DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The WKA Mazda / Bridgestone Manufacturers Cup Series opened its five-race 2015 campaign December 27-30 with the Margay Sprint Championships at the famed World Center of Racing — Daytona International Speedway — and its tricky 0.7-mile Sprint Track.
For the first time in a number of years at at WKA Man. Cup national, no driver won more than once on the weekend. Four drivers scored Pro class titles, and pocketed some cool cash in the process. Tyler Gonzalez won the DRT Racing Pro TaG Sportsman main, while Zach Holden rode his Top Kart to the win in Kartsport North America Pro IAME Junior. Gonzalez and Holden won $500 for their Junior Pro main event triumphs.
Italy’s Matteo Vigano flew to the states to ride a Top Kart in Tillotson Pro X30 Senior, which he won over Florida’s Dustin Stross. And Stross continued his hot streak in WKA racing with the victory in HYTORC of Texas Pro Leopard Senior. Both Vigano and Stross pocketed $1,000 for their Senior Pro class wins.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The WKA Mazda / Bridgestone Manufacturers Cup Series opened its five-race 2015 campaign December 27-30 with the Margay Sprint Championships at the famed World Center of Racing — Daytona International Speedway — and its tricky 0.7-mile Sprint Track.
For the first time in a number of years at at WKA Man. Cup national, no driver won more than once on the weekend. Four drivers scored Pro class titles, and pocketed some cool cash in the process. Tyler Gonzalez won the DRT Racing Pro TaG Sportsman main, while Zach Holden rode his Top Kart to the win in Kartsport North America Pro IAME Junior. Gonzalez and Holden won $500 for their Junior Pro main event triumphs.
Italy’s Matteo Vigano flew to the states to ride a Top Kart in Tillotson Pro X30 Senior, which he won over Florida’s Dustin Stross. And Stross continued his hot streak in WKA racing with the victory in HYTORC of Texas Pro Leopard Senior. Both Vigano and Stross pocketed $1,000 for their Senior Pro class wins.
PRO TAG SPORTSMAN
Gonzalez won the Pro TaG Sportsman — open to the popular Vortex Mini ROK 60cc power plant — over a strong running Robert Noaker III, who made the switch to a Merlin chassis for Daytona and the 2015 season. Luca Mars ran third in his first WKA national race since winning the Yamaha Rookie championship in 2014, with Jason Welage fourth and Pauly Massimino fifth in the 20-kart field.
New Jersey’s Connor Ferris won the Pro TaG Sportsman Streeter Super Stands Pole Award with a fast lap of 44.903 around the Daytona Sprint Track. Ohio’s Jamie Williams and North Carolina’s Massimino split the heat races; Gonzalez won the pre-final on his way to the final victory.
PRO IAME JUNIOR
Holden continued to prove he’s one of the best Junior sprint racers on the East Coast with the win over his Top Kart USA teammate David Malukas in Pro IAME Junior. John Paul Southern Jr., who just switched from PCR to Top Kart, made it a Top Kart sweep of the class with a fine third-place run. Brandon Lemke was the first non-Top Kart across the line for fourth; Lemke was riding his familiar Franklin Motorsports Merlin. Florida’s Vincenzo Sarracino rounded out the top five.
Southern scored the Pro IAME Junior Pole Award with a 41.373. Malukas won over Lemke in both heat races and Holden won over Malukas in the pre-final.
PRO X30 SENIOR
Vigano bested Stross for the win in the new Pro X30 Senior class. Austin McCusker rode his Mike Doty Racing prepared Deadly chassis to a third-place result, while Ryan Norberg ran fourth and Kartsport North America racer Brandon Jones fifth.
McCusker won the Pro X30 Senior Streeter Pole Award at a 41.217. McCusker also won both of day one’s heat races while Vigano came on strong on day two to win the pre-final before capturing the main event.
PRO LEOPARD SENIOR
The Pro Leopard Senior main saw Stross win a close race by just 0.282-second margin over Andrick Zeen. Texas’ Austin Osborne came home third with Indiana’s Sam Cate fourth and New Jersey’s Nick Landi fifth in the 18-kart field.
Osborne won the Pro Leopard Senior Pole Award with a quick 41.408 — only two-tenth off the Pro X30 Pole time. Osborne scored both heat race wins over AJ Myers; Myers won day two’s pre-final over Osborne before Stross came on strong to win the main event and $1,000 prize.
KID KARTS
A strong field of 15 CRP Racing Kid Karts took time in qualifying with Tristan Young picking up the Streeter Pole Award with a 56.232. The rest of the weekend belonged to Adam Brickley in the Kid Kart division. The youngster won both heat races after qualifying second to Young. On day two, Brickley returned to score the pre-final victory before driving to a six-second win over Caleb Gafrarar in the Kid Kart final. Brent Crews was third, Aubrey Adams fourth and Austin Olds rounded out the top five.
ROOKIE
The new Grand Products Comer Rookie Sportsman division saw five drivers enter and Nick Snell race to the win over Owen Mahle, Riley Erickson and Annie Rhule.
Mahle won the Comer Rookie Pole Award with a 47.905 lap time. Snell won both heat races and Jacob Putnam won the pre-final.
Donald Whorton II won his first Man. Cup national when he scored the New Jersey Sprint Series Yamaha Rookie Sportsman main event over Snell. Lucas Smalec rode his Birel to third, Lucas Rodriguez was fourth and Riley Erickson rounded out the top five.
Rodriguez won the Streeter Super Stands Yamaha Rookie Pole Award, both heat races and the pre-final before finishing fourth in the main.
SPORTSMAN
Gage Rodgers and Robert Noaker III joined Tyler Gonzalez as Sportsman feature winners at the Margay Sprint Championships.
Rodgers won the largest class at the event — Comet Kart Sales Yamaha Sportsman — by a tight 0.129-second margin over Jason Welage. Pauly Massimino was third, Samuel Paley fourth and Madison Campeau rounded out the top five in the 23-kart field.
Massimino won the Yamaha Sportsman Pole Award over Maks Kowalski with a fast lap of 46.021. Massimino bested Kowalski to win heat one and then won over Gonzalez in heat two. The pre-final victory went to Rodgers.
Noaker raced to his best Man. Cup weekend of his young career with a second place to Gonzalez in Pro TaG Sportsman and a big win in Komet Sportsman. Noaker scored the Komet Sportsman victory over Paley, Ryan Rackley and Spike Kohlbecker.
Noaker, a second generation racer out of Pennsylvania, also won the Streeter Pole Award with a 45.501. Noaker won both heat races while Kohlbecker triumphed in the pre-final.
YAMAHA JUNIOR
Wisconsin’s Brandon Lemke bested a trio of Top Karts in Woltjer Racing Engines Yamaha Junior. Lemke raced to the win over Pro IAME Junior winner Zach Holden, David Malukas, J.P. Southern Jr. and Ohio’s David Kalb Jr.
Malukas won the Pole Award with a time just under the 44-second barrier — officially a 43.998. When the green flag waved on heat race competition, Lemke won both before giving way to Holden in the pre-final and coming back to win the main event Tuesday afternoon.
YAMAHA SENIOR & WKA STOCK MOTO
Dakota Pesek raced his Top Kart to another Yamaha Senior Pipe triumph in the Simpson Performance Products-sponsored class. The Ohio driver won over Nick Landi, Derek Hughes, Chris Slinden and Nathan Burk.
Landi scored the Yamaha Senior Pole Award with a fast time of 43.389. Pesek and Landi split the heat races while Hughes came on strong to win the pre-final.
The new Honda Performance Development WKA Stock Moto shifter-kart class brought fans to the fences with AJ Myers scoring the big win over Andrew Bujdoso, Jonathan Kotyk, Kyle Kalish and Matteo Vigano.
Kalish scored the Streeter Super Stands Pole Award with a blistering lap at 40.529. It was all Myers after qualifying as he drove to both heat race wins and the pre-final victory before capturing the final.
Next up for the WKA Man. Cup Series is a return to Mooresville, North Carolina’s GoPro Motorplex April 17-19 for round two of the 2015 series.
VIR, Summit Point and National Corvette Museum also on 2015 schedule
CONCORD, N.C. – The World Karting Association staff, officials, racers, teams and industry supporters around the country are busy preparing for what looks to be a great 2014 version of WKA Daytona KartWeek at the famed Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
CONCORD, N.C. – WKA is proud to announce a renewed partnership with Van-K Wheels for the 2015 season.