Fort Lauderdale, Florida – It was a team of ten Team Benik drivers that would travel to the Utah Motorsports Campus in Grantsville, Utah for rounds three and four of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour. When the dust had finally settled and the final checkered flag flew, the Florida based program earned a total of five podium results and 12 top-ten finishes over the SpringNationals race weekend.
“Good showing for our team in several different classes,” expressed Nick Mitchell. “The SKUSA program is one of the toughest out there and to leave with the results that we did proves the ability of our team, drivers, and equipment. Already looking forward to the next one.”
The Micro Swift contingent of Royce Vega and Troy Ferguson would lead the team on the results sheets as the two drivers managed to score four of the team’s five podium results. Vega overcame a P17 effort in qualifying to finish tenth in Saturday’s prefinal before rocketing to the second step of the podium in the day’s main event. Ferguson was a model of consistency and held his third place qualifying effort through the prefinal and into the main event as he and Vega put a pair of Team Benik drivers on the podium. Sunday would see much of the same for the Micro Swift duo as Vega turned his sixth place prefinal result into a third place finish in the main event, one position behind Ferguson who finished second in every official on track session on Sunday.
Frankie Mossman put Team Benik in the top-ten twice in the X30 Senior class as he rebounded from a DNF in Saturday’s prefinal to earn a ninth-place result in the main event and was named the race’s biggest mover. Sunday would see him climb five additional positions on the results sheet as he narrowly missed the podium in one of the nation’s toughest racing classes to finish fourth for Team Benik. Fellow X30 Senior driver and teammate Dalton Hanes had a trying weekend and despite running in the front half of the field, failed to finish both main events.
Mini Swift driver Kai Johnson added a third place result for Team Benik in Sunday’s main event after being classified in tenth Saturday. Qualifying near the pointy end of the grid on both days, Saturday would see a 12-position gain from the prefinal to the main event after contact sent him down the running order while Johnson gained another three positions in Sunday’s final from his prefinal result to finish third.
Brandon Carr started his SpringNationals off with an X30 Junior pole position, but a start line penalty saw him finish third in the prefinal before a ninth place result in the main event. Sunday would once again see him at the front of the field in qualifying with an inside row two starting spot before finishing second in the prefinal and eighth in the final. Fellow X30 Junior driver Michael Costello showed speed on Saturday as a transponder issue would force him to start the prefinal from the back as he was the biggest mover once wheel-to-wheel action commenced to finish ninth. A 14th place result proved to be motivation for Costello for Sunday as he managed to break into the top-ten to finish ninth in round four. Gavin Whitt added a pair of top-20 finishes in 19th and 15th.
KA100 Junior driver Beckham Toupikov and KA100 Senior pilot Franco Sacripanti gained experience this past weekend in Utah. Toupikov improved throughout the race weekend having a better day on Sunday than Saturday as he earned a seventh place finish in the main event. Sacripanti battled hard in KA100 Senior with his best result of the weekend during Sunday’s prefinal.
Are you are interested in being part of Team Benik? For more information on the BENIK Kart or Team BENIK, please contact Nick Mitchell via e-mail to Info@Benik-Kart.com or by phone at 561.348.4406. To keep up to date with news, photos, results, and information on Team Benik, please follow them on social media by searching ‘Team Benik’.
