Fort Lauderdale, Florida – It didn’t take long for the karting industry to get back into the swing of things after the short holiday season as Team Benik and ten hungry drivers will be back on track this weekend. Traveling to the AMR Motorplex on the grounds of the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Team Benik will compete in the opening event weekend of the popular Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Winter Series.
“The off season was shorter than ever, but we are happy to be back at the racetrack soon,” explained Nick Mitchell, Owner of Team Benik. “2021 was a good year for us, and we managed to earn several race wins and important championships. That progress has led to momentum that we will look to carry into a new season of racing. With a ton of returning drivers and some competitors moving up in classes, the first weekend is always one of the most difficult races on the calendar.”
Three drivers will enter the Micro Swift ranks as Troy Ferguson will compete alongside Royce Vega and Jaxon Porter. The trio of competitors showed improvement in 2021, and their goals have been reset for 2022. While three drivers will see action in Micro Swift, a pair will fly the Team Benik colors in Mini Swift in Beckham Toupikov and Gabby Guidera.
2022 will see a new class for multi-time champion Enzo Vidmontiene as he levels up from Mini Swift to X30 Junior. Competing in some local Florida events in the junior ranks, this will be Vidmontiene’s first X30 event against the tough field of junior competitors. Joining Vidmontiene in the X30 Junior class will be Michael Costello who earned some strong results late in 2021 as well as Gavin Whitt who joined the Team Benik program late in the 2021 season. Making the trip from Europe and back to the SKUSA Winter Series will be perennial frontrunner Brandon Carr. Carr returns to the Team Benik lineup with some unfinished business after racing inside the top-ten at the SKUSA SuperNationals last month.
Superkarts! USA SuperNationals heat race winner and recent USF2000 tester Frankie Mossman will be back in South Florida as this time he enters the X30 Senior category. Showing great pace in the final event of 2021, Mossman is hoping those efforts yield race winning results as 2022 takes the green flag this weekend.
Mitchell continued, “We have a few Benik Kart dealer programs who will compete at the SKUSA Winter Series that will raise our presence and give us an even greater chance to win and be on the podium. Additionally, we have a few positions in the Team Benik program and look to fill those for the February events. We also have some used team equipment from the last few races of 2021 that we are looking to sell and can setup and deliver trackside at events in January or February.”
Team Benik will be on track this coming Thursday and Friday for unofficial practice before heading into the race weekend. Saturday will be the home for round one of the SKUSA Winter Series as Sunday is reserved for round two. With only two event weekends and four races, every day is important as drivers will look to get up to speed and score results early and often.
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’.
