Schedule changes forces date movement for second season of ROK Cup USA regional program.
Momentum is high for ROK Cup USA racing to begin the 2020 season, including in the western half of North America with Challenge of the Americas setting new records into the new year. The second event for the program at CalSpeed Karting in February welcomed a record number of entries in the 13-year history of the program, with a similar forecast expected at the series finale at the end of the month. Series promoter Andy Seesemann is excited, as is all the ROKKERS along the west coast for what is becoming an exciting season.
To compliment the Challenge, Seesemann created the California ROK Championship in 2019. The program is gearing up for its second season this summer, providing ROKKERS an opportunity to take part in a fun, fair and professional traveling regional program. Prior to the end of the 2019 calendar, the program announced the 2020 schedule, featuring four events from May to September. Since then, circumstances have forced officials to update the schedule to avoid conflicts with surrounding karting programs.
Two of the events will remain unchanged, the opener in May at Buttonwillow and the series finale in September in Sonoma. The middle two events are those effected by the state of affairs surrounding the sport. Round Two is moving from June and pushing back to July 18-19, still scheduled with the ROK Sonoma program at the Simraceway Performance Karting Center. The third event on the schedule remains in the month of August, just two weeks later on the August 15-16 weekend at the Santa Maria Karting Association facility.
“A number of pieces went into motion in order for this to happen,” stated California ROK Championship promoter Andy Seesemann. “Our goal is and always will be to work with the racers and the programs they compete in. Tri-C Karters here in Southern California and the KPX Karting Championship in NorCal are key series our racers and teams compete at, among the many others in California and surrounding states. Working with and around other programs is key not only to our success, but strengthening our sport as a whole. We’ve done our best to listen to the racers and form a schedule with very limited weekends available in a busy five-month time frame.”
The California ROK Championship features 10 categories around the ROK Cup USA structure, with the same staff and officials that oversee the Challenge of the Americas program. Championship prizes for 2020 with the CRC includes tickets for all class champions to ROK the RIO in November 2020 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Other prizes to be announced prior to the start of the season.
ROK Cup USA recently announced the schedule for the two ROK Fest events in 2020. The ROK Fest West is scheduled for the Simraceway Performance Karting Center on September 17-20. The California ROK Championship finale is the week prior, which should welcome a number of national and international drivers to Sonoma for a warm-up that weekend. The Challenge of the Americas is set to close out the 2020 championship on March 27-29 at Simraceway as early numbers are estimating a possible record total beyond the 150 driver mark.
For complete information regarding the California ROK Championship and to register for Challenge of the Americas event in Sonoma, visit challengekarting.com. More information, videos and photos can also be found on the Facebook and Instagram page.
2020 California ROK Championship Schedule
May 16-17: Buttonwillow Raceway Park – Buttonwillow, California
July 18-19: Simraceway Performance Karting Center – Sonoma, California
August 15-16: Santa Maria Kart Track – Santa Maria, California
September 12-13: Simraceway Performance Karting Center – Sonoma, California