Team BRK scored a pair of wins at Gatorz Challenge of the Americas, Phoenix, while Matt Johnson won the first TAG event of the SKUSA Season in Buttonwillow.
Team BRK Energy rolled into Phoenix for round 2 of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas with high expectations. “Round 1 in Tucson was very successful for the team'” said Buddy Rice, owner of BRK. “We were hoping to improve on those results here in Phoenix. The team has a lot of experience at PKRA and it translated into two wins for BRK Energy.” Jacob Hudson led the team in wins with two, doubling up in Micro Max. Hudson was on fire in Saturday's prefinal moving up from 7th to 3rd in only a few laps. His momentum carried on through the main event as he worked his way up into the lead. Attacks came right and left in the closing circuits, but Hudson held strong for his first win of the season, taking the points for fast lap in the process. Hudson was again quickest of all Micro Max competitors in the Sunday final, but a problem in the prefinal saw him start the main event from the back of the pack. It didn't take long for Hudson and his #453 Energy to to make his way to the front. 2nd place was up for grabs, but a clear head and a heavy right foot powered Hudson to his second win of the weekend. Micro Max teammate Derek DesLauriers finished 4th on Saturday aboard his Energy.
Other top five performances in Phoenix came from BRK Drivers Royal McKee (4th Mini Max Saturday, 3rd Mini Max Sunday), Christian Brooks (4th Mini Max Sunday), Larry Hayashigawa (5th Rotax Masters Saturday)
Andrew Zimmer was back in competition after being out of the seat for a while and showed great promise in Rotax Sr. Zimmer started Sunday's final from P2, but after being forced off track early he dropped back to 24th. Zimmer fought his way back to 11th, running laps times as quick as the leader. Expect to see him at the front at CalSpeed.
Drivers under the BRK Trackside Support tent: Christian Brooks, John Wallace III, Royal McKee, Travis Lowe, Alejandro Fernandez, Derek DesLauriers, Harindra De Silva, Larry Hayashigawa, Thomas Boost, Marco Eakins (Black Flag Racing), Andrew Zimmer (Black Flag Racing), and Jacob Hudson (Black Flag Racing).
Matt Johnson began his season with a big win for BRK Energy in the opening round of SKUSA's Pro Kart Challenge. Johnson qualified 5th in the 25-kart TAG field but went on to win both heat races, sitting on the pole for the final. BRK teammate Travis Lowe qualified 3rd and finished both heats in 2nd place, making it an all BRK front row to start the main event. The BRK duo battled each other as well as two rivals in the final with the lead changing multiple times. An incident on lap 14 cost Lowe a chance at victory, but veteran driver Johnson was able to bring it home for BRK Energy. Both Johnson and Lowe will be hunting for the regional championship as well as top honors at the SKUSA Pro Tour.
Carter Williams flew the BRK flag in TAG Junior, fighting his way to a 2nd place finish in the 20-lap main event. Williams too is expected to be a championship contender and one to watch at the upcoming Pro Tour events.
Reigning Rotax National Champion Christian Brooks was the other BRK Energy driver who brought home a top five finish. Brooks finished 4th with his Mini ROK after chasing down 2nd and 3rd late in the contest.
Drivers under the BRK Trackside Support tent: Matt Johnson, Travis Lowe, Thomas Boost, Christian Brooks, Carter Williams, and Eric Nascimento.
Photo by Tony Leone | www.dromophotos.com
Caption: Matt Johnson scored the TAG win at Pro Kart Challenge
** Owned by 2004 Indy 500 winner and 2009 24 Hours of Daytona winner Buddy Rice, Buddy Rice Karting LLC is the official importer of Energy Karts, and OTK kart parts and proud distributors of OMP, Uni Pro and Rotax. Buddy Rice Karting services dealers across the United States and Mexico and competes in several national and regional race series including Gatorz, IKF, and SKUSA. BRK is conveniently located just 5 minutes from the CalSpeed Karting Center.
Www.buddyricekarting.com
Call 909.854.5350, or Fax 909.854.5333
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