Team Top Kart USA was joined by their West coast satellite team, Kartel Motorsports for the second round of the Florida Winter Tour, which was held at Moroso Motorsports Park. Brendan Phinny made the long trip to join teammate Taylor Miinch in the JICA category. In a surprise move, Cadet standout, Tyler Thomas switched to JICA for the remainder of the season. Chris Wehrheim decided to sit out the remaining races to focus on the Stars of Karting and WKA Manufacturer's Cup championships.
Practice went very well for the three drivers with Miinch leading the trio in sixth position followed closely by Phinny in seventh. Thomas ended up fourteenth, an impressive opening day for the young driver who is just weeks from turning twelve years old.
Phinny had a great run in Saturday's qualifying, setting the fifth fastest time followed by Miinch in ninth who was disappointed after being second in morning warm-up. Thomas continued his progression qualifying twelfth. The Final was tough for all three drivers right off the bat. Phinny's tie rod was bent exiting the pitts as a kart suddenly stopped right in front of him. Miinch finished eleventh fighting an ill handling kart while Thomas finished thirteenth.
Sunday saw Miinch regain the speed that he showed all through practice with a solid fifth position in qualifying. Phinny struggled with carburetion issues and ended up fifteenth right in front on Thomas in sixteenth. The Final saw a great battle at the front along with a great recovery from Phinny who battled his way up to eighth place after starting seventeenth due to an incident in the Prefinal. Miinch ran a good race running consistent lap times and finishing one position in front of Phinny. Tyler Thomas moved up two positions to finish eighteenth, a strong weekend for his race in a JICA.
Next up for Team Top Kart USA is the second round of the WKA Manufacturer's Cup at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Chris Wehrheim will make his return to the series after sweeping two events in 2007. He will be competing in TaG Senior and Yamaha Sr. Sportsman Lite. Tyler Thomas will be competing in Jr. SuperCan Lite and HPV Jr. Lite. For more information on Team Top Kart USA please visit http://www.grandproducts.com.