Danny Formal completes sweep of the S1 Pro category for his first SuperNationals victory (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

The sun rose and set for the final time on this year’s Superkarts! USA SuperNationals, and for the 19th time, history was made in the Las Vegas desert. Over 500 of the best drivers from around the world took part in the five-day event outside the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Westgate Resort & Casino, all trying to be part of the moments and excitement that occurred on SuperSunday. The stands were packed for all nine main events, with perfect racing weather throughout the entire event. Each of the three headline categories provided its own compelling story, and the excitement and drama of the other divisions completed what was a stellar day racing.

PSL Karting TaG Junior

Arthur Leist came out the winner in the heated TaG Junior main event (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

The outside lane was caught sleeping as Zach Holden could not get the kart going from outside the front row. Gianluca Petecof (Italkart) took the lead but was spun around at the second corner, and watched a possible win go away as the field shuffled past him. Holden (Tony Kart) slipped outside the top-five, with Arthur Leist (Tony Kart) out front ahead of Alex Bertagnoli (Merlin). Holden was the driver on the move, working past Dante Yu (Tony Kart) and Vinicius Ponce (Kosmic), and then around Bertagnoli just before the halfway point of the 20-lap event, trailing the leader by three seconds. Championship contenders Brandon Lemke (Merlin) and David Malukas (CompKart) were able to get through the opening corners, and get into the top-10. The fight wasn’t over, as the drivers around them continued to battle for every position, with Lemke slipping back to P13 with five laps remaining while Malukas was up to the fifth position. Up front, Leist continued to stretch out his lead in the Orsolon Racing / Piquet Sports entry, with Holden back by four seconds with three laps to go. Two laps to go, the championship battle heated with Malukas looking for more and trying to get around the Franklin Motorsports / Merlin driver of Bertagnoli for fourth and Lemke was trying to get positions of his own. At the checkered flag, Leist scored the big victory by three seconds ahead of Holden. Ponce, Malukas and Bertagnoli completed the podium. Lemke’s move into the 12th position in the end gave the Franklin Motorsports / Merlin driver the Fikse Wheels Pro Tour championship by just one single point. Holden’s runner-up gave him the SKUSA #3 plate in the title chase.

Honda Racing/HPD S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto

Italian driver Dario Capitano gave Italcorse its first SuperNationals win (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Polesitter Jorge Pescador (Praga) was able to get the holeshot with Austin Wilkins (Sodi Kart) slotting in behind from the outside of row one. Dario Capitano (Italcorse), top qualifier Brandon Frank (Praga) and Kyle Smith (PCR) held their positions inside the top-five. The lead was half a second for Pescador over Wilkins with the rest of the field pretty spread out. Smith was the first driver to change position, drafting past Frank for the fourth position on lap seven. Capitano moved to second on lap eight, as they still remained about six tenths back of the Argentinean. Up front, Pescador laid down a bad lap, allowing Capitano to close within three kart lengths of the leader with Wilkins and Smith trailing to make it a four driver lead pack. Lap 14, it became three with Smith slowing on the course with a powerplant issue. That moved his Checkered Motorsports / PCR teammate Robert Bujdoso to fourth and fast lap driver Will Preston (Aluminos) to fifth. Lap 16, Capitano was able to make a move around Pescador to lead for the first time with Wilkins coming through to move into the second spot. Capitano established a solid lead, pulling out about seven kart lengths with Pescador looking for a way back around Wilkins. Capitano held on to the end, scoring the big win for Italcorse, earning the brand its first SuperNationals vicotry. Wilkins earned a big first SuperNats podium as well with the runner-up finish with Pescador in third. Bujodoso held off a charging Preston to close out the podium.

Championship leader Carter Williams (FA Kart) started 11th, and battled hard all 20 laps to come away with the 14th position. With Lopez in the seventh spot, the gap shrunk down to just 17 points, handing the Phil Giebler Racing pilot the Fikse Wheels Pro Tour championship. Bermuda driver Frank joined them on the championship podium, finishing a strong year in the third spot.

Top Kart USA TaG Senior

Louie Pagano clinched the Fikse Wheels Pro Tour title with his TaG Senior victory, taking home $16,000 (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

There is little doubt that this year’s TaG Senior main event will go down as one of the most memorable races. A 25-lap event decided the winner, in which no one knew who would come out on top. Aussie star David Sera (Deadly Kart) led the field to the green flag with only the first few corners under green flag conditions after a broken radiator dropped water in the first turn to force a full course caution. The race resumed on lap three with Sera leading over Louie Pagano (Tony Kart). Pagano took a turn at the point on lap six, and that triggered what would be an epic fight for the SuperNationals win. Recent world champion Logan Sargeant (Tony Kart) was among the front runners, which was six drivers for much of the time. After Pagano led, Sargeant took a turn as polesitter Sera seemed to be struggling. Sargeant led for some time before the 2Wild Karting driver took back the point. That began the musical chair for the lead with defending winner Marco Maestranzi (Top Kart) and Sargeant involved in swapping the top position. Pagano retook the lead on lap 21, and the fighting for second gave the SoCal driver enough space to get away. The victory that had been in the making since his early years in karting, Pagano crossed the line taking the checkered flag for his first SuperNationals XIX victory. Maestranzi won the battle for the runner-up finish ahead of defending Fikse Wheels Pro Tour champion Jake Craig (Formula K). Sargeant ended up fourth with another Senior rookie Christian Brooks (Tony Kart) completed the podium. Marcu Dionisios (Tony Kart) slipped up to sixth late, dropping Sera down to seventh and once again out of the winner’s circle. Brenden Baker (Tony Kart) was eighth with Brandon Jarsorak (Tony Kart) and last year’s runner-up Austin McCusker (Deadly Kart) up from 18th to tenth. Jarsocrak entered the weekend as the point leader, ending up finishing fourth with Pagano taking the victory and his first Superkarts! USA title to rack in a $16,000 payday. Craig’s podium run put him second with Oliver Askew (BirelART) ending up third in the title chase.

SKUSA S5 Junior Stock Moto

Hunter Kelly has arrived, besting the S5 Junior field (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Hunter Kelly (Praga) qualified was the top qualifier on Thursday, but could only pull off one win in the three heat races. Starting third, Kelly was able to leap frog polesitter Evan White (Kosmic) and Fikse Wheels Pro Tour champion Callum Smith (Praga) on the opening lap to show the way. That was the deciding move, with Kelly leading all 20 laps aboard his Leading Edge Motorsports entry to score the biggest victory in his young career. Smith worked around White to secure second place in his championship clinching performance. Andrew Engberson (Intrepid) moved up to fourth from sixth on the grid, with Lawson Nagel (Sodi Kart) fifth in his SuperNationals S5 debut.

Texas ProKart Challenge S4 Master Stock Moto

Jimmy McNeil becomes the 10th different driver to have 3 SuperNationals victories, adding a second in S4 (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

A very clean start with lots of respect by the S4 field with no issues. Mike Beeny (Tony Kart) grabbed the holeshot with Rob Logan (CRG) slotting in behind from outside row one. Jimmy McNeil (CRG) and Mirko Mizzoni (Italcorse) moved to third and fourth as Bonnier Moulton (Tony Kart) and Michael Patrizi (Ricciardo) making up the lead group. The battle began on lap four as Logan pulled the trigger to take the lead for the first time. It became a fight for second as McNeil saw Logan inching away, and finally worked past Beeny for the position on lap seven. Beeny continued to fall, slipping behind Mizzoni and Moulton on lap eight. At the halfway point, Logan’s lead was only four tenths of a second with McNeil laying down solid laps, pulling away from the P3 fight. McNeil pulled the trigger on lap 16 after a couple failed attempts to take his turn at the point for the first time. Once around, McNeil kept up the torrid pace to establish a solid lead over Logan. McNeil took the victory to become the 10th driver with three wins at the SuperNationals. Logan earned a well-respected runner-up finish, with Mizzoni in third. Moulton was able to hold off a charging DRT Racing driver Chris Jennings (DR Kart), who came up from 10th on grid for a second straight podium at the SuperNationals. That dropped polesitter Beeny off the podium in sixth.

IAME USA KZ2

Gary Carlton returned to the top step of the podium at the SuperNationals for first time in 10 years (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

From the outside of row one, Canadian Phillip Orcic put his Mach 1 machine to the front of the 25-lap KZ2 main event. Orcic grabbed the holeshot over Jordon Lennox (BirelART), who had led the entire way to SuperSunday. Lennox continued to drop down the order, losing spots to American Gary Carlton and Patrik Hajek, both on the Formula K brand. The British driver kept dropping until eventually pulling off with engine issues. Up front, Orcic established a solid lead over the Formula K duo but the pace of GFC cut the lead to nothing. On lap 17, Carlton was right there and just one lap later, an aggressive move in a rare turn six move put the American to the top. Hajek followed him through, and Carlton was unstoppable from that point on. Carlton took the victory and the $10,000 payday, earning his first since the Sam Boyd Stadium triumph in 2006. Hajek made it a Formula K 1-2 finish with Orcic bringing the Mach 1 brand back to the forefront in North America with a third place finish. Lorenzo Camplese put his Parolin machine to fourth with Luca Tilloca (GP).

Rolison Performance Group TaG Master

Kip Foster bounced back after getting shuffled down the order to claim a second straight in TaG Master (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Polesitter Kip Foster (Arrow) was shuffled back to fourth when the green light went on to begin the TaG Master main event. Diego Pelosi (Tony Kart) took the lead after the opening corner skirmish but the field was quickly halted with a full course caution after half the field blocked the second corner. Most everyone was able to continue, and the race went back to green after two laps of yellow flag. Pelosi led with Alexandre Permat (Tony Kart) and Erik Jackson (Tony Kart) ahead of the top qualifier. Foster moved up to third when the green flag waved, with the Pelosi pulling away to a solid lead as Foster worked to get around Premat. Foster was finally able to get around on lap seven, and looked to cut the one-second lead by the Ryan Perry Motorsports driver. It took only a few lap before KartSport North America driver was right on the rear bumper of Pelosi. Lap 14, Foster was able to pull the trigger to take over the lead for the first time and began pulling away. The eyes turned to the fight for third with Premat getting challenge by Jackson with Jim Russell Jr. (Parolin) and a host of others right there. Contact would eventually put Premat, Russell and Francis on the sidelines. Foster would go on to the victory, taking home another B.R.M. timepiece. Pelosi drove to second with Jackson third. Championship leader Nick Tucker (Tony Kart) took advantage of the wrecking late in the race to move up to fourth over Phil Pignataro (MMK).

Benik Kart TaG Cadet

A last lap, last corner pass put Jonny Edgar on top of the podium (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

A great jump was timed by the inside line including polesitter Nicholas d’Orlando (Tony Kart) and Sam Mayer (Merlin) as they entered the opening corner, Mayer went in too deep and pushed d’Orlando out, dropping them down the order. This allowed fourth place starter Ryan Schartau (Tony Kart) to assume the lead with Tomas Mejia (Tony Kart) second. Outside polesitter Jonny Egder (Benik) was back to third, but quickly into the second spot and pressured Schartau. Eventually, Calvo and Egder came away with the top two positions, and it would be settled late in the race. After going back and forth, Calvo led to begin the final circuit. Edger made his move on the final corner, when contact was made. Calvo got the worst, going off into the barriers until he escaped and crossed the line in 19th. Edgar went on to take the checkered flag for the victory. Mejia moved up to second over Jak Crawford (Energy). Anthony Willis (Benik) and Tyler Maxson (Benik) completing the podium. Lachlan DeFrancesco (Benik) worked his way from 21st to ninth in just 15 laps, helping secure the Fikse Wheels Pro Tour title. Edgar, racing just the SummerNationals and SuperNationals, finished second while Crawford and Schartau tied for third, with the nod going to Crawford.

iKart S1 Pro Stock Moto

Formal celebrates the S1 victory (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Danny Formal (DR Kart) made the S1 fight look easy. Scheduled at the end of the day, it was expected to see a number of drivers in the mix for the victory. The DRT Racing driver led the way through the entire week, qualifying to the main event. Formal grabbed the holeshot, and that was the last anyone would see of him. Formal drove to a 3.7-second victory over American Gary Carlton (Formula K). Five-time world champion Davide Fore (CRG) came up just short of the victory, placing third. Former S2 SuperNationals winner Billy Musgrave (Praga) came from 11th to fourth, bringing Kiwi driver Matt Hamilton to fifth.

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