Superkarts! USA regional program lights up the night in Tucson

The SKUSA Desert Kart Challenge (DKC) hosted its fourth round this past weekend, racing at the P1 Kart Circuit in Tucson, Arizona. Bud Grossenbacher earned his second straight TaG Senior victory in DKC competition, sweeping the on-track sessions for the class. The feat was no easy task as he was hounded all day long, from qualifying through the main event. James Rooke and Taylor Monning applied the pressure in the two heat races and the final, as well. Monning earned the second spot in the final, just under a second behind Grossenbacher with Rooke finishing third.

Three shifterkart classes and three TaG categories battled under the lights at the 8/10-mile track, which is a replica of the famous Suzuka Kart Circuit in Japan, and the entries were up from the last round, signaling the growing popularity of this new SKUSA series. TaG Masters saw another class sweep, this time by Jim Flynn, as he led all the sessions on the day, including a flag-to-flag win in the final. Flynn held off Helmar Beregszaszy, who drove from fifth to second in both of the heat races, in the final by just 0.664-seconds at the line. Close behind all day, and in the final, was third place finisher Sean Kingston.

TaG Junior had the best kart count of the year with seven drivers in the paddock, but only one pilot rose above the rest and he it was Kolton Griffin. Making his DKC debut, Griffin was fast all day, putting in a dominating performance by sweeping all on-track action. Scoring maximum points on the day, including the fast lap of 50.935 seconds, Griffin stretched out to a 16-second victory over championship leaders Tyler Cerbo and Chance Stephens.

In the shifter categories, all three classes ran on-track together, providing great excitement with S1, S3, and S4 all battling each other for position. Grossenbacher, who was running double duty in TaG and S1, had the overall final victory all but wrapped up until an engine failure with five laps to go put him on the sidelines. This gave the overall lead to S3 class leader Harley Owen, who earned his second straight victory. Mike Jimenez and Paul Flori completed the S3 class and overall podium. With Grossenbacher out, Curtis Ruth was handed the S1 lead and the victory ahead of Peter Workum in second. In S4, Dave Van Gordon made it four-for-four on the year with another win in the Stock Moto class. Tommy Baker and Joe Johnson stood alongside Van Gordon on the podium.

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