The 2016 Sanzaru Games Karting Championships season will begin this coming weekend with a special focus. Not only will the racers have their eyes on a fresh season of racing with many in new karts and running in new classes, but many of the Rotax drivers will also have a special focus of preparing for the Rotax Grands Nationals that will be run at the Simraceway Karting Track this summer. Race #1 will be run on the Reverse National configuration, the same configuration that the Rotax Grands will run in August. The Featured class for Race #1 will be Junior Rotax.

The Molecule NorCal Rotax Challenge portion of the Sanzaru Series will be strong in all classes again this year. Many top drivers from last season will be graduating to the next higher class in 2016 and this will make for new competition in almost all of the Rotax classes. The hottest class for 2016 may be the Senior Rotax where top Junior Rotax drivers over the last three years have settled making this a large class stacked with lots of talent. At least three past Senior Rotax champions along with the past two Junior Rotax champions will be running in this class in 2016. Junior Rotax should be a large and competitive again class this season with several top 2015 Mini-Max drivers moving up this year. Rotax Masters, the largest class in 2015, should be a large and an even stronger class in 2016 given the Rotax Grands as a mid-season goal to prepare for.

The Red Line Karting Championships for shifter and electric karts is looking to have a good year with strong turn outs expected in the Stock Honda Masters class and the 80 Masters class. This will be the second year of running the new HPD Honda CRF 250 class featuring the use of the spec Honda 250 four stroke engine. The EVO electric karts should be up to 7 entries this year.

The Saturday Practice day has a couple of changes this year. The Simraceway Arrive and Drive series will not be part of the Saturday practice day this season. This will allow all practice groups to run approximately once every hour with all practice groups running eight sessions during the day, the same number of sessions as last year. Saturday practice will end at 5:00 this year.

All drivers and crews should read the Driver’s Notes found on the series website for lots of race day details. Notice to new drivers to the series: Spec fuel for the Sanzaru Series is ERC 98 for Rotax and ERC 110 for shifters. Oil is Rotax national XPS oil for Rotax and Red Line 2 cycle oil for shifters. See Series Supplemental Rules for more details. ERC fuel and XPS and Red Line oil are available at the track.

The race weekend will start with a Practice day on Saturday. All Sanzaru Games Series classes will be able to get in as many as eight practice sessions during the day. Practice starts at 8:30 AM and runs to 5:00 PM. Registration will open at 7:30 AM. Practice is open to all drivers who are up to normal racing speeds with a kart that meets current karting safety specifications. Cost is $50.

Sunday’s race day begins at 8:10 AM with a quick round of practice for the nine race groups followed by a five lap group Qualifying session, two eight lap Pre-Mains and a 15 lap Main. Registration will open at 6:45 AM. Race Entry is $110, $15 for transponder rental if needed, $10 for all crew and spectators, and kids under 12 years old are $5. Registration is at the administration building on the right side as you enter Sonoma Raceway, look for the Sanzaru Games Registration sign.

You can get more information about the Sanzaru Games Karting Championships as well as the weekend schedule by going to www.sanzarukarting.com

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