SKUSA SENDS

DRIVERS BACK
TO SCHOOL
UNLV Plays Host To
8th Annual Supernationals
The restructuring and rebounding SKUSA
organization moved their premiere event
from the Rio Hotel and Casino to Sam Boyd
Stadium, the football home of UNLV. The
facility and staff of Sam Boyd stadium both
proved to be exceptional hosts for the eighth
edition of the Supernationals.

Jason Bowles, winner of

ICC for Compcor and
Ron Huber.

Approximately 222 entries in nine classes

competed for the top spots on the podium. The
course proved a challenging and exciting mix
of tight hairpins, long straights, sweepers, and
fast, tight corners. No driver had a complaint
about the course design, although the smooth-
ness (or lack there of in places) was mentioned
more than once. Either way, the racing proved
intense and exciting.
However, the weekend was not without
tragedy. Early Friday morning, Compcor
(TonyKart USA) President, Ron Huber suf-
fered fatal injuries in an off-track “scooter”
accident.
Qualifying and the pre-finals for both the
ICC and TaG classes evoked a few surprises.
With over forty entries in ICC, SKUSA made
the wise decision to split qualifying into two
groups. The 2002 SKUSA S-1 Supernationals
Champion, Tad Funakoshi, took the pole on

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 his Energy/Swedetech edge out Jerry Henderson making it an all Biland front row. Michael
Pavesi at a 50.916. The Brookes, Brian Schafer, and Jeff Mills rounded out the top five.
Italkart of David Jurca However, almost as soon as the stop buttons were pressed on the
was close behind at TaGs, the controversy began. With factory support and a shipment of
50.954, and in third, “suitcase” motors coming from Europe, the Biland motors became the
somewhat of a sur- center of attention. The rumors flying around the paddock were that
prise, was the new the Biland factory brought six motors with new exhausts, coils, and
Trackmagic FTR of other unapproved TaG USA parts.
Kyle Martin. Tenth
In the TaG Sr. pre-final, Tomas Scheckter showed why he is one
place qualifier, Patrick
of the fastest professional drivers in the country. Scheckter’s Tony/
Long, also surprised
Leopard beat-out Henderson by 1.6 seconds. Freckleton, the 2003
many onlookers in the
Supernationals TaG Champion, was third. Clayton Snow recovered
new Zanardi chassis.
from a huge crash with a hydro-barrier in qualifying to take fourth in
G1 qualifying was the pre-final; followed closely by Toby Scheckter.
rather uneventful with
Rock Island Grand Prix
Looking down from the top of Sam Boyd Masters class winner The podium was
Stadium makes the course appear like a well placed at the
Bonnier Moulton win-
“mini-Monaco”. base of Sam Boyd
ning the pole in his
Stadium
Tony Kart with a time
of 51.939. Kelly Baker and P.P. Mastro followed in second and third
places, respectively; while the number N1 of Howie Idelson and num-
ber N6 of Thomas Kutscher rounded out the top five.
When qualifying was over for the TaG classes, the 250cc 4 cycle
Bilands were dominate. Jerry Henderson took the pole for TaG Sr. in
his Azzuro/Biland. The 4 cycle pilot delivered a pole winning time
of 54.644. Henderson was followed in TaG Sr. by IRL star Tomas
Sheckter on a Tony powered by a Leopard at 54.718. Fritz J. Leesmann
in a GP/Comer qualified third, followed by the two Tony/Vortex Roks
of Chris Freckleton and Brian Hosford.
The TaG Masters pole went to another Biland pilot. Garrick Miller
of Jim McCulloch Racing, cut a lap of 55.692 in his GP/Biland to

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January 2005.indd 21 5/6/08 10:00:45 AM

 The TaG Masters Pre-Final was an easy looked back.
win for Henderson and his Biland. Miller in Henderson staved off challenges from
his Biland would start the final in second. It the older Scheckter brother early, using the
seemed as if the long shot 4 cycles heading amazing straightaway speed of his Biland.
into the Vegas weekend, were the class of As the race unfolded, Tomas’s kart appeared
the field. to lose power and faded into a great fight
Capping off the excitement on Saturday with his brother and Colby Jenn in an
were the finals for both the large Comer Italkart/Leopard.
Cadet class and the much anticipated TaG For the final five laps, Toby Scheckter
Senior class. Eighteen Comers took the (Tony/Vortex Rok) established himself as a
green flag; however, not quite as many made legitimate threat to Henderson’s win. With
it through the first turn. A red flag came
out when Jonathan St. Ours in his “Sponge
Bob Squarepants” decorated Top Kart went
upside down in the first corner. St. Ours was
uninjured.
When the race got back underway, it was
an intense four kart battle for the win. Donny
St. Ours (Top Kart) took the victory over
Dusty Davis in the KartMini chassis. Zach
Zimmerly was a close third (Top Kart), with
Gustavo Menezes and Brandon Underwood
rounding out the top five.
Again, it was the TaG Sr. class that
provided the fireworks (and controversy). It
took extra attempts to get the race started,
as pole-sitter Tomas Scheckter brought the
field down at a pace quicker than most Mayhem in the
Comer class, but
expected. When the race got underway,
everyone was okay.
Jerry Henderson took the lead and never

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January 2005.indd 22 5/6/08 10:01:09 AM

 two laps to go, the pair was nose to tail.
Scheckter showed his hand a bit early, as he
looked to the outside of Henderson in turn
10 (which would have put him on the inside
for 11).
On the final lap, Henderson drove a very
defensive line exiting turn 10, which didn’t
allow the younger Scheckter on the outside.
However, Henderson was pinching the kart
through turn 11: exiting slower and in front
of Scheckter. They touch!

A birdʼs-eye vie of the pits.

Scheckter leads Henderson across the

line to claim the victory. However, after
about a 15-minute debate, the SKUSA offi-
cials overturned the pass, due to Scheckter’s
“aggressive pass” (which this reporter is
sure would have been okay in Europe or
NASCAR). The final results for TaG Sr: Jerry
Henderson (Azzuro/Biland), Toby Scheckter
( To n y / Vo r t e x
Rok), Colby Jenn
(Italkart/Leopard),
Tomas Scheckter
(Tony/ Leopa rd),
and James Rooke
(Tony/Rotax).
The Pre-Final
for the ICC race
could have eas-
ily been an All-
Stars of Shifter
Karting Feature.
Shifter stars like:
Darren Elliott,
Wesley Boswell,
A.J. Noud, Alan
Rudolph, James
Hinchcliffe, and
Tomas Scheckter fast-qualifier Tad
was strong all Funakoshi were
weekend, but lost vying for the final
power in the TaG transfer spots into
Sr. Final. the ICC Feature.
Elliot (CRG/
Maxter) cruised to an easy win followed
by Boswell, Noud, Rudolph, and Jackson.
Fast-qualifier, Funakoshi’s bad day contin-
ued as he clipped a bale on the third lap.
Funakoshi was in the LCQ due to being
underweight after dominating his Pre-Final;
at this point, Funakoshi thought the weekend
had ended.

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January 2005.indd 23 5/6/08 10:01:33 AM

 About a half an hour after the checkered flags, SKUSA
took a page from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and
broke with the tradition of starting only the top pre-deter-
mined number of drivers in the premier class. On Sunday
afternoon, forty-three drivers would take the green flag in
the ICC Final.
For the ICC Final, pre-final winners Jason Bowles
(TonyKart USA/Vortex) and Ron White (RC-20 CRG/Pavesi)
made up the front row, and were both favorites for the win.
Guns such as Boswell, Elliot, Rudolph, and others were start-
ing near the back. All these scenarios were going to make for
an exciting ICC final, but there were other finals to contend
first adding to the suspense.
Brian Keck, in a CRG, easily won the Formula S1 Final The majority of
the Supernationals
by just over four seconds. Rene Silva and Joseph Barros were
track.

second and third, respectively. The final two podium spots

New nose: were consumed by 125cc newcomers: Daniel Morad and
$50, Win in Robert Wickens, both of Canada.
Supernationals:
The Formula S3 (SKUSA’s new stock 125cc class)
Priceless for
Bonnier Moulton victory went to Kevin Casey (Top Kart) by over 8.7 sec-
in G1. onds! Grant Wetmorland (GP) and Tom Levenburg (Birel)
finished second and third, respectively. Matt Kimball won
Formula K1, and was followed by John Van-Nghiem. The
Formula K2 final was won by Jeremy Reagles, second
going to Billy Goshen, and third to Maxima Pelletier. The
K3 final was the closest finish of the weekend at 0.193.
Gustavo Menezes was the winner, second was Brandon
Underwood, third Connor De Phillippi, and fourth Zach
Zimmerly.
The G1 final proved to be one of the most exciting races
of the weekend. There were thirty starters in the ‘over 35’

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January 2005.indd 25 5/6/08 10:02:04 AM


Jerry Henderson (10) and Garrick
Miller (39J) both drove perfect events,
but were victims the Biland DQʼs.
26 NATIONAL KART NEWS
January 2005.indd 26
class, with National #1 Howie Idelson
(First Kart) starting in the back due to a
problem in the pre-final. Idelson proved
why he has the N1 plate, and would drive
an excellent race to finish sixth from his
29th starting spot.
Up front the action was just as intense.
P.P. Mastro (KRT/TM) started on the pole,
following his pre-final victory. Sam Walls
(RBI/Pavesi) would start second. Walls
took the early lead, but it wasn’t too soon
before Mastro found his way back to the
front. But, quietly sneaking through the
field was fast-qualifier Bonnier Moulton.
Shortly after the halfway point, Moulton
showed why his Tony-Vortex was the fast-
est kart in G1, by taking the lead! At the
end, it was Moulton, Mastro, Chris Farrell,
Greg Smith, and Todd Vandermolen on
the podium (in that order).
The TaG Masters event proved to
be the “spark which ignited the fire”
for the controversy regarding the “suit-
case” Biland engines. Jerry Henderson
(Azzuro/Biland) and Garrick Miller (GP/
Biland) made up the front row. From the
start, the two 4-stroke pilots proved to
be the class of the field, with Michael
Brookes (Intrepid/Leopard) somewhat
being able to challenge Miller. Henderson
led from flag-to-flag, easily winning his
second TaG feature of the weekend. All
weekend, Jerry Henderson did a master-
ful job of driving.
However, shortly after the conclusion
of the TaG Masters final, SKUSA confis-
cated the first and second place Bilands
for “further inspection”.
A week after the Supernationals,
SKUSA issued a brief statement on their
5/6/08 10:02:42 AM
 website: “Two drivers have been disqualified
from the Supernationals as their engines
did not meet proper criteria set forth by the
manufacturer and importer.”
At the time this article went to print,
SKUSA Technical Director, Marty Casey,
had not returned our emails regarding fur-
ther information. The motors were not for
sale, and were promptly returned to Europe.
The adjusted results for TaG Sr. are:
Toby Scheckter (Tony/Vortex Rok), Colby
Jenn, Thomas Scheckter, James Rooke, and
Fritz Leesmann. In TaG Masters the revised
podium was as follows: Michael Brookes
(Intrepid/Leopard), Shayne Shipley, Gary
Butler, John Crow, and Brian Manley.
Politics aside, it’s time for the premier
show of Supernationals 8: the Pro ICC class.
Forty-three of the best shifter drivers in
January 2005.indd 27
North America wage a battle for the title of
2004 Supernationals Champion.
The pre-final heats for the ICCs pro-
duced a few favorites for the finals, but
Ron White and Jason Bowles would be the
center of attention. White had performed
flawlessly in his RC-20 CRG/Pavesi, and
appeared to be quietly confident he could
fend off any challenge. Bowles, a member of
the Compcor TonyKart USA team, showed
the emotions of the team’s loss of Ron Huber
in his eyes.
On the start, Bowles got the hullshot into
the lead as White fought hard on the outside.
White and Bowles touch! Both White and
Bowles slid back as Jordy Vorrath (Italkart/
TM) took the lead. White continued to fight
into the second corner, until more contact
with Itallkart’s David Jurca ended both of
their days: two top ten starters out by the
JANUARY 2005 27
5/6/08 10:03:12 AM
 second corner.
By the time the lap counts began to move
into the teens, Vorrath’s Italkart began to Jason Bowles, winner of
lose its handling, as Bowles and Alan Sciuto ICC for Compcor and Ron
Huber.
began to stalk the leader. Sciuto, the newly
crowned SKUSA national #1, methodically
had picked his way up through the pack to
challenge for the victory.

With about five laps to go, Sciuto moved team and just about everyone in the paddock.
into the lead. Bowles quickly followed by Upon taking his position on the top step of
passing Vorrath for second. A classic battle the podium, Bowles dedicated the race to
began to take shape: 3-S Birel vs. Compcor his late team owner, Ron Huber. Disney or
TonyKart USA, Sciuto vs. Bowles for the NASCAR, could not have produced a better
ICC SKUSA Supernational title. finish.
On the final lap as Sciuto began to
decelerate following the backstraight, his
An emotional
engine stuck! Bowles took evasive action
weekend ends
with its origi- and dodged the sliding Sciuto to take the
nal goal for lead with less than a half lap to go!
Jason Bowles: As Bowles crossed the line, the emotions
victory in ICC. and tears began to flow among the Compcor

The remainder of the ICC podium was

just as happy, and somewhat surprised, as
Bowles to be there. Kyle Martin drove a
steady race to bring the new Trackmagic
chassis home second and Jordy Vorrath
settled for third as he lost the handling in
the second half of the race. Kyle Wiegand
guided his GP/Pavesi to a steady fourth and
Brett Buckwalter was welcomed back to the
podium in his fifth place finishing Reynard/
IKTL TM.
As the weekend ended, a few conclu-
sions could be drawn. SKUSA found a great
new home for the Supernationals at Sam
Boyd Stadium. The track layout was excel-
lent, the staff friendly and helpful, and the
event was as exciting as any in the country.
Racing in each and every class was exciting
and close: we can’t wait for next year!

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