Aluminos completes Prokart Challenge North as Champion

Team Aluminos completed the inaugural running of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge North series at the sixth and final round of the schedule, which was held this past weekend at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Two drivers, including Aluminos owner Rob Soares, began the final fight with a bid at a class championship, while the entire tent welcomed new GP Kart importer AJ Noud of Rocky Mountain Kart Works of Loveland, Colorado to the team. Noud was on hand to visit with the Aluminos crew, one of the top GP Kart teams in the country, and to strap on the helmet for some wheel-to-wheel action. The former SKUSA SuperNationals Formula S2 winner would earn a podium on the day in the S3 class.

Beginning the day as the driver to beat in the S4 class, Machado led the way in qualifying with a 49.080-second lap time to put him on the pole by over two-tenths, 10th overall within the combined S3-S4 group. The opening heat race saw a 10-lap battle for the lead that featured Machado coming up just short of the race win. In heat two, Machado fought for the second spot, however, settled for third after the short sprint. Making the right changes before heading into the main event, Machado’s kart was balanced as he took the second spot on the grid and ran to a comfortable second place finish to end the year. The result clinched him third place in the overall season championship.

Aluminos owner Rob Soares was well on his way to his fourth TaG Masters Heavy main event win of the season. Topping the charts in qualifying, Soares scored both heat race wins while also battling for the overall victories against the TaG Masters Light category. Starting third overall for the feature, Soares put his GP kart at the point of both classes on lap nine. Unfortunately, he would experience a mechanical failure on lap 13, cutting his race short. The good side of the situation was that Soares had earned enough points on the day to secure the TaG Masters class championship.

Representing Aluminos in the S3 category was Noud and team driver Brad Dunford, who was best in qualifying with the fourth fastest lap of the class. Noud placed ninth in his series debut. Dunford fell back to fifth in the opening laps of the first heat race while Noud worked himself up to sixth. On lap five, Dunford would fall to the tail of the field, moving Noud to fifth where he would finish, while Brad ended the race ninth in class. Noud advanced to second in the opening lap of the second moto, but would settle for third while Dunford hade a great drive from the back to sixth. In the 20-lap feature, Noud would run third and stay there throughout the race to earn the podium finish. Dunford had a race long fight for fifth, but was nipped on the final lap and fell back to seventh.

The Northern California-based operation will now focus its efforts over the next two months preparing for the SKUSA SuperNationals XII at the Rio Casino Hotel in Las Vegas in November. Aluminos is now accepting any inquiries to arrive-and-drive opportunities for the event, with options of ICC, Moto, and TaG packages. Anyone interested in learning more about this professional team are asked to contact Aluminos owner Rob Soares at 925.786.7865 or visit them online at www.aluminos.com .

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