April and May have been busy for SwedeTech customers throughout the country. Events such as the Region 11 IKF, SKUSA Mountain and Central States Series, ProKart North and South, and the CKI event in Phoenix have all taken place in a short amount of time.
Region 11 IKF action took place at the Prairie City Facility in early May. Kiel Spaulding headed out to this challenging facility and took control of the HPV 2 Jr. Class. For the day, Kiel was the mark as he qualified on pole, won the heat, and walked away with the win in the main event. Fellow competitor, David Vasquez, was on a loaner SwedeTech from a fellow racer, and had a good weekend as well. Qualifying 4th, Vasquez picked up one spot in the heat and for the main would finish with a solid second.
Austin Schimmel
For the first round of the SKUSA Mountain Region, SwedeTech was trackside supporting the new regional series. The temporary layout of the track received great feedback from the competitors. Colorado has a strong pocket of S5 talent, which is the Jr. Stock Moto package that SKUSA has been promoting for a few years. Austin Schimmel put his SwedeTech powered Honda on pole to start the weekend. New to the S5 class, Eli Ziegler placed his machine in the fourth spot. In the first two heat races, Schimmel and another fellow competitor put on a fun show. Each driver claimed quick lap for each heat. At the end of the day, Austin would bring home a hard fought second. Eli was able to drive from the back to finish 4th in the main event.
Anthony Giannone entered the TaG Sr class powered by a Vortex Rok TT. Anthony had second wrapped up all weekend long, with a strong qualifying effort, two seconds in the heats, and a second place in the main event.
In the combined S1, S4, and G1 event, I have to place Mike McDonough in this press release (even though he is not on a SwedeTech). Mike runs the Masters Stock Moto class (S4) and he showed the young kids the way around the track and put his machine on pole. Cory Milne placed his SwedeTech Stock Moto in the 4th spot. In Heat 1, Milne race was cut short due to an on track incident. In Heat 2, Milne moved from the back of the pack to finish third. In the main, Milne grabbed the fastest lapped on his way to a solid 2nd place finish.
Shooting back over to the West Coast, the SKUSA ProKart North Series has had two events in the past month. For Round Three, Austin Keller was on hand running the TaG Jr class. Austin is having a good year in the TaG Jr field, and round three netted Austin an overall 4th place finish, with a second in the heat race. At a separate event, SwedeTech received word that Austin was involved in a karting crash that broke some bones, so we wish Austin a speedy recovery so he can represent SwedeTech at a race in the near future.
The ProKart North Series has a handful of good S1 drivers, and Round 3 was not an exception. For Qualifying, Nic Le Duc posted a quick time for the overall second spot. For the heat races, Nic grabbed a win and a second. For the main event, Le Duc laid down the fastest lap and after the checkered, was officially classified with a 3rd place finish. HPV 2 Jr was running again with the ProKart North series, and Daniel Langon was on a borrowed SwedeTech HPV from Shawn Thomas Racing. Daniel laid down a fast lap to grab the pole position. During the heats, Daniel had to drive hard grabbing two top five finishes. But when it counted Daniel Langon was able to put the borrowed HPV at the front of the field and came home with the win.
Round 4 of the ProKart North Series saw a new entry, but a very familiar name, entered in the S1 class. Alex Speed would make a return to the Honda package for this round of the ProKart North event. Alex didn’t miss a step, putting his SwedeTech Stock Moto on pole. Teammates Jason Toft and Nic Le Duc followed suit by qualifying third and fourth. In the Heat 1, Toft, Le Duc, and Speed would finish second, third and fourth. Heat 2, Speed would find his way back to the front for the heat win, and Toft would finish third. In the main, the field was stirred when Speed pulled his package off the track with a failed carburetor needle clip. With Alex watching the race, teammate Jason Toft put his package upfront for the main event win. Nic Le Duc would drive from the back to finish third.
In other Round 4 action, Austin Thomas placed his new My09 Leopard on pole. With two strong heat race finishes and setting the fastest lap, Austin was in a strong position all day. When the final checkered flew, Austin came home with a well deserved third place finish.
From regional racing to national events, SwedeTech was represented in Phoenix at the CKI event by Kiel Spaulding in Tag Jr and Raquel Martinez in the KF3 classes. Raquel had a superb weekend of racing in the KF3 class with her SwedeTech Vortex. Raquel almost pulled off a perfect sweep of the weekend, with the exception of a second place finish during a heat. Raquel would walk away from the event as the KF3 weekend champion.
Raquel Martinez
In the other Jr class, Kiel Spaulding had his work cut out for him. Running in the top three all weekend long, Kiel put his SwedeTech Leopard machine at the front of the pack when it counted. Taking home both Main event victories for the weekend, Kiel would earn the TaG Jr weekend champion title.
Kiel Spaulding