Three top-fives and twelve top-tens at SKUSA Winter Series opener for Team Supertune

Mateo Rubio-Luengo and John Burke account for three top-five finishes.

John Burke
Supertune drivers pushed hard at the SKUSA Winter Series opener. Photo: Cody Schindel / Canadian Karting News

Traveling to the AMR Motorplex in Homestead, Florida, Team Supertune entered a large contingent of drivers in the opening round of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Winter Series. Closing the weekend with three top-five results and twelve top-ten finishes, the potent karting program will regroup and refocus for this coming weekend's ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour opener.

"It wasn't our best weekend of results, but still some finishes and progress to be very proud of," explained Supertune's Ben Cruttenden. "Mateo Rubio-Luengo claimed a pair of top-five results in KA100 Junior while John Burke had a pair of top-ten results in X30 Junior including a huge effort in Sunday's main event gaining 25 positions."

Three top-ten finishes came from the Micro Swift class as all three Supertune competitors had their turn at success. Alessandro turned his 17th place qualifying effort on Saturday into a tenth place finish on Saturday, while Marco Romero worked his way to a seventh place result on Sunday. Diego Ardiles had a tough go on Saturday during the Micro Swift main event but rebounded Sunday to finish one position behind Romero in eighth.

Three more top-ten results came from the KA100 Junior class as Rubio-Luengo scored a pair of fifth place results during both race days. Jorge Ortiz drove to a ninth place result on Saturday but was unable to repeat that performance Sunday.

John Burke claimed a fifth place result in Saturday's X30 Junior main event and drove forward 25 positions in Sunday's main event to finish tenth. Noah Baker had a strong weekend in Homestead showing his true pace. Finishing ninth on Saturday, Baker leveled up Sunday to come home eighth. Moving to the Junior category in late 2019, Anderson Leonard is still considered a rookie in the larger and challenging field. With contact ruining a chance of a good result in round one, Leonard returned Sunday to finish 16th in X30 Junior. Rubio-Luengo was the only Team Supertune driver to pull double duty on the weekend claiming a pair of top-20 results while Hayden Bradley gained experience and knowledge in his first weekend with the Indiana based team.

After dominating the Mini Swift category in 2019, Team Supertune entered 2020 with three new drivers. Joining the team after the conclusion of the 2019 season, Luis Umana made his debut with Supertune and finished tenth on Saturday, gaining the most positions of anyone in the main event. Umana added a 13th place result Sunday. Sebastian Garzon finished 12th on Saturday while Christian Quijano added a top-20 result on Sunday.

Cruttenden continued, "Next weekend is a new weekend, and we will push hard this week to ensure we are back where we need to be, at the front of the field."

Traveling north on I-95, Supertune will setup and prep for the opening round of the Florida Winter Tour opener. Stay tuned to the Supertune social media pages for a driver lineup as well as photos, results and information from the event.

For more information on Supertune, race team opportunities in 2020, OTK product sales, or engine and dyno services, please contact Ben Cruttenden at 317.900.3141 or via email to [email protected].

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