SKUSA SuperNationals XVI - Friday Report

Published on 18 November 2012 by Niels Hendrix

The 2012 edition of the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals began two days ago outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as nearly 500 drivers made their way onto the temporary circuit for the first time. Friday marked the first day of three where results on track matter - with qualifying and the opening round of heat races taking place. The day commenced on Friday morning under overcast and cloudy skies on a track that is most-favourable to all the racers here, touting it as one of the best tracks ever for the SKUSA SuperNationals.

Following a seven minute warm-up run for the morning classes (S4, S5, KZ2, and TaG Senior), it was time for the qualifying runs to determine the grids for the three heat races to come for each class.
As expected, the headline KZ2 class fight for the pole and the Oakley Lead Foot award proved entertaining to watch. Featuring a mix of the best from USA and abroad going head-to-head, second generation driver Max Verstappen (son of former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen) proved the racer to beat, securing the Oakley award and pole with a quick lap of 43.586 aboard his CRG machine. Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart), a two-time former champion, was P2, followed by Patrik Hajek (Praga), Rick Dreezen (Tony Kart) and Ben Hanley (ART GP). Seven different brands were represented in the top-10, including defending race winner Anthony Abbasse (SodiKart), the Energy of American Gary Carlton in seventh and former KF2 champion Armand Convers (Kosmic).

With the chase for one quick lap in the books, it was time to get down to some racing via the opening Heat races for the morning contingent.
The KZ2 standouts were the next group to go racing. Verstappen enjoyed a solid launch when the green flag waved, leading Hajek and the rest of the field through the opening sequence of corners. Just as it appeared Verstappen was headed for a straight forward victory, he mysteriously fell back to third behind Hajek and Ardigo, and come under attack from Abbasse. The Dutch up-and-comer, however, remained calm, promptly string some very fast laps, work his way back into second by lap eight. Closing the gap on Hajek, Verstappen passed for the lead and the win, albeit with via some contact, a few laps before the checkered flag waved. Ardigo followed the pair across the start/finish, several kart lengths ahead of Abbasse. Dreezen completed the top-five via a last lap pass of Carlton.

Niels Hendrix