April was a very busy month for the Comet Racing Engines support team starting with the Route 66 Series season opener April 10th to 12th in Springfield, IL. Comet was on hand to lend technical and parts support at the event. Aiden Hinds had a great weekend scoring a pole, a win and a 2nd in the new Micro Rok class as well as picking up the win in Yamaha Rookie and a 2nd place finish. Spike Kohlbecker on the Margay kart took a pole in Yamaha Junior with a 3rd place and 4th place finish in the finals. It was a great result for Spike, who just moved up from the Sportsman classes to Junior this season. In Yamaha Cadet Aiden Harrington took a 5th place finish on the Merlin.

 The next weekend Comet traveled to Mooresville, NC for the second round of the 2015 WKA Manufacturers Cup. WKA has implemented a new format this season with Qualifying and Heats on Saturday and the Finals on Sunday. With the new format in place there is only one winner in each class per weekend which definitely adds to the prestige of winning the class Final. Zach Holden checked out in rain conditions in Pro Iame Jr. winning the Final by some 15 seconds on the Top Kart. Jack Miller and David Malukas were 4th and 7th respectively, also on Top Kart, with Garrett Moran in 11th on a Tony Kart.

Pro Leopard Sr. was all Comet with Jacob Donald winning the final on the Praga. Derek Dignan was 2nd on an FA Kart, Nick Landi in 3rd on a Tony, Calvin Ming in 5th on a Praga. The race was dominated early by Dustin Stross on the Top Kart, building up a 5 second lead and definitely the class of the field before a broken chain ended his race heartbreakingly early.

Donald Whorton II continued to excel in the Yamaha Rookie class finishing 2nd on the Tony. Riley Erickson was 8th on her Top Kart.

David Malukas was 2nd in Yamaha Junior, Zach Holden was 3rd, Drew Lindley crossed the stripe in 6th on an FA with David Kalb 11th also on FA and Savannah Fitzgerald in 13th on a Tony.

Nick Landi almost had a perfect weekend in the Yamaha Pipe class with the Pole on Saturday on his FA Kart, winning the heats and prefinals before contact in the final relegated him to 4th in the final. Tony Peterson just moved up to the Senior ranks this year and had a great finish with a 3rd in the final on a CRG and Mike Gnad was 5th.

X30 Pro was another all Comet Racing Engines affair sweeping the Top 5 positions! Bradley Zilisch took his first WKA National win on a Tony Kart, Derek Dignan was 2nd (Praga), Dustin Stross 3rd (Top), Alex Kardashian 4th (Top) and Pete "Rik Ratchet" Maletto was 5th on a Deadly Kart.

Madison Campeau was 5th in the Yamaha Sportsman final on her Praga. Kaden Wharff was 6th on a Top Kart with Ryan Detlor (Praga) 9th and Aiden Lindley (Birel) 10th.

Luca Mars was 3rd in qualifying on a new Comp Kart in the Mini Swift class. Chandler Moran finished 6th in the final with Madison Campeau 7th, Kaden Wharff 9th and Ryan Detlor 10th.

For Comet's final April road trip the team was back in Mooresville, NC for the opening round of the United States Pro Kart Series. It was a great turnout with a lot of incredible races on track.

Leopard Pro was ran in the wet on Saturday with Jacob Donald, the resident Mooresville rainmeister, taking the victory on the Praga Kart. Andrick Zeen was 7th also on Praga, Dignan 8th on FA, Stross 10th on the Top Kart and Nick Landi 11th on the FA.

Leopard Pro on Sunday once again seen Jacob Donald at the front of the field fighting for the victory. With 3 to go the lead kart started aggressively blocking which cost Jake and the leader over a second per lap. During the dust up the third place kart swept past Jake and the leader to take over the top spot. At the stripe Donald was 2nd, Andrick Zeen raced into 3rd place on the Praga , Stross 6th who was the pole sitter earlier in the day, Calvin Ming 8th on the Praga and Elliott Finlayson in 9th on a Tony.

 Donald Whorton II continued to be a threat for the win at USPKS in the Yamaha Rookie class. Whorton took the pole position on Saturday and Sunday in the class and won the final on Saturday! Sunday would see Whorton fighting for another win, passing for the lead multiple times in the final before crossing the line a very close 2nd on his Tony Kart. Aiden Hinds had a great weekend in the Rookie class with a 4th place on Saturday and improving to 3rd on Sunday on his Praga Kart. Riley Erickson on her Top Kart was 9th on Sunday.

Nick Landi was quickest in qualifying on Saturday to take the pole in Yamaha Pro. Local racer Xander Clements joined him on the front row in 2nd. Landi would end up 2nd in the rain on Saturday with Clements in 4th. In Sunday's final Jacob McWhirter on the Tony Kart was 5th, Landi 6th and Joey Eppink in 11th.

In Yamaha Junior Saturday, David Malukas on the Top Kart started things out strong with the pole position. In the final Malukas took the checkered flag first but was moved back to 2nd place after the race following a collision for the lead. Zach Holden also on the Top Kart was 3rd, Devin Boutot on the Tony was 8th and David Kalb Jr. was 11th on FA. On Sunday Malukas continued to show his speed earning another pole position. In the final Malukas would end up third with Devin Boutot in 7th.

On Saturday Zach Holden would finish the Leopard Junior final on the podium in 3rd. David Malukas was 4th, Braden Eves on the Comp Kart was 7th and Jack Miller was 9th on the Top Kart. On Sunday Malukas would finish 2nd in the final after swapping the lead numerous times on the final two laps of the race, Zach Holden was 4th.

Kaden Wharff continues to impress after his first national podium with a brilliant 3rd place finish on Saturday on the Top Kart. Aiden Harrington was 6th on the Merlin, Ryan Detlor 10th, Cameron Christ was 12th and Madison Campeau 13th. Sunday seen many drivers racing hard for the 3rd to 8th place spots with a train of karts swapping positions all race long. At the flag Ian Hornish was 5th on his PCR, Aiden Harrington took another 6th after running at the front of the pack most of the race, Madison Campeau was 10th and James Lynch 12th.

On Saturday in Mini Rok Luca Mars was unstoppable in the rainy conditions sweeping the day. Unfortunately in post race tech the engine was found to have been altered (Comet was not the original builder of the engine but we still should have caught it) and the engine failed post race tech. Considering the wet conditions the engine in no way contributed to Lucas awesome performance in the rain and Comet is very sorry for the error. Luca is a karting star of the future and will be back in victory lane soon enough!

In the Saturday Mini Rok final Ryan Detlor was 9th, Kaden Wharff 10th, Hannah Greenemeier was 11th and Stone Slattery was 12th. In Sunday's final the top 7 were nose to tail the entire race, at the checkered Luca Mars on the Comp Kart was 7th and Kaden Wharff was 8th.

The 58th annual Purdue University Grand Prix took place April 26th in Lafayette, IN and Jimmy Simpson took his 3rd win in as many years, tying the school record! Only one other driver has won three in a row and Jimmy still has one more year to be the all time winner in the event and we wish him the best of luck! Jimmy won this year's race with a Comet Racing Engines Pipe Yamaha and a Comet Eagle racing kart!

Well that's a wrap for the April race recap. It was a busy month but the long hours and hard work paid off with awesome results and we are proud of all of our customers and their great efforts. May just started and we aren't slowing down with Brandon Jenkins in Phoenix, AZ this weekend for customer support at the SKUSA Spring Nationals! The Comet support trailer will be back on the road May 29th to 31st for the WKA Manufacturers Cup race in Dousman, WI. We hope to see you there!

For more information on Comet Racing Engines and Comet Kart Sales please visit our website at www.cometkartsales.com or call us 317-462-3413.
 

Jimmy Simpson Purdue Grand Prix Story

Former Comet Kart driver Josef Newgarden wins his first IndyCar series race!