Continuing to regain their form from previous years, Team Benik made a major step forward in that progress this weekend. Taking on the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour at the Utah Motorsports Campus, the Florida based program is heading back home with one win, two podium results, five top-five finishes and eight top-ten results.
Leading the way in Utah was once again Enzo Vidmontiene. A multi-time winner in 2021, Vidmontiene added another victory and two podium results as he was the class of the field in the Mini Swift class. Showing his strength and putting himself in contention for the national championship, Vidmontiene has taken control of the point standings with two rounds remaining. Fellow Mini Swift driver and Team Benik teammate Asher Ochstein continued his front of the field presence with eighth and fifth place results. Running as high as second on occasion including finishing second and third in the two prefinals over the weekend, Ochstein is taking his rookie year in stride and will be a threat for race wins and championships for years to come.
A pair of Team Benik newcomers would join the squad in Utah as Giuseppe Guidera and Beckham Toupikov tried their hand at national level Mini Swift competition. Guidera was able to secure 28th and 21st place results while Toupikov finished 14th on Saturday before a post-race technical inspection pushed him back to the tail of the field.
“Our Mini Swift quartet, along with the trio of drivers we had in Micro Swift, performed well and showed the strength of our Benik chassis,” expressed Nick Mitchell. “Our new drivers were able to learn from our national level veterans and that helped them elevate their game and decrease lap time a lot quicker. At the end of the day, all of our top-five finishes came from the Micro and Mini classes, a pair of divisions that have been our focus since launching the Benik product line.”
Sebastian Cortes, Royce Vegas and Troy Ferguson all scored top-ten results for Team Benik this past weekend as Cortes led the way with a pair of fifth place results. Coming into his own this past weekend, Cortes drove like a driver with years of experience to claim his best two national level results of the 2021 season. Ferguson added a ninth-place finish on Saturday while Vega found his way to tenth on Sunday after finishing 15th the day prior.
Competing in one of the toughest classes in all of karting, Michael Costello netted himself 14th and 18th place results over the four-day event weekend. Running inside the-top ten during both days of wheel-to-wheel racing, Costello was a victim of on track incidents and push back bumper penalties that hindered his results and does not show the reflection of his top-ten pace.
With the long drive back to their home base in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Team Benik will shift their focus to both local and national level competition in June.
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’.
Photos: On Track Promotions
