April 5, 2023 – It was the kickoff to another national karting series in North America as Team Benik continued their string of events at the Orlando Kart Center. Taking on the opening rounds of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour, Team Benik earned two pole positions, one prefinal win, one main event win, four top-five results, and five top-ten finishes over the action-packed weekend. Leading the way on the result sheets was once again Kai Johnson earning two pole positions, and two top-five finishes including Saturday’s Mini Swift win.
“Good weekend for the team as four of our drivers were inside the top-ten for the majority of the weekend,” expressed Team Boss Nick Mitchell. “While the results were good, they were poised to be much better with the speed we had through the wheel-to-wheel racing but some luck and calls on track did not go in our favor.”
Kai Johnson led the way on Saturday earning the pole position but fell to P5 in the prefinal. Rebounding in the main event, Johnson stormed his way to the front to take the opening round victory for Team Benik. Marco Romero turned his eighth-place effort in qualifying into the prefinal win and while he battled for the victory and podium result in the main event, fell just short to finish fourth. Royce Vega finished just outside the top-ten in P12 after a solid sixth place qualifying effort Saturday morning while Troy Ferguson scored the fastest lap in the prefinal of all 40-plus Mini Swift racers but would have no luck in the main event failing to complete the full race distance.
Returning to the track Sunday, Johnson led off the day where he finished Saturday, at the front of the field with his second pole position in as many days. Following that with a second-place result in the prefinal, Johnson finished fifth in the main event, right behind fellow Team Benik driver Royce Vega. Vega, who qualified seventh, improved throughout the day to earn a solid P4 finish and lead Team Benik on Sunday. Behind Vega in fourth and Johnson in fifth, Marco Romero earned a seventh-place result to put three Team Benik drivers in the top-seven while four finished in the top-11 with Troy Ferguson 11th. While Johnson earned the pole position earlier in the day, Ferguson showed his speed from Saturday’s prefinal to clock the second fastest lap of the session in an all-Benik kart front row as four Team Benik drivers qualified in the top-ten.
The fifth Team Benik driver made his SKUSA Pro Tour debut logging laps to gain experience and knowledge for the future. Maximilian De Guzman improved on his qualifying results both days to better his main event finishing results as he began to learn from his teammates and the Benik Kart driver development efforts.
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 at 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’.
