Challenge of the Americas is expanding to four events for the 2025 season (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)
18th season of championship set for changes in schedule
The month of April saw the Challenge of the Americas program complete its 17th season, hosting the 2024 season finale at Sonoma Raceway in California, where it decided this year’s champions at the end of exciting event. Andy Seesemann and his FTK Promotions operation has been a leader in event promotion for almost two decades and the continued success has meant navigating through tumultuous times, including many changes and evolutions of the sport. The Challenge has been a steadfast constant for West Coast karting, and much like the 2024 season being one of adjustment, the upcoming year in 2025 will be another one with positive change.
Challenge of the Americas promoter Andy Seesemann (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)
Seesemann has always focused on listening to his customers, and they’re current asking for ‘more’. Based on many requests and industry insight, the Challenge of the Americas program will expand to four events in 2025, making it a best-seven-of-eight championship program. Dates for the 18th season will span from the beginning of February and stretch now into mid-June while the schedule will also enlarge the geographical size of the series with a possible new-to-the-series venue.
“I’ve been talking with competitors and teams over the last three months about what they would like to see with the direction of the Challenge,” commented Seesemann. “The general consensus was adding a fourth event to the schedule. In order to do this, we’ve spread out the schedule to a six-week rotation. Of course, we are working with other promoters and series to select dates that work around other major events that will be scheduled for the 2025 season. There are west coast racers who do not want to travel to the east, where so many programs are currently focusing their schedules. The Challenge provides a high level series from the end of the winter season to the beginning of summer, staying within the two western time zones.”
2025 Challenge of the Americas Schedule
Event #1: January 31-February 2
Event #2: March 14-16
Event #3: April 25-27
Event #4: June 13-15
Tracks that will be part of the 2025 Challenge of the Americas will be confirmed and announced at a later date.
The Challenge of the Americas has always played a crucial role in both the industry and the sport, providing crucial winter racing for drivers who get tuned up for the summer national or regional programs that they run. The series is also a key program for kart shops and race teams on the West Coast. The new schedule will still provide winter race weekends for the drivers and the expansion to four races will help fuel growth for the businesses that rely on the Challenge of the Americas each and every year.
Champions for the 2024 Challenge of the Americas program (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)
As mentioned, the 2024 Challenge of the Americas at Sonoma was a fantastic weekend with great racing, and six champions were crowned. Kane Martin was one of four drivers to claim a career first Challenge championship, earning the Forward Direction Motorsports 100cc Senior title. Martin used three podium finishes to edge out two-time winner Keagan Kaminski by 22 points for the championship with finale winner Ryan Persing moving up to third. Michael Avansino claimed the top step of the SwedeTech Racing Engines Senior Shifter championship podium. A win and two podium results put him 37 points ahead of three-time winner Kyle Wick. First year shifter competitor David Williams was third in the standings, earning two podium results over six rounds.
From series official to series champion, KC Cook claimed the title in the Ruthless Karting 100cc Masters class. The two-time race winner held off the challenges of Matthew Ostiguy, who recorded five straight podium results. Two-time victor Greg Welch ended up third in the championship standings. Bud Grossenbacher became a new name to the list of champions with his triumph in the Ron White Racing Masters Shifter division. The driver from Arizona won three times, earning the championship ahead of Round Three winner Rob Kozakowski and Michael Faker.
A second career Challenge championship was earned by Nico Sarphati in the Nash Motorsportz 100cc Junior division, who also won the Micro category in 2020. The two-time race winner beat out defending series champion Nixx Eggleston by 35 points with Payton Westcott winning the battle for the third step on the championship podium. Braydon Wagner became only the second driver to score back-to-back titles in The Karting Collective 60cc Cadet division. Wagner won twice, while Drew Jensen used his consistency and five podium finishes to make it close. The difference was only two points in the end, while finale winner Lucas Tarango finished only three points out of the top spot for another close championship chase at the Challenge.
In total, 168 drivers competed at the 2024 Challenge of the Americas over the six categories, including over 50 in the 100cc Senior category. The 2024 season also featured an increase in participation for the 60cc Cadet division, which bodes well for next year.
Be sure to follow updates at challengekarting.com regarding the 2025 Challenge of the Americas program, in addition to following the Facebook and Instagram pages.