History will be made this weekend when the United States Pro Kart Series opens their 2022 season with the Southern Grand Prix at the Orlando Kart Center. To begin the 10th season of the championship, USPKS is making its first visit to the Orlando, Florida facility on March 4-6 with the opening two rounds of the year. The weekend already features a record-setting 317 pre-entries, with more possibly schedule to enter at-track in the seven IAME categories.

The Orlando Kart Center was developed in 2009, situated a few miles from the Orlando International Airport. It has hosted several major events, with this weekend’s USPKS the largest ever for the facility. The circuit measures out to 8/10-mile and will be contested in the clockwise direction. This weekend also brings a new format change for USPKS with the large number of entries. Four of the seven categories will feature split Prefinals, with the top-18 transferring directly into the Final. The rest of the field will battle in the Last Chance Qualifier for one of the four transfer positions. X30 Pro, KA100 Senior, KA100 Junior and Mini Swift will be those with the extended fields. For all categories, competitors will qualify for Saturday and Sunday at the end of the day on Friday. Those qualifying sessions will set the Prefinal grids for Round One Saturday and Round Two Sunday.

The X30 Pro category was the fourth class expanded past the cap mark, welcoming 56 drivers in pre-entries. Ryan Norberg (RPG / Kosmic) returns as the defending series champion, cutting the streak of Brandon Jarsocrak to just four. For the first time in USPKS history, Jarsocrak will not be competing. Norberg now has the challenge of trying to repeat, beginning with a historic field in Orlando. Among the international drivers include FIA World Karting KZ champion Marijn Kremers (PSL / Birel ART), British driver Oliver Hodgson (J3 / CompKart), Brazilian Diego Ramos (REM / Kosmic) and former IndyCar driver Zachary Claman DeMelo (Goodwood / Exprit) from Canada. Home track knowledge will be key, and includes two-time USPKS Junior champion Jeremy Fletcher (GWR / Tony Kart) making his first start at the series at the Senior level.

The largest category with pre-entries is the KA100 Senior class with 57 drivers. No returning champion as Connor Zilisch has graduated to Trans Am and MX-5 Cup in 2022. The only returning winner from 2021 is former series champion Brandon Lemke (FMS / Merlin). The field is full of young talent, including Fletcher who is among the four Senior drivers doing both Senior classes, along with Adam Maxwell (AMaxx / Tony Kart), Josh Campbell (RPM / Tony Kart) and Aaron Benoit (U-Race / Tony Kart). Jake French (PSL / Birel ART), Josh Hotz (FMS / Merlin) and Nicholas Terlecki (FMS / Merlin) are among the more experienced drivers along with Connor Ferris (TFR / Kart Republic), Peyton Phillips (Supertune / Tony Kart) and Gia Cicero (RPG / Kosmic) who were quick this winter in Florida. One Senior rookie to watch for coming off a runner-up at the SKUSA Winter Series standings is Aden Rudolph (PSL / Birel ART). Others include Jake Walker (MDR / Kosmic) and Collin Lloyd (T1D / Tony Kart), and Chase Hand (RPG / Kosmic).

The X30 Junior class is capped at 44 drivers, featuring only two of the five different winners from last year. Canadian Ayden Ingratta (SCR / Redspeed) finished second in the championship chase a year ago and Caleb Gafrarar (RPG / Kosmic) won two races in 2021. Gafrarar is coming off a four-win performance this winter while Ingratta was among the top contenders to begin 2022. Max Garcia (MGP / WPK) finished third last year in his Junior rookie campaign, returning to improve along with Christian Miles (MDR / LN), starting his third year in the Junior ranks placing fourth in the title standings. Jorge Ortiz (Tony Kart), Sebastian Wheldon (JC / LN), Steven Miller (CDR / Redspeed) and Parker DeLong (RPM / Tony Kart) are names to watch this weekend. Rookies moving up from Mini include 2021 champion Enzo Vidmontiene (Benik / Kosmic) and Diego Ardiles (Supertune / Tony Kart).

No former champion or winners are returning in the 46-driver KA100 Junior class for 2022, which will set up for some exciting wins as the season moves along. For Orlando, seven drivers are racing both X30 and KA, including Gafrarar, Garcia, DeLong, and Miller in addition to Max Taylor (MDR / LN), Olivier Piatek (PM / Tony Kart) and Christian Cameron (SCR / Tony Kart), who is coming off a win last weekend at Challenge of the Americas. Helio Meza (IRM / Tony Kart) is on a streak of two wins at the Florida Winter Tour, carrying momentum into the weekend. Camryn Reed (IRM / Tony Kart) is a winner already in 2022 at WKA Daytona KartWeek. She is among the many females drivers that will be at the event, and competing in KA100 Junior.

Several of the same faces and names are battling once again in X30 Masters with the top-nine from last year helping to make up the 20-driver roster. Two-time defending champion Scott Kopp (FMS / Exprit) is back for a three-peat, hoping it will be easier than the tie-breaker he need in 2021 to get the championship ahead of SKUSA Pro Tour champ Mario Barrios (RPG / Kosmic). Three-time winner in 2021 Scott Roberts (SCR / Redspeed) is back, along with Danny Robertson (RPG / Kosmic), race winner Miguel Mier (SCR / Redspeed), former champions Cristian Vomir and Laurentiu Mardan along with John Robicheaux under the Tecno Kart USA tent, and Robert Maier (RPG / Kosmic) all returning for 2022. A couple new faces with veteran Pete Vetter (RPG / Kosmic) and Evan Batt (TFR / Kart Republic) looking to break up the order up front.

A new champion will be crowned in the Mini Swift category, which features 53 drivers. Those returning with success last year in the class include race winner Kai Johnson (Energy), Oliver Wheldon (JC / Kosmic), Asher Ochstein (Supertune / Tony Kart), Tyler Roberts (Parolin USA), Carson Weinberg (SCR / CRG) and Sarah Bradley (Parolin USA). Notable rookies in the class moving up from Micro include last year’s champion Keelan Harvick (Harvick / Nitro Kart) along with top contenders Ethan and Jackson Tovo (Nitro Kart), Tristan Murphy (Nitro Kart), SKUS Pro Tour champion Gianmatteo Rousseau (Supertune / Tony Kart) and Lucas Palacio (TKG / Kart Republic). Others to watch include Salvador dell Vecchia (SAR / Parolin), two-time Challenge of the Americas winner Gage Korn (Race Factory), and many more.

New faces are the emphasis in the 41-driver Micro Swift class. With many of last year’s front runners graduating, many drivers will be new to the front of the field. One that is returning is Ashton Woon (Nitro Kart), who is coming off two wins on the west coast at Challenge of the Americas. Rocco Simone (Parolin USA), Drew Walz (Birel ART), and Benja Fernandez (TKG / Kart Republic) showed well this winter at the SKUSA Winter Series. Other names will move up as we go on through the weekend and the season.

Be sure to follow EKN all weekend long with daily reports along with social media updates, photos, videos and more from the Orlando Kart Center to open up the 2022 United States Pro Kart Series with two rounds of racing for the Southern Grand Prix.

Provisional X30 Pro Entry List

Provisional KA100 Senior Entry List

Provisional X30 Junior Entry List

Provisional KA100 Junior Entry List

Provisional X30 Masters Entry List

Provisional Mini Swift Entry List

Provisional Micro Swift Entry List

Share on Facebook

Tweet