Fort Lauderdale, Florida – It was a winning event for Team Benik this past weekend at the United States Pro Kart Series (USPKS) in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Taking on the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex on the grounds of Road America, Team Benik closed the event with three top-five finishes, including a Micro Swift race win for Royce Vega on Sunday.
With five drivers competing across three classes, the team’s best finishes came in the Micro Swift ranks with Vega and Troy Ferguson. Never running outside of the top-ten throughout the weekend, Ferguson scored the duo’s best result on Saturday turning his fifth-place qualifying effort into a fourth-place finish in the prefinal as he managed to maintain that spot in the main event. Vega, who qualified seventh on Saturday morning, fell to ninth in the prefinal but had a solid drive in the main event to climb four positions into the top-five en route to the fastest lap of the race.
Returning to the track Sunday, Vega carried his speed from Saturday’s main event into qualifying by securing the quickest time of the session and the overall pole position. Troy Ferguson followed suit to clock the third fastest lap as the Benik drivers lined up first and third for the prefinal. Falling back during the wheel-to-wheel action, Vega earned a P3 finish while Ferguson dropped to sixth as they shifted their focus towards the final on track session of the weekend. Determined to have a good finish, Vega ran in the lead group as he stalked the leaders lap after lap. Biding his time and moving to the front, Vega and Benik scored the round six victory by a scant .030 and celebrated on the podium. Unfortunately, Ferguson failed to complete the full race distance and was classified near the bottom of the results sheets.
With two drivers in Micro Swift, another two Team Benik drivers battled in X30 Pro Junior as Enzo Vidmontiene and Gavin Whitt would fly the Benik colors. Vidmontiene had a consistent day on Saturday qualifying 15th and maintaining that position through the main event. Sunday would see the first year junior finish fifth in the prefinal after qualifying 15th, gaining the most positions of any driver in the heat race. Falling back in the main event, Vidmontiene improved Saturday’s main event result to finish 13th. Road America was not nice to Gavin Whitt. With a best result of 16th in Sunday’s prefinal, Whitt failed to finish both main events due to contact and will shift his focus to the next event.
Team Benik newcomer Christopher Wakefield joined the squad as he saw action in the KA100 Junior class. Gaining experience with each passing session and each passing lap, Wakefield battled hard in one of the largest classes on the weekend. Improving from his 34th place qualifying effort to finish 15th on Saturday, Wakefield had a good run going on Sunday to finish 14th in the prefinal before contact in the main event sent him down the running order.
“Congrats to Royce on his USPKS win; he deserved it,” explained Team Benik’s Nick Mitchell. “A great job by the team all weekend, and we will now get ready for our next event at the New Castle Motorsports Park.”
Looking to add drivers to their program for the remainder of 2022 and onwards into 2023, Team Benik has opportunities available.
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’.
