In his ten years of Italian Grands Prix for Ferrari, Schumacher enjoyed a win rate of 50 percent which was established by clinching his fifth victory at the parkland circuit whilst challenging for an eighth world title in 2006. However, this season sees him go before the Tifosi tenth in the championship chase.

“Spa was quite an entertaining race weekend which I like to look back on, as we achieved a reasonable result considering the circumstances,” he said on Friday, having stormed to seventh place in Belgium from 21st on the grid.

“The next race at Monza might well be entertaining in a very different way, as I expect it to be a real challenge for our team.

“We have seen already several times this year that circuits with characteristics like those of Monza do not really play into our hands.

“Of course, we will go there prepared to try hard to achieve the maximum we can from our package and we will see to what extent we can achieve that and fight our way through.

Prior to traveling to the facility located south of downtown St. Louis, the series will be in attendance at this weekend’s Rock Island Grand Prix in the Quad Cities area. Considered to be the world’s largest street race, a number of SCSC competitors will be in attendance to bring home the coveted ‘Rock’ trophy. SKUSA Central States Challenge will be supporting the eKartingNews.com Trackside Live (www.ekartingnews.com/live) broadcast throughout the two-day event over Labor Day weekend.

“At our first visit to the Rock Island Grand Prix, we fell in love with the event,” stated Pam Freund of the SKUSA Central States Challenge. “The event is a well-structured event with some of the top talent in sport competing. Supporting the EKN broadcast will help spread the Central States Challenge name to a number of karters across the country as we prepare to close out the 2010 season and look forward to 2011. We wish our competitors the best competing this weekend.”

Following the holiday race weekend, the series staff and competitors will turn its attention to the final round of the season. The results from the Pevely circuit will crown eight class champions with the best five results of the seven round championship determining the title winners. The S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto category is down to two drivers with rookie Lukas Johnson holding the edge over former champion Derek Crockett. Following drops, the two are separated by 55 points. At the last round in Kansas City, Crockett made up 50 markers following an event sweep, thus will need some help in Pevely in addition to scoring maximum points. In S4 Master Stock Moto, Rick Freund has all but locked up the championship, needing to just compete at the final round to score the title over Kyle Donahue – winner at the Kansas City round. With his first season victory last month, Brad Winkelmann moved up to the top of the TaG Senior championship standings and now leads Crockett by 180 points heading into the series finale.

Indiana’s Karl Weber has scored the feature victory in all six events for TaG Junior. Weber heads into the finale with a 215 point advantage over Mick Gabriel with Nathan White, Collin Wilis and Colton Brooks just behind him. No doubt the final order of the standings will not be decided until the final checkered flag has waved. Only 70 markers separate Joe Reed and Colton Brooks when considering the two drops. Reed has four feature wins to Brooks two at the start of the year. Whoever comes out on top in the final stages at Pevely will go home with the title.

The TaG Cadet has been exciting to watch all season and the top-five in the standings will enter the finale separated by just 181 points. Despite missing the Kansas City round following a horrific crash in their family RV, Austin Mayton leads the standings with his two victories on the season. Mayton walked away with only a few scrapes however his mother Rebecca is currently recovering from two collapsed lungs and two broken legs. Kyle Kennedy sits second, 30 points back of Mayton with Ryan Joehl and Kyle Potts locked in third with Kamryn Sloan still in the hunt. Kamryn Sloan has wrapped up the local option Yamaha Junior Sportsman title after the Kansas City round as did Luke Howard in the Kid Kart division.

The entire SKUSA Central States Challenge family would like to send the get well wishes to Rebecca Mayton as she begins her long journey to recovery. Mayton’s spirits have been positive, with a goal of walking again in eight months.

“The Mayton family has told us that Rebecca told Mayton and his father John to be at the final event as there is a championship on the line,” commented Freund. “Many of our racers in the Cadet class stated they wouldn’t race unless Austin was there. That shows just the type of family we have growing here at the Central States Challenge. Despite battling on the track like true competitors, they all are family off the track and look out for one another. We wish the best for Rebecca as she tries to reach her championship dream of walking once again.”

The event in Pevely will also welcome a special guest – the Missouri National Guard. A supporter of the series at the opening event in 2009, representatives from the Missouri National Guard will be on-hand to spread the word of the reserve military force.

“It will be a pleasure to welcome the Missouri National Guard to our final event for 2010,” said Freund. “With the event falling on September 11 weekend, we want to celebrate those in the National Guard and the rest of the armed forces that help provide the freedom we have in this country and have the right to be at the race track.

The seventh and final round of the Central States Challenge is scheduled as one event, contested over two days of action. Beginning on September 11, a full day of practice will take place with qualifying held at the end of the day. Sunday will consist of morning warm-up followed by both rounds of heat races, leading into the main event. You may book a room at the host hotel – Comfort Inn (Festus, MO – 636-937-2888) for $64.99 that includes a breakfast buffet.

Pre-entry for the finale will be accepted until midnight, September 8 (http://www.centralstateskarting.com/Forms/2010_Entry_Form.pdf). Those looking to race do not have to be a Superkarts! USA member to race unless they are racing for the point championship. While the MG Yellow tires are required for those in the SKUSA categories, competitors are not required to purchase tires from the series.

“I’m very impressed with our results this weekend in Innisfil,” commented Clayton Switzer of Monster Performance. “We are really starting to build a name for ourselves, and have shown we can run with the best.”

Back aboard a Monster Performance powered kart for the second time this season, Aaron de Heus entered the Senior Light class full of Ontario’s top Honda racers. Navigating through the tight and twisty Innisfil circuit, de Heus missed the pole-position by 0.062 seconds, settling for second. After falling to third in the pre-final, de Heus moved into second on the start of the final, and immediately was involved in a three-kart breakaway for the lead. Moving the lead on lap five, de Heus took control of the race. Fighting off any attempt at the lead, de Heus led all but two of the final twenty laps, en route to victory, holding off two eventual series champions.

“Having Aaron race with us was awesome. He is very professional both on and off the track, and with that he is a very respected driver,” continued Switzer. “He drove a great race, and deserved the win, and I’m very happy it was with Monster Performance power and the ThorBrake system.”

Another driver delivering for Monster Performance in Innisfil was Junior Heavy driver Andrew Prescott. Fresh off his victory at the Ontario Grand Nationals, Prescott sought his second straight BSRKC victory. Settling into second place on the start of the final, Prescott hounded the leader for the first half of the 25-lap feature. Making his move to the lead on lap twenty, he too was involved in a three-kart race for the win. After surrendering the lead on lap twenty-two, he charged back on front straight to take the lead for good the following lap, holding off his competitors and taking his second straight victory.

“Andrew has really impressed me this season. He has shown so much improvement over the last two years, and he is finally getting the credit he deserves. He earned this victory, and has finished the season on a high note.”

Monster Performance engines also earned the pole-position in the Junior Heavy class with driver Tyler Brady in his first race in the class, moving up from Junior Lite. Monster Performance also covered the front row in the Junior Lite class as Tyler’s brother Dylan started the Junior Lite final from the outside of the front row, beside Braxton Terry. Brady led the opening laps of the race before finishing on the podium in third place.

After enjoying race wins at Monaco and Silverstone two years ago plus his Spa celebration on Sunday, Hamilton now aims to become a winner of the Italian Grand Prix at the parkland circuit – the fourth and final track on the current calendar which was also part of the inaugural Formula 1 schedule in 1950.

“Yeah, I’ve always looked at those four circuits on the calendar as being a little more special than the others,” the Stevenage man, who crashed on the final last in Italy 12 months ago, said on his official website.

“A couple of years ago, I remember David Coulthard saying he was proud to win those four Grands Prix for McLaren, because they somehow connected him to the history of the sport, and I know exactly what he means.

“It’s because those venues are unique, they’re very special – you can feel the history at those races more than anywhere else. That’s why I was so pleased and proud to have finally won at Spa – because it’s a giant of the sport and it means something to every driver who’s ever raced there.

“It was great to see Sebastian charge from the back to the front on Sunday,” comments RDD Motorsports owner Andre Serra. “He is driving well and showed excellent speed and patience as he moved through the field.”

In Mini Max it was stand out racer Logan Sargeant showing the way for the black and yellow as the sole RDD pilot in the class. In Saturday racing action it was Sargeant taking third in timed qualifying which he followed up one position better, taking second in the prefinal. In the final a great run had Logan battling for the lead all race long and he was able to take P2 and his first podium of the weekend. On Sunday the 9-year-old driver would take second spot in qualifying and like on Saturday, improved in the prefinal to take the win and grab pole position for the final. In the Sunday final, great racing action at the front had the lead change through out the race as Logan took second at the line and a second straight podium finish on the weekend.

In Micro Max it was RDD Motorsports driver Darren Keane at the wheel as he continues a solid string of performances since joining the Kart Mini outfit. On Saturday Keane went P2 in qualifying and backed that up with a second place finish in the prefinal that included fast lap of the race. The final was a good battle at the front on the Homestead circuit as Keane grabbed second at the line and his first podium of the weekend. On Sunday, the Florida state resident would start off right taking pole in timed qualifying. In the prefinal a tough fight at the front had Keane cross in second place and set another fast lap. The final was another good race as the Micro Max drivers swapped spots leaving Keane with his second straight podium finish as he hit the checkered flag in second place.

“Darren really did a nice job as did Logan,” continues Serra. “Both the Micro Max and Mini Max classes are really tough and it was nice to see all of our boys finish on the podium in every race.”

This past weekend the RDD Motorsports team headed to three different locations to complete a wide range of racing activities. Sebastian Ordonez headed to Gratton Raceway in Michigan for Skip Barber Regional action taking third on Saturday and second on Sunday. Darren Keane headed to Tallahassee, FL for the final round of the Florida WKA series taking second in the final to secure the class championship in Micro Max. Meanwhile back at Homestead Karting Dalton Sargeant continued to test the Rotax Junior package as he prepares for next season.