Five top-ten results for Speed Concepts Racing at SKUSA SpringNationals

Making the long, cross country trek from Orlando, Florida to Tooele, Utah, Speed Concepts Racing entered seven drivers in the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) SpringNationals at the Utah Motorsports Campus. Claiming five top-ten finishes throughout the weekend, the multi-time championship winning operation had several highs and lows throughout the weekend but will take the positives as they progress forward in the future.

Leading the way for Speed Concepts Racing in Utah was Junior driver Kyffin Simpson. Competing in both X30 Junior and KA100 Junior, Simpson never found himself outside the top-ten throughout the weekend claiming one pole position, one prefinal victory and four top-ten finishes. After qualifying third on Saturday and second on Sunday in KA100 Junior, Simpson went on to improve in both prefinals finishing second and first before adding a pair of fourth place results in the days' main events.

Five Speed Concepts Racing drivers entered the X30 Junior class and Simpson was once again one of the drivers to beat. Qualifying third and finishing fourth in the prefinal on Saturday, Simpson looked to have bagged his first Pro Tour podium with a third place result before a controversial five second avoidable contact penalty post race stripped him of his podium and relegated back to the sixth position. Looking for a vengeance on Sunday, Simpson rocketed his way to the X30 Junior pole position before ending his day in tenth.

“I think the series got the penalty wrong on Kyffin and it is very unfortunate. To have a five second avoidable contact penalty placed on a driver, only to be passed four corners later by the driver that the penalty was a result from, seems very harsh. On top of all of that, there was no damage to either kart and the drop down bumper was still in place,” explained Mike Speed. “Despite the harsh penalty, Kyffin drove incredibly well all weekend long and deserved the result that he claimed.”

Speed Concepts Racing newcomer Jace Park bagged a top-ten result on Saturday in eighth while Paul Bocuse gained eleven positions throughout the day to improve on his 22nd place qualifying run to finish 11th. Park added another top-15 on Sunday with a 14th place effort while Bocuse's highlight of the day was qualifying where he scored the 14th quickest lap time. Luke Lange ran inside the top-15 through the weekend's wheel-to-wheel action including 15th and tenth place qualifying efforts on Saturday and Sunday. Texan Noah Baker was involved in an incident in Saturday's prefinal, which unfortunately sidelined him for the weekend.

In a strong field of Mini Swift drivers, Ayden Ingratta battled in the front half of the pack. Qualifying 16th on Saturday and improving to 13th in the prefinal, Ingratta's high point of the weekend was Sunday's qualifying effort where he turned the fourth fastest lap of the session and started the prefinal from outside row two. Though he fell back and finished 28th, Ingratta showed poise and speed throughout the day and drove forward in the day's final to end his weekend with an impressive 13th place finish.

Speed continued, “We did not have the results we wanted or deserved, but in racing, we can't always be perfect. We will take the high points from this weekend and look to keep the momentum with them, and will evaluate the low points and see how we can improve for the future.”

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