar to the last three editions here in New Castle, the inner workings is a bit different. Race Rotax is working with SRA Karting, the Canadian distributor for Rotax. Officials, tech and on-track personnel are a mix between the two organizations. Canadian Steven Hubert is the new Race Director of the RMC US Trophy Final, coming in with a lot of experience from events in Canada. Loraine Pollock is among the Stewards of the event as well. She comes in as the former manager at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, moving to Quaker City Karting and has been working with Stars Championship Series along with Cup Karts North America. The on-track officials are a mix of Race Rotax, SRA and NCMP with tech including longtime official Mike Edwards and a representative from SRA.

One of the issues coming into today is the weather forecast for Sunday. Currently, it is showing rain all day, however, the issue is the wind. It is said to be windy, at 15 to 20mph with gusts up to 40mph. Other forecasts have said it could be as high as 60mph. Officials are reviewing options and refreshing the forecast throughout today to make judgement on any possible changes.

Factory Karts Debut New Chassis This Weekend

Billy Musgrave and Factory Karts are debuting new chassis (Photo: EKN)

One of the big news items was the inclusion of Billy Musgrave into the Senior MAX class this weekend at the RMC US Trophy Final. The current SKUSA Pro Tour Pro Shifter champion and five-time SKUSA SuperNationals winner has never raced at this event. He and Factory Karts are using this weekend to debut their new version of the full size single speed chassis. The chassis is a full 1.25 inch rail, featuring a new bright red paint. Speaking with Musgrave, they’ve worked on this chassis for the last few months. There are six frames in action right now, including his, Cooper O’Clair in Senior, John Crow in Masters and Troy Ferguson in Junior. Another one is at Dallas Karting Complex for the Texas Sprint Racing Series finale with Jake French behind the wheel. Speaking with Justin Stefani, they are working on a full launch for the new unnamed model in the coming weeks.

Hodgson Gunning for Fourth Straight

Oliver Hodgson comes in as the three-time defending winner in Senior MAX (Photo: EKN)

Three-time defending Senior MAX champion Oliver Hodgson is looking to make history this weekend. The British driver now living in the USA will try to become the first to win four straight US Rotax titles in a row. Jordon Musser was the first to win three straight in 2002-2004. Hodgson matched that record last year with his third straight at the US Trophy Final and will now compete against a very stacked field of 37 drivers to earn a fourth in a row. Speaking with Hodgson, he confirmed this is probably the deepest field of talent that has been at the event over the last four editions. He is also on a different model of chassis before, competing with a prototype CompKart this weekend.

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