Fort Lauderdale, Florida – It was the final weekend of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour and Team Benik was back at it at the ultra-fast New Castle Motorsports Park (NCMP). With drivers scattered across multiple classes, Micro Swift driver Royce Vega claimed a pair of podium results while senior competitor Frankie Mossman proved his speed in a pair of SKUSA classes.
Leading the way on the Team Benik results sheets was Royce Vega. After a difficult qualifying session on Saturday that saw the youngster back in the 12th position, Vega came to life once the wheel-to-wheel racing began. Finishing sixth in the prefinal, the Team Benik driver leveled up four more positions in the main event to stand on the podium in the second position. Returning to the track on Sunday, Vega qualified fifth but fell to P6 in the prefinal. Another spirited drive forward in the main event, Royce was back on the podium, this time in third. After a disappointing finish on Saturday, fellow Micro Swift driver and Team Benik teammate Troy Ferguson found his way to the top-ten. Improving in the prefinal to finish eighth after qualifying 15th, Ferguson showed his speed in the main event earning the fastest lap of the race en route to a seventh-place result.
Frankie Mossman earned a podium result and two top-five finishes over his two classes of competition this weekend as he did battle in both X30 Senior and KA100 Senior. Rebounding from a DNF in Saturday’s KA100 Senior main event after qualifying third, Mossman converted his ninth-place qualifying effort on Sunday into a seventh-place finish in the prefinal before driving to the front and standing on the second step of the podium during the day’s main event. In the X30 Senior ranks, a five-second time penalty for an incident during Saturday’s final took away a top-ten finish, but redemption came Sunday with a P2 result in both qualifying and the prefinal before crossing the stripe fifth in the main event against some of the nation’s best senior drivers.
Gavin Whitt was the lone soldier in the X30 Junior class and despite no teammate to work with, battled in the front half of the field. Scoring a tenth-place finish in Saturday’s prefinal, the best main event finish for Whitt came on Sunday when he earned an eleventh-place result. Ava Dobson would compete in the KA100 Junior class as she tried her hand in SKUSA Pro Tour competition. Looking to gain experience with each on-track session, Dobson battled in one of the largest classes over the weekend and has better prepared herself for the future.
Making the jump from X30 Junior to Pro Shifter, Michael Costello battled in the fastest class of the weekend against several of the best gearbox pilots in the country. Similar to Dobson, Costello worked to improve and gain experience throughout the weekend and earned his best results during Sunday’s wheel-to-wheel action.
“The SKUSA Pro Tour is now complete, and we shift our focus to the annual SuperNationals,” explained Team Benik’s Nick Mitchell. “We always have a good turnout in Las Vegas and are expecting the same this year. We remain committed to our goals and look forward to once again trying to add a SKUSA SuperNationals victory.”
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’.
