With the main goal to build karting as a whole, ROK Cup USA announced today some changes to the already published 2017 schedule. Looking to ease the travel of race teams and drivers, changes have been made to the ROK Cup USA Midwest events at PittRace and Oakland Valley Race Park.
“We have decided to cancel the event scheduled at PittRace on May 12-14 to ease some stress on our customers,” explained ROK Cup USA Director of Operations Garett Potter. “With the SuperKarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour holding their SpringNationals in California the weekend prior and the current schedule putting the Midwest event on Mother’s Day weekend, it was going to put strain on the karting community to travel across the country and compete on back-to-back weekends. With that being said, we have decided to cancel that event and hold a three race Midwest Championship.”
The second event that was scheduled for June 9-11 at Oakland Valley Race Park (OVRP) has been delayed one week to June 16-18 to allow more time for the newly paved facility to cure and be in prime condition for the opening Midwest event.
“We want to try and give the pavement as much time as possible to cure,” explained OVRP’s Tim Hannen. “We are very excited to be on the ROK Cup USA calendar and are much looking forward to show off our fresh racing surface to all the competitors.”
With the second round of the ROK Cup USA Midwest Championship being pushed back to June 16-18, this allows competitors to travel and take advantage of two events as the US Open and United States Rotax Grand Nationals will be held less than 200 miles south the following weekend. The two events at New Castle Motorsports Park (NCMP) on July 7-9 and August 18-20 will remain unchanged. The July 7-9 is the weekend prior to the World Karting Association Manufacturers Cup event held at the same facility while August 18-20 is the weekend following the SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals.
Potter continued, “With the schedule set up like this, we are allowing competitors the opportunity to take advantage of multiple events from different promoters while decreasing the overall travel costs.”
With the goal to build club and regional programs around the country, ROK Cup USA will develop and implement a program to help grow the sport of karting and participation in the ROK product line around the country. With unique programs to be announced in the very near future, the ROK Cup program will continue its tremendous growth all while bringing the customers to the forefront.
“We really want to focus on the club and regional level programs,” added Potter. “We have already been contacted by several clubs and karting series from around the country to build these foundations. We will have more announcements coming including one that will secure the continuation of a popular winter karting program through the January to March months in Florida.”
2017 ROK Cup USA Event Calendar
June 16-18 – ROK Cup Midwest – Oakland Valley Race Park
July 7-9 – ROK Cup Midwest – New Castle Motorsports Park
August 18-20 – ROK Cup Midwest – New Castle Motorsports Park
September 14-17 – United States ROK Cup Finals – Orlando Kart Center
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact ROK CUP USA at (407) 476-5635 or info@rokcupusa.com.