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SuperNationals 13 Weekend Wrap-up

December 5, 2009 · kjohnson · Jump to comments

Once again Tom Kutscher and the SKUSA team delivered all the excitement of a premiere karting event. Many drivers, sponsors and team principals kept commenting to us that the SuperNationals 13 was the best one they had been to so far. In fact many people wondered how it could get any better, with Michael Schumacher, Nelson Piquet Jr., Sebastien Buemi as well as all the top karters from around the world participating this year.

The ChampionKart-Intrepid team felt rewarded for their efforts by sweeping the top three spots in the SuperPro division with Bas Lammers, Jeremy Iglesias, and Norman Nato taking first, second, and third respectively. Pole Position shot the GetintheSeat.com Axle episode in the Intrepid tent featuring Brett Berryhill of Championkart.com speaking about the different kinds of axles they used over the weekend based on track conditions and driver feedback as well as a driver interview of Jeremy Iglesias en francais.

This year’s buzz was the appearance of Michael Schumacher racing in the SuperPro division and the crowds were there eager to see him. The SKUSA team enforced a ten-foot zone around him with a penalty of getting banned from the event for anyone who violated the space. Although he didn’t finish in the top three, Michael Schumacher put in a decent showing and definitely raised the profile of SuperNationals XIII.

Drivers from Indycar, A-1GP, and F1 didn’t have a lot of time to get adjusted to their karts but seemed to have a good time racing in what Dan Wheldon called “the purest form of motorsport.” Be sure to look for P3’s driver interviews with Dan Wheldon, Buddy Rice, Phil Giebler and others coming soon.

In addition to interviews and filming on the track, PolePositionProductions.com is editing spectacular onboard footage from Ryan Kinnear and Jeremy Iglesias for Extremekartingonboard.com. The ContourHD camera captured some intense video with good audio and had no problem with sunflare. We’re looking forward getting even more high quality video with the ContourHD in Florida at the PRI/CKI All-Star Karting Classic.

As far as cameras go, AIM’s Smartycam also offers high quality video, although it’s not 1080p. The SmartyCam does offer some remarkable features for drivers to improve their performance. Anthony Abbasse shared a clip with us that Preston Newberry from Sodi kart used to explain how racers use the feedback from Mychron 4 to hone their edge. Getintheseat.com will feature the Smartycam and the Mychron 4 data acquisition system in the upcoming driver performance episode.

The SKUSA Supernationals was a great event and with Michael Schumacher and other top drivers coming back to race karts, next year should be even better. What’s coming up next? Stay tuned to PolePositionProductions.com for updates from the PRI/CKI All-Star Karting Classic in Florida on December 10th.