The 10th season of the United States Pro Kart Series continues with the second event of 2022 set for the unofficial home of the program. The Carolina Grand Prix will take place on April 28-May 1 at the GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, North Carolina. History was made at the season opener in Orlando with a record-setting 323 entries over the seven IAME categories. Coming off a full season of four events over the 250-entry mark, USPKS is nearing a second straight above the 300-mark with 298 pre-entries.

Defending X3o Pro champion Ryan Norberg heads into the weekend with a large points lead with his two wins in Orlando (Photo: EKN)

GoPro Motorplex, known as the Mooresville Motorplex when it was constructed in late 2012, served as the inaugural event location for the United States Pro Kart Series in April 2013. The USPKS has visited the Mooresville, North Carolina facility every season, making this the 10th visit. The 7/10-mile circuit is a duplicate of the Parma kart track in Italy, featuring elevation changes and unique 13 turns.

The new event format was introduced at the Southern Grand Prix at the Orlando Kart Center in March to raving reviews. With the large number of entries, qualifying for both rounds is moved to the end of Friday. Sunday qualifying opens up the official timed sessions followed by Saturday qualifying. Four of the seven classes (X30 Pro, KA100 Senior, KA100 Junior, Mini Swift) are broken up into two 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. The Prefinal and Finals will be conducted on Saturday (Round Three) and Sunday (Round Four).

Ryan Norberg (RPG / Kosmic) opened his X30 Pro title defense with two victories at his home track of Orlando Kart Center. The 2021 champion established a 60-point advantage over Alessandro de Tullio (Parolin USA) with Aaron Benoit (URace / Tony Kart) and Canadian Thomas Nepveu (TKG / Kart Republic) the top challengers. All three are not scheduled to compete in Mooresville, giving Norberg even more of a gap in the standings before Round Three begins. The next top challenger is Dutch driver and 2019 FIA KZ World Champion Marijn Kremers (PSL / Birel ART), who now sits inside the top-10 of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings after a busy 2022 winter. RPG teammates Nate Cicero, last year’s winner Hayden Jones and Paul Bocuse are among those that should be in contention and in all the categories, those who call GoPro their home track. Pauly Massimino (RPM / Tony Kart), Dalton Hanes (LEM / Tony Kart) and Tyler Wettengel (SCR / Kart Republic) are among the locals that will be quick all weekend.

Former champion Brandon Lemke is the leading driver in the KA100 Senior standings (Photo: EKN)

The KA100 Senior division is at 65 drivers competing to be in the 40-karts to make the main event each round this weekend. Former champion Brandon Lemke (FMS / Merlin) and Alex Stanfield (GWR / Tony Kart) started out with wins in Orlando, and leading the championship standings. Lemke has the advantage by 35 points. Jeremy Fletcher (GWR / Tony Kart) is third with Connor Ferris (TFR / Kart Republic) in fourth. Massimino won both main events at last year’s series finale at GoPro and running double duty. He leads a lot of locals set to compete including Hanes, Mazda Shootout winner Westin Workman (TimmyTech / CompKart) and Aiden Levy (Harvick / Tony Kart), who all finished inside the top-five at the club race last weekend. Add in Brooke Nachtmann (Tony Kart), Wettengel, Will Robusto (TimmyTech / CompKart) and many others that call GoPro home.

The X30 Junior division is capped at 42 drivers set to battle at GoPro. Caleb Gafrarar (RPG / Kosmic) and Ayden Ingratta (SCR / Redspeed) won the opening two rounds in March, with Gafrarar holding a 10-point advantage over the Canadian entering the weekend. Leonardo Escorpioni (Orsolon / Tony Kart) sits third after two solid third place results in Orlando with Max Garcia (MPG / WPK) fourth. Gafrarar won the club race last weekend at his home track with Escorpioni in fourth and Garcia fifth. Last year’s Mini Swift champion Enzo Vidmontiene (Benik / Kosmic) was second with Ernesto Rivera (RPG / Kosmic) third. Adam Brickley (TKG / Kart Republic) joins Gafrarar as the local contingent battling on the weekend with a host of others from across North America challenging for the podium positions over the two rounds.

Caleb Gafrarar looking to defend home turf in both X30 Junior and KA100 Junior (Photo: EKN)

KA100 Junior has 52 drivers entered on the weekend and the championship chase is far from over. Max Garcia (MPG / WPK) came away with the victory in Round One at Orlando while Steven Miller (CDR / Kosmic) picked up his first USPKS win, named EKN Driver of the Month for March. Garcia enters the Carolina Grand Prix with the point lead while Miller is fifth. Parker DeLong (RPM / Tony Kart), Cooper Shipman (IRM / Tony Kart) and Luke Welcome (Orsolon / Tony Kart) sit in between. Caleb Gafrarar (RPG / Kosmic) won on track Saturday but was penalized for last lap contact fighting for the win with Helio Meza (IRM / Tony Kart). Gafrarar and Meza sit sixth and seventh in the point heading into the weekend. Gafrarar won the club race at his home track ahead of local driver Wesley Gundler (Tony Kart), Rivera, local Mason Walters (OTK) and Beckham Toupikov (Benik / Kosmic), with all four racing this weekend.

Heavy hitters are in the 20-driver field for the X30 Masters class this weekend. Two-time Orlando winner and point leader Danillo Ramalho (REM / Kosmic) is not on the entry list but confirmed he will be in Mooresville to attempt an extension of his win streak. Ramalho holds a 103 point lead over multi-time race winner Scott Roberts (SCR / Redspeed) with two-time defending champion Scott Kopp (FMS / Exprit) in third and last year’s championship runner-up Mario Barrios (RPG / Kosmic) in fourth. 2021 race winner Renato Jader David (Orsolon / Tony Kart) is back, making his 2022 series debut after missing Orlando along with Road America winner Miguel Mier (SCR / Redspeed) and ROK Vegas victor Martin Stone (Exprit).

Two-time Orlando winner Danillo Ramalho is scheduled to compete in X30 Masters (Photo: EKN)

The Mini Swift category is shaping up to be a fight to the very end in the championship. Two different drivers won in Orlando with Salvador della Vecchia (Parolin) and Tyler Roberts (Parolin USA) while Asher Ochstein (Supertune / Tony Kart) leads the championship standings by 24 points over Keelan Harvick (Parolin). Roberts is third with Oliver Wheldon (JC / LN Racing Kart) fourth and Carson Weinberg (SCR / CRG) fifth, all within 58 points. Weinberg won the club race last weekend over Harvick with fellow GoPro regular Carter McMurray (TimmyTech / CompKart) in third. Nitro Kart calls GoPro home, and has a number of drivers under the tent this weekend, including Ethan Tovo, Jackson Tovo, Cade Jaeger and others. 2020 Micro Swift champion Jack Iliffe (IRM / Parolin) is making his 2022 series debut after missing Orlando, along with Vivek Kanthan (Parolin USA).

The Micro Swift class is nearly maxed out with 37 drivers set to compete over the two rounds in ‘Race City USA’. Rocco Simone (Parolin USA) won Round Two and enters the weekend as the point leader in the championship by 57 points over Benja Fernandez (Kart Republic) with Jackson Gibson (RPG / Kosmic) third, Ashton Woon (Nitro Kart) fourth and Kai Mars (Kart Republic) in fifth. Round One winner Marco Sammut (MDR / LN Racing Kart) is seventh behind Drew Walz (Mottaz / Birel ART), all scheduled to compete this weekend.

Be sure to tune in all weekend to www.ekartingnews.com/live for the PA race call for qualifying on Friday, and both rounds of racing on Saturday and Sunday. Follow updates, photos and videos throughout the weekend on EKN Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Provisional X30 Pro Entry List

Provisional KA100 Senior Entry List

Provisional X30 Junior Entry List

Provisional KA100 Junior Entry List

Provisional X30 Master Entry List

Provisional Mini Swift Entry List

Provisional Micro Swift Entry List

Share on Facebook

Tweet