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SwedeTech's Trackside Report - SKUSA ProKart Challenges
April 15, 2015
The SwedeTech staff was busy for the weekend of April 10th - 12th, supporting kart engine customers at two separate events. Owner, Reine Persson, was in attendance for the SKUSA California ProKart Challenge event in Buttonwillow, CA. Jason Berry was shipped off to Texas for the first round of the Texas ProKart Challenge in Katy.
The Buttonwillow Kart track was run in the reverse (clockwise) direction, and SKUSA did a good job filling up the pits. S5 rookie driver Callum Smith has been the guy to beat this year in the Jr. Stock Moto class. His off season and early season testing and training is paying huge dividends. He has won every main event this year. He added to his points lead with another victory and led the SwedeTech sweep of the S5 podium, followed by Noah Grey, and Hunter Kelly. The future of shifter karts looks strong with these young guns.
The new S4 Masters class is gaining momentum as the 45+ year olds still want to race karts. With another main event win, Ken Schilling is padding his championship point’s lead. Jim Kidd woke up Saturday morning and decided to race, and for his last minute, no practice, arrive and go style; he took home the 3rd place podium spot.
SwedeTech had two drivers in S1 Pro Stock Honda class for this weekend’s event, and both of them are rookies in this division, competing against a couple of veterans. Jarred Campbell was in the top two all weekend long, and in the main event, he was able to secure a 2nd place finish, helping his cause as the S1 point’s leader. Kolton Griffin had a strong weekend with a 4th place finish, which will help his championship points, currently in 4th.
Oregonian, Marco Eakins, made the trek south for the S2 class and for his return trip home; he had some new hardware to share. Making strides forward during the weekend, his hard work earned him the 3rd podium spot.
Jimmy McNeil was the S4 driver to beat all weekend long, taking the pole position, heat 1 win, and posting the fastest laps in every session. And then the $2.00 part broke, a hose clamp causing him to pull off early in Heat 2. Never quitting, he started the main in the back of the field, and drove to an impressive 2nd place finish.
Over in the big state of Texas, SwedeTech was supporting customers at the first round of the Texas PKC. After the Friday practice session, TPKC hosted the 2014 awards banquet and SwedeTech was on hand to give away a Stock Moto Engine Rebuild to the winner, Kyle Counts.
The TPKC runs a dual event format, 1 full race day on Saturday and repeated on Sunday. Saturday's event had a mix of rain and dry. The competitors were constantly guessing setup and staring and mobile phones with radar maps. At the end of the day, it didn't matter because Jordon Musser swept the S1/S2/S4 Stock Moto classes. Entered as an S2 driver for the regional series, Jordon Musser controlled the event all day long. Cody Jolly was running a strong 2nd place until the rear wheel and hub came off, about 50 feet before the checkered flag. The following karts scattered and CJ Cramm missed the incident to finish 3rd, Nathan Ads 4th, and Graig Alvarez 5th. Jolly was scored in 6th.
S5 Jr Stock Moto drivers, Andrew Engberson and Broch Evans, started the season off strong with a 2nd and 4th place finish.
The Sunday event had early morning showers, which cleared after qualifying. The rest of the day the track was dry. Jordon Musser started Sunday where he left off Saturday, in the front of the pack. Jordon swept all the S2 heat races and the S2 main event win. Nathan Ads, Harry Gottsacker, CJ Cramm, and Graig Alvarez filled out 3rd - 6th places.
In S5, Andrew Engberson improved on Saturday’s results by taking the Main Event win. Fellow SwedeTech S5 driver Broch Evans finished a solid 4th place.
SwedeTech is very proud of all the hard work the above drivers and teams put in to keep their karting program on top. SwedeTech power was strapped to many different chassis including Praga, CRG, Intrepid, Birel, SodiKart, FK, TonyKart, and Kosmic.
See you in Phoenix!
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