(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 2026 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SummerNationals at the New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana.

12 Years Straight at NCMP

For the 12th time, the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour visits the New Castle Motorsports Park for the SummerNationals. It was 2015 when SKUSA first came to NCMP for this event. The track has a ton of history with Superkarts! USA, as the New Castle, Indiana facility was part of the old SKUSA ProMoto Tour program during its final seasons when the circuit began hosting races in 2004. The Dismore family and track manager Mike Adams have built a strong relationship with Superkarts! USA since it began coming here 12 years ago. The journey has included a lot of memories, including a wide variety of track layouts, like the infamous ‘Super Mile’ layout that includes the ‘Ski Jump’ and the big oval turn on the east end of the facility, running in the clockwise direction. Most notable was the SKUSA Summer Festival that ran all six rounds of the SKUSA Pro Tour in two weekends during the 2020 season, thanks to the shortened season due to the COVID restrictions. Since 2017, New Castle has been home to the series finale, crowning the champions with the final rounds contested here. This weekend will be the same with eight categories completing the final laps of the 2026 season.

This weekend is a bit different in terms of weather. We are typically seeking air conditioning with the humidity near record highs and the temperature seeking triple digits. This weekend is forecasted to be in the 70s with cooler morning temperatures.

Musgrave Becomes Father Hours Before Weekend Begins

Billy Musgrave returned this morning following the birth of his twin boys on Tuesday (Photo: EKN)

Defending SKUSA Pro Tour Pro Shifter champion Billy Musgrave is riding high off the birth of his twin children on Tuesday night. The six-time SuperNationals winner was working on karts here at New Castle Motorsports Park on Tuesday when he received a call from his wife, who had been checked into the hospital after her water broke. Musgrave jumped on a plane home to California to join his wife and his new identical twin boys. Both babies and mother are healthy, and Billy jumped back on a plane late Thursday, early Friday morning to arrive at New Castle to make it out for the third practice session on the day. Musgrave is coming off a victory at the USPKS Indiana Grand Prix in a last minute trip here to New Castle. The Factory Karts ‘Godfather’ is now riding on the adrenaline of the travel but, more importantly, from being a new father. The EKN staff extends its best wishes to the Musgrave family.

Factory Karts has a busy two weeks with this event and next week when the FZ65 Mini Shifter Arrive-and-Drive program makes its debut at the RMC Trophy Final. A total of 15 drivers will compete next weekend here at New Castle to showcase the full Cadet shifterkart program, which we saw at the SKUSA SuperNationals 27 demo in Las Vegas.

New Names Riding Sodikart at SummerNationals

Vincenzo Sarracino joins Velocity Racing (Photo: EKN)

The Sodikart brand has gained more traction following the start to the 2026 season, riding on the performance of Matheus Morgatto in the Pro Shifter category. This weekend marks the debut for Vincenzo Sarracino with Velocity Racing in Pro Shifter, moving over from PSL Karting. The move was confirmed weeks ago with this weekend set as the beginning point. Speaking with Sarracino, the move was done to help fill a spot at Velocity, but also a proximity bonus as the Florida driver can test and race with the team in Orlando and Homestead. He said the biggest adjustment was the brakes, similar to what Morgatto confirmed with EKN when he made the move over from Birelart.

Dutch champion Dion Van Werven is on the Sodikart brand under the Carblos Racing Engines tent. He not only connects with fellow Dutch driver Marijn Kremers, but also Sodikart rep and new Carblos driver Adrien Renaudin. With Renaudin, there are now two Sodikart drivers under the tent. Van Werven is making his USA debut, after finishing the FIA KZ2 European Championship in 11th.

The third driver of note in Pro Shifter is Harley Keeble. The former Sodi Kart USA pilot has been driver coaching for the last two seasons and got the call from Nic LeDuc to drive this weekend under The Karting Collective tent. While this is not his first time behind the wheel of a KZ package, Keeble feels the endurance side of being out of kart will be something to improve on throughout the weekend. They feel the pace will be there throughout the weekend.

Greenemeier Family Back to Their Roots

Hannah Greenemeier with her father Gunnar (Photo: EKN)

Karting has and always will be about family. For many competing at the national level, teh journey began at the local kart track, going out to race with Dad and Mom as the sponsor and crew members. That’s how the career for Hannah Greenemeier began in the Rocky Mountain kart tracks of Colorado. She worked up the local and regional levels, eventually graduating to national level racing. The Greenemeier family put many miles and hours on the family RV, going from track to track, race to race. The 2021 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour championship was the crowning achievement for her in the sport. Today, she is driving for The Heart of Racing team in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, and is fresh off becoming the first female driver to earn a pole position in series history at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event over the July 10-12 weekend. She and her teammate Hannah Grisham are currently eighth in the series championship.

Hannah has been working with Mach 5 Motorsports drivers Phil DeLaO and Josh Sarchet this year. When her two fellow Phoenix drivers elected not to compete at the SummerNationals, Hannah stepped up to race in the Pro X30 category this weekend, joining Speed Concepts Racing. Her father Gunnar is back on the wrenches working alongside with mother Lynnette working away in the RV between sessions. It’s good to have the Greenemeier’s back in our karting paddock.

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