Jamaican representatives Beckham Toupikov, Collin Daley Jnr and Ryan Lue were back in action last weekend at the SKUSA Winter Series event held at the AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex in Miami, Florida on February 9th and 10th.
Continuing in the Micro class, Beckham qualified 8th on Saturday then finished a DNF 17th in the Pre-Final and drove well to make up seven spots to finish 10th in the Final. On Sunday he showed significant improvement to qualify 8th, then recorded his best-ever finish of 3rd in the Pre-Final before a disappointing DNF 16th in the rain soaked Final.
“He started on P3, moved up to 2nd, kept his position for three to four laps and then lost control, spun out and ended up last” reported his father Dmitri Toupikov. “Then he tried to catch up with no experience in the rain. He caught back up, passed a couple of karts but kept losing traction. By then so much time had been lost the back group was close to being lapped. A few drivers got the black flag and they had to come off. We are very proud of his improvements this weekend.”
Ryan Lue shifted classes from the KA100 Jr/Sr class to X30 Junior, the largest and most competitive group of karters in the series, qualifying 20th on Saturday, finishing 24th in the Pre-Final and 23rd in the Final. In Sunday’s Round 2, he qualified 36th, then finished 25th in the Pre-Final and DNF 45th in the Final. Ryan’s father Craig reported that contact early in Sunday’s Final led to a bent rear axle and Ryan’s DNF.
In the X30 Senior class, Collin Daley jnr qualified 20th for Round 3 on Saturday, placed 13th in his Pre-Final then 13th in the Final. For Sunday’s Round 4 he qualified 14th, placed 8th in his Pre-Final then finished 16th in the Final. “Round three of the @superkartsusa #winterseries is in the books! Collin Daley and teammate Valentin Andrieux put in great efforts” reported Colin’s team DRT Racing.
The JMMC congratulate all three racers for their results and wish them good luck for a safe and successful season.
Pictured: Top left: Beckham Toupikov before a race. Top right: Ryan Lue in pre-grid. Lower left: Ryan Lue in pre-grid. Lower center: Collin Daley jnr in action on Saturday. Lower right: Beckham Toupikov sliding around a corner.
