Oliver Hodgson won a fourth straight in Senior MAX (Photo: EKN)

The 2025 Race Rotax RMC US Trophy Final came to a close on Sunday with a quick three-hour period at the New Castle Motorsports Park. The schedule for the last day of action was revised with the Prefinal races moved to Saturday due to the forecasted high winds that were to hit the New Castle, Indiana facility on Sunday. Thankfully, the large gusts stayed away Sunday morning and four of the five categories contested the warm-up and Final sessions on track. A wet race track led to wet tires for the warm-up sessions. Nearly all drivers contested the Junior MAX main event with wet tires while the Mini/Micro group hit the track with dry MOJO tires. Rain returned a few laps into the Senior MAX race, making for a dramatic end to the weekend.

As the 37 drivers hit the track for the Senior MAX main event, a few rain drops began to fall. The field powered into the opening corner with lots of contact made from about row four and back. Several drivers went off track or were spun around, jostling up the order. Out front, Cameron Nelson (Pfaff / Gillard) was able to get the jump at the start and pulled out to at least a two second advantage over pole position driver Pauly Massimino (BJR / LN Racing Kart) over the opening lap. The track stayed dry for the first five laps until additional rain came down. On lap six, Nelson made a slight error over the first lap of a damp track, allowing Massimino to slip past for the lead. On lap eight, Nelson returned to the lead. By that time, Oliver Hodgson (CompKart) had worked his way up into the third spot and was closing in on the top two. By lap 11, Hodgson passed Massimino for second. Starting lap 12, Nelson made an error going into I-70 corner and went off track. He could only watch as Hodgson and Massimino drove past while he attempted to rejoin the track. That was the winning move with Hodgson maintaining the advantage over Massimino with Nelson unable to close back in. At the line, it was Hodgson taking the checkered flag first by 3.5 seconds over Massimino. Hodgson secured his fourth straight US Trophy Final victory and the 2013 Rotax Grand Finals winner earned his ticket to Bahrain. Massimino for finishing second was awarded the DD2 ticket to be part of Team USA in Bahrain. Nelson joined them on the podium in third with Cooper O’Clair running fourth in his Factory Karts debut. The drive of the race ways put in by Caleb Gafrarar (HDD / Tony Kart). Starting ninth, Gafrarar was part of the turn one incident, driven over and turned around backwards. He was 27th after the opening lap. Through the 16 laps, Gafrarar worked his way up to fifth on the final lap, gaining 22 positions. Unfortunately, a five-second pushback bumper penalty put him back to seventh in the final order, moving Ryan Raffa (MDR / LN Racing Kart) into the fifth spot.

Isaac Malcuit became the fourth different winner in the Junior MAX division (Photo: EKN)

The 31-driver field of Junior MAX was first on the track on the day. Canadian Alexis Baillargeon (Premier / CS55) and USA pilot Isaac Malcuit (MDR / LN Racing Kart) filled up the front row for what was a clean start with all but one driver on wet MOJO tires. Last year’s winner Davin Roberts (RPM / Tony Kart) started on dry MOJO tires, going from P13. He fell back to the tail of the field by the end of the first lap, and only began to close up on drivers in the second half of the race, eventually finishing 25th – and only a half second slower than the fast time on wet MOJO tires. That fast lap was set by Malcuit, who was third at one point as Baillargeron was pressured heavy by Mate Kobakhidze (Pfaff / Gillard) from the country of Georgia. Starting eighth, Kobakhidze was the quickest driver early on and took the lead on lap four. Baillargeon fought back to retake the position and by that point, it was Malcuit on the move. He was into second the following circuit and then took over the lead on lap eight. From there Malcuit continued to click off fast laps of the race, eventually recording a 1:12.817 on the final lap of the race to take the victory by just under six seconds. Baillargeon held on to the second spot with Kobakhidze in third. Marco Sammut (BJR / LN Racing Kart) worked up fourth early on and was trailing the leaders, only to lose the draft and run alone to the checkered flag. Troy Ferguson gave Factory Karts its first top five finish in Rotax competition, holding off a large pack in the final lap for fifth. The ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals for the Junior MAX is currently tentative, waiting on a ruling regarding the qualifications for 15-year-old Malcuit to compete in the Junior field in Bahrain.

Samuel Chaverri led wire-to-wire to claim victory in Mini MAX (Photo: EKN)

Hitting the track right after the Junior race, the Mini MAX / Micro MAX race group hit the track for their 14-lap Final. British driver Arthur Pharoah (Pfaff / Gillard) and Costa Rican Samuel Chaverri (PSL / Birelart) led the field to the green flag with the majority of the drivers on dry MOJO tires. Chaverri was able to grab the lead on the opening lap with Pharoah slotting into the second spot. They ran that way with the pack of Holden Myers (CompKart), Hudson Howard (JHDD / Kart Republic) and others trailing. On lap 12, a Micro driver was getting the blue flag as the Mini leaders were coming around. Chaverri was able to get around but Pharoah was not. The contact dropped Pharoah to the fourth spot with Howard up into second after the incident. Pharoah regrouped to get back to third as the white flag waved, and in turn one, made the pass on Howard for second. Some contact was made on the exit, with Howard going off the track and losing ground to the group. This allowed Chaverri to go unchallenged to the checkered flag, picking up his first major victory in the USA and becoming part of Team Costa Rica for the Rotax Grand Finals. Pharoah was able to hold off the group for the second spot, earning the second ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals to join Team UK. Myers was across the line in third ahead of Canadian Massimo Lorusso (Premier / CRG) with Howard back in fifth.

Jack Kotowski claimed victory in the Micro MAX division (Photo: EKN)

The Micro Max category was won by Jack Kotowski (TKG / Birelart). After racing against the top drivers in Mini all weekend long, two DNF results in the last two heat races put him back to 15th overall on the grid in the race group. After battling off challenges in the opening laps, Kotowski drove away to a ninth overall finish and the victory in Micro MAX. Kaiper Nelson (CB / Merlin) won the fight for second over Jack Klym (BBR / Falcon). Andres Marcelo Pena (Hi5 / CompKart) and Greyson Kenific (Velocity / Sodi Kart) completed the top five.

EKN will have complete coverage of the 2025 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, set for November 29-December 6 at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit. Currently, Team USA has 10 members with drivers earning tickets in multiple events across the USA and in Europe.

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