Temecula, CA – The 2019 racing season is officially underway for the Superkarts! USA program, as their track team hosted the first major event of the calendar year, launching the second year of the SKUSA Winter Series in Florida. Following the upcoming series finale in February at the AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex presented by MG Tires, all of SKUSA’s attention will turn to the tenth season of the SKUSA Pro Tour and their growing ProKart Challenge programs for 2019.
The new season is one of adjustment, specifically in the class structure area. One of the major updates is the move to the Evinco Blue “H” spec tire for the X30 Junior division. Since the introduction of the Evinco tires into Superkarts! USA competition, the category has followed the same compound as the other X30 categories, utilizing the Evinco Red “M” tire. The Blue “H” is a harder compound for the X30 Junior drivers, and is the same tire required in the KA100 Senior and KA100 Junior categories.
“In response to input from parents, team owners and tuners to make the transition from the Mini Swift class to X30 Junior easier, we have implemented this change in tire compound for the 2019 season. This change is for SKUSA Pro Tour, the ProKart Challenge programs, as well as any club running under Superkarts! USA rule set,” stated John Motley - SKUSA National Tech Director. “The SKUSA Winter Series will be completed utilizing the MG Yellow compound in the X30 Junior division as it did at the opening rounds in Homestead.”
The 2019 SKUSA Pro Tour class structure has expanded to include five shifterkart divisions. The Pro Shifter and Pro Shifter 2 classes will utilize the new IAME SSE 175cc package that made its official debut at the SKUSA Winter Series. The two new categories will mirror the requirements of the former S1 Pro and S2 Semi-Pro divisions, respectively. A third category featuring the IAME SSE 175cc engine is the G1 class. The class name ‘G1’ was used in the former SKUSA ProMoto Tour and early years of the SKUSA Pro Tour, and now the ‘new’ G1 division is reserved for drivers 30-years of age and older utilizing the IAME SSE engine package.
Honda remains part of the SKUSA Pro Tour for the tenth straight year. SKUSA is offering the S4 Master Stock Moto and S4 Super Master Stock Moto divisions as they remain unchanged from 2018.
The single-speed IAME divisions have expanded to eight classes for the 2019 SKUSA Pro Tour. X30 Senior, X30 Junior and X30 Master will be joined by X30 Super Master. Similar to its shifterkart counterpart, the X30 Super Master division is reserved for drivers 45-years of age and older, competing in the same race group as the X30 Master class. The popular Mini Swift and Micro Swift classes return for the 2019. The addition to the SKUSA Pro Tour is KA100 Senior and KA100 Junior. These categories made their big stage debut at the SKUSA SuperNationals 22 with full fields, and they will both be part of the SKUSA Pro Tour in 2019.
The California ProKart Challenge gets underway at the end of March for its 15th season and it will have all of the SKUSA Pro Tour classes available at their five events for a six-round championship chase. The full class structure is completed by the addition of the popular S3 Novice Stock Moto and S5 Junior Stock Moto division to round out the 15 classes for the 2019 California ProKart Challenge. The Texas ProKart Challenge is set for its eighth season in the Lone Star State, with information regarding their class structure available at the Texas ProKart Challenge website. SKUSA is also excited with the re-birth of the Great Lakes ProKart Challenge series, which will run a new four-race series using all of the Pro Tour classes with the exception of G1, hosting events in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
2019 SKUSA Pro Tour is set to kick off on March 1-3 at the CalSpeed Karting Center in Fontana, California with the third annual WinterNationals. Registration will open on Sunday, January 27 at 7pm PDT, and additional updates regarding the event will be published in the SKUSA Pro Tour section of the website. The SKUSA Winter Series closes on February 8-10 at AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex Presented by MG Tires. More information, including online entry, is available by visiting the SKUSA Winter Series page.
About Superkarts! USA: Established in 1995, Superkarts! USA is dedicated to shifterkart and TaG racing, and is the leader in the field, promoting four regional racing series. Racing programs are currently running in California, Canada, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington, in cooperation and support from official tire supplier MG Tires and the Evinco line of race tires. In 2018, the organization promoted the ninth edition of the SKUSA Pro Tour, which features the WinterNationals, SpringNationals and SummerNationals. All of it leads up to the 22nd running of the annual SKUSA SuperNationals – the biggest kart race in the world – held every November in Las Vegas, NV. For more information on anything related to Superkarts! USA, please visit the website – www.superkartsusa.com and be sure to follow the Superkarts!