Praga Karting at SKUSA SuperNationals: Report

Praga karting has their first US karting race experience

21 November 2011, Las Vegas, USA —

It was a long week for the Praga Kart Racing Team, who traveled to Las Vegas, USA to compete in their first ever US karting race, SKUSA SuperNationals. The team faced some setbacks, but still pushed through to make a respectable showing for their debut at the karting race, the last one of a very successful premiere season in karting.

The Praga Kart Racing Team arrived in Las Vegas on Monday the 14th, and spent the day recovering from a nearly 24-hour long journey from Europe. On Tuesday the team spent the day working to prepare the karts for the next day, which was the first official day of free practice.

Wednesday, the first practice day, the Praga karting team encountered a few problems. The first was not having their Tec-Sav engines, which were stuck at customs in Los Angeles. The team was able to rent Parilla engines, however the performance of these engines is about a fifth lower than the Tec-Sav. This also caused Praga karting driver Lucie Panáčková to switch from KZ to S1 class, but during free practice she proved herself, transitioning seamlessly. Wednesday also saw Matthew Di Leo, Canadian Praga karting driver from Goodwood, crash and injure his leg and arm, thus removing him from competition.

Praga karting was looking good at friday’s qualifying, Bas Lammers took 2nd in the KZ class, with Patrik Hájek in 14th and Martin Doubek in 17th. In the Cadet P2 group, Boris Marek Machulda was 5th and Petr Ptáček Jr. was 13th. In the G1 class, Petr Ulbert finished 8th and in S1 Lucie Panáčková was 19th.

Saturday morning was also promising for the karting team. Bas Lammers finished the day strong, ending up overall in 3rd place, while Patrik Hájek finished 12th and Martin Doubek was 31st. In the G1 class Petr Ulbert finished the day well, ending up 9th overall, and Lucie Panáčková was able to finish 6th, placing her in the 17th position overall.

The main event on Sunday: in KZ, Lammers pulled ahead in the beginning, but problems with his engine caused his kart to lose speed and he was unable to recover, finishing 10th. It was later discovered that a coil broke and separated from the exhaust, and this resulted in a dramatic drop in performance. Petr Ulbert improved on the previous day’s performance and finished in 8th place in the G1 class. Finally, with some luck, Lucie Panáčková finished the weekend in 6th place in the S1 class, overtaking 11 drivers from her original 17th position.

Even with some setbacks, it was a great week for Praga karting. This was a learning experience, and a chance to get the Praga brand into the spotlight in America, which it definitely did. The new Praga karting chassis performed brilliantly and received much positive feedback from drivers. This is just the beginning for Praga karting, who will be exhibiting at their first karting show, the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, from 1st to 3rd of December.

Praga Kart Racing Team Final Results:

KZ

Bas Lammers – 10th

Patrik Hajek –  15th

Martin Doubek- 14th

S1

Lucie Panackova – 6th

G1

Petr Ulbert – 8th

Petr Ptacek – 17th

TaG Cadet

Marek Boris Machulda – 34th

Visit the karting results page to see all of Praga karting’s results for the season.