Category Archives: Sonoma

2020 California ROK Championship Kicks Off This Weekend in Phoenix

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June 19-20 event to welcome 100 PLUS entries at Phoenix Kart Racing Association facility

A record breaking event is set for this weekend when the California ROK Championship program opens up its 2020 season. The second year of the series begins with a trip outside the Golden State to the Phoenix Kart Racing Association on June 19-20 in Glendale, Arizona. The ROK Cup USA regional program made the move to PKRA amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order still in place for California just over one month ago. With a near three month break away from the kart track or any racing, the staff and supporters of the series is welcoming a record number of entries for this weekend’s event in Phoenix. Continue reading →

Challenge of the Americas Cancels 2020 Series Finale

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The following is a statement from Andy Seesemann from Challenge of the Americas regarding their series finale for the 2020 season.

It should come as no surprise that the Challenge of the Americas finale at Sonoma Raceway, originally scheduled for the end of March and rescheduled for May 15-17, is now cancelled. As I announced back in March, this would be the only date change for the series, and if we had to postpone again, the series would officially end for 2020.

It was an extremely disappointing outcome, as the Challenge of the Americas has huge momentum. We had just had a series record in February, with another record likely to be set at our Sonoma finale. While some other California clubs and series opened with kart counts that were a fraction of what they were just a couple of years ago, COTA was breaking records. That is a great sign for the future of ROK racing in the West. Continue reading →

Challenge of the Americas finale postponed until May 15-17, 2020

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Wow. What a difference 3 hours makes.

About an hour ago, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of CA, made a executive order to mandate that all gatherings with more than 250 people be cancelled or postponed for the next few weeks. This is no longer a recommendation, it is an executive mandate, carrying with it certain penalties.

At that point, the track and I were forced to officially postpone the Challenge of the Americas finale to May 15-17, 2020.

This was already a California ROK Championship event weekend on our calendar. We will determine how to blend the two events at a later date. The event obviously will be at Sonoma. There is no need right now to discus any details, as I simply wanted to get this information out to everyone.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but I certainly hope that everyone understands the position that we have all been put in.

If this May event gets cancelled by any further issues with COVID-19, the 2020 Challenge of the Americas will officially end. There will not be another postponement .

Thank you for your continued support throughout this difficult situation.

Andy

Sonoma 2020 COVID-19 Update

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Hello Everyone.

Obviously the book on COVID-19 added a few chapters over the past 24-48 hours. We are already looking at our options for the upcoming Challenge of the Americas event at Sonoma.

From the standpoint of my staff and myself, we are good to go. I am a realist when it comes to this stuff and refuse to panic, although I do respect everyone’s right to their own opinions. I know that all of our racers and teams have already made an investment and are concerned and curious to see how this plays out. Trust me, with prepaid plane tickets for staff, rental cars, hotel rooms, track rentals, insurance binders and $150,000 in tires and fuel en route to Sonoma, I know how you feel.

That being said, we are in discussions with the track. We will create a drop dead date, for lack of a better word, that the track can say “yay or nay” on the event. We will probably let things settle out over the weekend and make an additional statement on Monday with more solid information.

Obviously, we have no control what any county, state or Federal agency demands, as we are at their mercy. That is the real variable. I know that they are focusing on “events”, and ignoring every McDonalds and supermarket that sees many many more people each day than our event does.

Many of you have called or texted and I am not ignoring you. It would simply take me all day to answer each one of you individually and tell this exact same story. There are no further details available at this time, so please don’t call and ask for “anything more that I can share”.

Talk again on Monday and hopefully see you in two weeks at Sonoma!

Andy

2020 CALIFORNIA ROK CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM CONFIRMED

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Schedule and partnership with ROK Sonoma forms the four-event championship series under ROK Cup USA banner.

ORANGE, CA (December 23, 2019) – The California ROK Championship, launched in 2019, has become an outlet for ROK Cup USA drivers to enjoy a regional traveling series within the ‘Golden State’. As numbers increase across the state and throughout North America under the ROK Cup USA banner, the 2020 California ROK Championship program is expecting growth for the new season. The rise in support is due to the new partnership between FTK Promotions and ROK Sonoma to form a four-round championship program in 2020.

FTK Promotions, owner and promoter of the California ROK Championship and Challenge of the Americas, has formed the partnership with the ROK Sonoma program that compete monthly at the Simraceway Performance Karting Center at the Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The ROK Sonoma program will host two events that will count toward the California ROK Championship, with two other events hosted by FTK Promotions to form the four-event schedule for 2020. Continue reading →