Superkarts! USA SoCal program has successful opening weekend

The ProKart Challenge SoCal kicked off its new season on March 28-29 at the CalSpeed karting facility, located just outside the track walls of Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) in Fontana, California. Once again delivering the best in shifterkart and TaG sprint racing, the PKC SoCal program had a very successful opening weekend with 10 drivers taking home 1st place victories.

The Stock Moto group provided great racing, as they always do as SKUSA’s new calling card. Having recently signed with FX Racing — which has put him aboard a new Trackmagic — Bobby Legate continued his early success in 2008 with the opening round victory in S3 Light. The recently-crowned SKUSA WinterNational Championship Series champion used his pole starting position to get the jump on Utah pilot Patrick Cushenberry. The former 2007 S4 runner-up put some early pressure on Legate, but it wasn’t enough, as Legate pulled out to a five-second victory. Team Aluminos driver Marc Elliott made his S3 debut with a third place podium finish. Just like the Light class, S3 Heavy had a good dice between Marty Henderson and Phil Conte - a G1 transfer. Conte got the point a couple of times during the main event, but Henderson edged him out at the end of the 20-lap main event. Grant Westmorland completed the class podium.

A lot of new faces set the pace in the S4 categories. Bryce Miller, new to the shifter class, and Willy Musgrave fought each other hard in the Light class, but Musgrave had the advantage when the checkered flag fell. Miller settled for second with John Cram coming home third. In S4 Heavy, Ken Schilling recorded his first win and the closest finish of the weekend, edging Bill Cox by just 0.132 seconds. Third place driver Marc Segal was just seven-tenths back of Cox at the line.

Introduced last year, the S5 Stock Moto Junior class is SKUSA’s ideal package for the up-and-coming young kart racer looking to enjoy karting at a reasonable cost. The motor rules mirror the S3 and S4 classes, meaning a junior pilot can graduate to the senior ranks without having to purchase a new engine. Only one driver ran with the PKC in the debut of the program last year, but the first event of ’08 saw three S5 competitors, with more expected to compete at the second round. Race Liberante was the racer of the field, taking the class win ahead of Vinny Maestas and Corey Neveau, both of whom continued to gain speed throughout the weekend.

A number of national drivers, based on the West Coast, were at CalSpeed competing in the S1 and TaG Senior divisions. Former two-time national champion Alex Speed was on-hand aboard his new Trackmagic chassis, dominating the S1 class. Starting last on the Main Event grid behind the G1 competitors on the track at the same time (due to a blown motor in the 2nd heat), Speed put down some impressive laps to work up to fourth — before a broken shifter lever took him out of competition. G-Phactory/Sodi Kart USA’s Nick Halen would benefit from Speed’s misfortune of the day, pacing the field and taking the win. Shifter rookies Jacob Neal (PCH Motorsports) and Canadian Scott Rossi (Team Aluminos) completed the podium. Jacob Neal impressed the crowds when he drove from last place to sixth in Heat 1, after being DQ’d for no neck brace during qualifying and therefore starting in the back.

Speed’s Trackmagic teammate Will Martindale was just as impressive in TaG Senior. After being disqualified in the first heat, he came from the back to fourth in the second heat. Running smooth and consistent laps, Martindale got to the point quickly in the main event and earned the victory. Fellow NorCal driver Zach Dericco held his own against Martindale, but came up just short at the checkered. High-Rev Technologies’ John Zartarian, running a part-time Star Mazda schedule this season, got back behind the wheel of a kart for third on the weekend.

TaG Masters numbers were not as high as seen before, but Billy Cleavelin and Greg Smith still put on a great show for those along the fence line. Both drivers are well into their ‘prime’ and battled it out for 20 laps with Cleavelin getting the advantage over Smith in the end. Alex Felton completed the podium in third.

Robert Marks and Fernando Diaz battled hard for the entire 20-lap main event in G1. After swapping the point multiple times, Diaz was taken out of the race by a new S1 driver, leaving Marks to cruise to the checkered flag. Wally Wright, moving up from G2, advanced to second, with former champion PP Mastro ending third. With the top-three in G2 from last year having graduated to G1, new faces were up front this weekend. Steve Donia grabbed the G2 class win by three seconds over Eric Ortega and Kevin Para.

Round two of the SoCal series will take place on April 25-26 at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park kart track in Buttonwillow, California.

Photo: Will Martindale scored the TaG Senior win at the opening round of the ProKart Challenge SoCal program

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