Tony Kart West unveils 2010 Race Team

The 2010 racing season will be an ambitious one for Tony Kart West. The west coast arm of the world-famous brand of Tony Karts will compete in no less than four of the country’s premier karting championships. The nationwide Championship Karting International, as well as the regional Gatorz Challenge of the Americas, ProKart Challenge, and IKF Region 7 will all see the Buddy Rice-owned team compete with stout driving talent and a fleet of Tony Karts.

Success has already come in the early season for the team as they grabbed their first wins of 2010 when the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas visited the home track for Tony Kart West– the Formula K Raceway in Phoenix. Gustavo Menezes took the win in the competitive Rotax Senior class on Saturday, thoroughly dominating the day. A week later, Menezes backed up that victory with a pole position and victory in TaG Senior at the Pro Kart Challenge season opener. Menezes will also be competing in the Pro Kart Challenge and Championship Karting International for Tony Kart West.

Another winner at the Gatorz event in Phoenix for Tony Kart West was cadet driver Parker Thompson, who hails from Red Deer, Albert, Canada. Thompson took the win in Saturday’s Minimax class, with an exciting last-lap pass for the win. Larry Hayashigawa, competing in Rotax Masters, also had a strong weekend for Tony Kart West, finishing sixth on Saturday and fourth on Sunday.

Joining the team for Pro Kart Challenge competition will be Californian Ray Robinson, who will compete in S2, S4 driver Jason Campbell from Phoenix, G1 driver Joe Di Vito from Phoenix, and TaG Junior driver Emmanuel Mestre, another Californian. All four drivers competed at the first Pro Kart Challenge race of the season at Calspeed, where Campbell won S4 with a dominating 9-second margin of victory, while Mestre took pole in TaG Junior and finished the main in third.

In IKF Region 7 competition, Kolton Griffin will compete in HPV2 while Anthony Willis will compete in Kid Kart. Both drivers hail from Phoenix. The IKF Region 7 squad will be in action this weekend at the series stop at Formula K Raceway in Phoenix. Thompson, who won three of four cadet classes at last year’s Phoenix IKF round, will also compete.

“We are very excited for our 2010 season," said Marc Miller, team principal for Tony Kart West. “We have been fortunate to assemble a great lineup of drivers who will do well on our 2010 Tony Karts. Our results early in the season have already been great and we are looking forward to many more wins this season."