ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS — With the uncertainty of when the state will reach Phase 5 of Restore Illinois, and with a strong commitment to the health and safety of the racers, volunteers, staff and spectators, the Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix, the world’s largest karting street race, has announced that this year’ Labor Day weekend event will not be held. Planning has already begun for 2021.

With COVID-19 putting a hold on motorsports around the world for more than three months, it is finally time for the World Karting Association (WKA) to return back to the track. With the Charlotte Karting Challenge on the docket over the next two weekends, a return to the famed Charlotte Motor Speedway will kick off this weekend.

The ProKart Challenge returned trackside on June 12-14 with the second and third rounds contested on the kart track at the Willow Springs International Raceway. Racing for Superkarts! USA had been shut down since the March weekend of the SKUSA Pro Tour WinterNationals in New Orleans, but welcomed triple-digit numbers for each of the two rounds of regional racing program under almost-perfect weather conditions at in Rosamond, California. Attendees followed social distancing guidelines to help keep officials and competitors safe while enjoying the three-day event.

Andreas and Jessica Bäckman have been selected by Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing to be part of their Junior Driver initiative that supports young racing drivers for the second year in a row. It feels super exciting to be one of the few chosen racing drivers for the Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver initiative once again, Andreas says.

Zdenek Chovanec will join BhaiTech Racing for the 2020 Italian Formula 4 Championship. Born in 2004, Chovanec is making his series debut after entering the F4 UAE championship last winter. The young prospect will line-up alongside the already announced Sebastian Ogaard and Jesse Salmenautio.

The resumption of racing is approaching also for Charles Leclerc by Lennox Racing Team, which has been engaged in test days at the South Garda Karting in Lonato for the last few weeks.

The organisation of the BNL Karting Series is happy and proud to announce the new calendar for season 2020. “Recently we received good news from Karting Genk: Home of Champions. As from the 1st of July 2020 it is possible to race again on their circuit. Actually this means we will reboot racing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of July.”

The national lockdown in South Africa was recently downgraded to Level 3 which allowed for further restrictions to be lifted coming into effect on 1 June 2020, amongst others the return of kart testing at some circuits across South Africa.

MSA is aware that the Regulations published on 28 May 2020 in the government gazette allow professional non-contact sport to continue under the published regulations “… as per directions issued by the Cabinet member responsible for sport….”. These directions are yet to be published.

As part of the WKA Mid-Season Shootout, the competitors gaining the most cumulative points in Mini ROK, Junior ROK, Senior ROK and ROK Shifter after the Orlando, Florida, and two Charlotte, North Carolina events will receive ROK Cup Superfinal invitations. The rule that classes must average ten entries to receive these invitations has been removed ensuring that all class champions from these respective divisions will be headed to Italy as part of the WKA and ROK Cup USA partnership.

The first Karting Australia COVIDSafe Race Meeting is set for action next Sunday. All of the NT Government requirements have been met in accordance with Karting Australia’s COVIDSafe Operational Procedures to ensure a safe environment for all attending.

On Saturday 30th May 2020, the Honourable Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced details of the Directions for Sport, Arts and Culture under the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) to the media and public.

At the foot of the Vesuvius volcano, the Circuito Internazionale Napoli in Sarno is a great venue for kart racing which has been regularly included in the FIA Karting Competition calendar for many years. Under the guidance of Giuseppe Sorrentino, both the site and the track are constantly being improved to the delight of the competitors, who often cite it as one of their favourite circuits.

For some drivers, it is very difficult to keep their patience as we can see in the following video! Already at the exit of the pitlane, there is a huge pile-up! Even before the kart drivers left the pitlane for some track action, they collided. The karts stack on top of each other!

PFI are happy to inform you that we will be re-open for testing beginning on the Friday 5th & Saturday 6th June! Following these dates, if everything goes well we will be open every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, but pre-booking will be required and we will only be running with limited numbers for TVKC Members only.

The worldwide development of the Covid-19 pandemic means we cannot envisage the 1st Arena 45 Grand Prix going ahead in good conditions as planned this year. Faced with uncertainty surrounding the possibility of organising an international competition this year, Didier André and his partners have wisely chosen to postpone their event until 2021.

Brad Jones Racing is set to launch a Junior Development Team in association with Tom Williamson Motorsport to help guide the next generation of motorsport stars.

Karting Australia is leading its affiliated Clubs back to the track as the world emerges from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Throughout this week, Karting Australia Chief Executive Officer Kelvin O’Reilly and Chief Operating Officer Lee Hanatschek have hosted four webinars alongside Sports Community’s Steve Pallas with Clubs across the country.

As we continue to monitor issues surrounding COVID-19, we are faced with a very dynamic and ever-changing situation, both professionally and in our personal lives. As we follow the advice of our government and health officials regarding how to best deal with the current crisis, it is obvious that we will need to postpone our season-opening event.

Unfortunately, they have to announce that the second round of the 2020 BNL Karting Series season, which was due to take place at Karting des Fagnes in the first weekend of July, has had to be officially cancelled.