In what is now considered the largest and most prestigious karting event in North American history Team Top Kart USA came out swinging. The team capped off a fantastic season with three wins at SKUSA SuperNationals 13.
The largest field of the weekend was TaG Sr. with eighty entries consisting of the top TaG drivers in North America. Leading the team in qualifying was Indy Car star Dan Wheldon in seventh position. Kartel Motorsports teammate Neil Alberico was eighth followed by Taylor Miinch in ninth. Both Wheldon and Miinch showed strong in the heats with Wheldon starting on pole for the final and Miinch starting in the sixth position. In the final it was a four kart breakaway which included both Wheldon and Miinch. Both drivers took their turns at the front of the pack, but as the race wore on it became more of a three kart battle with Miinch in the thick of the battle. Starting the final lap in third position Miinch moved into second after contact from the leaders. After discussions between the officials Miinch was given the win, his first SuperNationals victory. Wheldon came home an impressive fourth. Brendan Phinny who had problem after problem throughout the weekend came home twelfth.
All throughout practice all eyes were on Jake Dennis who paced the TaG Jr. field every session. Close on his heals was Kyle Spaulding and Raquel Martinez. To no surprise Dennis took pole position followed by Kyle Spaulding in sixth and Raquel Martinez in ninth. The heat races went very well for the team with Dennis winning all three heats. Spaulding and Martinez both consistently finished in the top five giving them third and sixth starting positions for the final. Dennis kept the lead at the start with Spaulding in tow. Martinez was pushed off and fell back to fifteenth. It was a hard fought battle with a lead group of five, but Dennis would take the win over teammate Spaulding. Martinez recovered nicely moving up to seventh while Mason Chelootz came up to finish tenth.
Though new to shifter karts, Kyle Spaulding dominated the weekend taking home his first SuperNats win and continued the unbeaten streak of Top Kart winning the S5 category the last three years. Wiegand who returned to his roots racing in the S3 Stock Moto category was a contender all weekend consistently running in the top five. Unfortunately he was involved in an incident pushing him back to eleventh. Pulling double duty Miinch finished twelfth in his KF2 debut, the second highest finishing American. Neil Alberico also impressed finishing in fifteenth.
Next up for Team Top Kart USA is the PRI All-Star Karting Classic. Three drivers will represent the team as Chris Wehrheim, Chris Scribner, and Kyle Wiegand will be competing in the Karter division. Please visit http://www.grandproducts.com to learn more about Top Kart.