Aluminos, Inc.

Scoring that first victory is a memory you won’t forget. For Team Aluminos driver Jonathon Allen, that moment occurred on May 15 at the SKUSA ProKart Challenge South event. Competing on the 1.8-mile Streets of Willow facility for the program’s only ‘road racing’ course on the schedule, Allen stayed in the hunt throughout the day and struck when it counted to earn his first checkered flag of the series. The Team Aluminos driver roster brought home a four top-five finishes, including a 1-2 in the highly contested S4 category.

Under the watchful eyes of team manager, Rob Soares, driving coaches/tuners of Tom Dyer and Fritz Leesmann and engine tuner George Tavares, Allen led the Aluminos S4 trio in the qualifying session, posting the fifth best time with Phil Dunford and Peter Workum sitting sixth and seventh. The opening heat race witnessed Dunford taking over for the team, running as high as second before dropping to fourth. Allen held strong in fifth with Workum gaining one spot in sixth. The frenzy racing action continued into heat two as the trio battled once again within the top-five. Dunford once again ran second early on but fell back to fifth with Allen moving up fourth. Workum was slow off the line, dropping to eighth in the final race order.

The 2010 season continues to be a successful journey for Team Aluminos. The hard work put in by the staff and drivers have equated to strong results on-track. On May 1, Team Aluminos shined once again at the Jim Russell International Karting Center for the third round of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge North program. Team driver coach Tom Dyer made his 2010 S1 debut with a victory, while S4 pilot Jeff Smith extended his win streak to three. TaG Senior pilot Larry Fraser scored his second win of the season to give Aluminos three wins on the event.

Dyer entered the event piloting the new Mirage KZ chassis (miragekart.com), helping to develop a baseline setup for Aluminos operation. The two time SKUSA SuperNationals Stock Moto champion opened up the event with a third place performance in the morning qualifying session, just two-tenths off the pole-sitter. Wasting no time and signaling his intentions, Dyer got a great launch from inside of row two taking the lead at the start and going unchallenged for the win in heat one. Dyer again grabbed the holeshot to begin heat two. On this 8-lap run, he would find pressure and by lap six, Dyer had relinquished the lead and finishing second. Starting the main event from the off-pole position, Dyer launched off the line quickly to take the lead. With a series of quick opening laps, Dyer established a sizable lead. Hitting his marks and putting down consistent lap times over the 20-lap event, Dyer took the victory by over 4-seconds.

It was a successful start to the Superkarts! USA North American Pro Tour for the Team Aluminos squad. The inaugural SKUSA SpringNationals took place at the Jim Russell International Karting Center over the April 16-18 weekend on the Sonoma, California facility. Exceptional weather shined down on the 3/4-mile circuit throughout the three days of on-track action and the Aluminos squad produced some brilliant results in the process. Jeff Smith scored a near weekend sweep in the S4 category, leaving with two victories and the lead in the championship chase. Fritz Leesmann scored a first and second in the headline S1 category to also lead in the point standings while Fernando Diaz was lightning fast in G1, securing victory in Saturday’s feature race.

Smith entered the SpringNationals as a favorite in the Masters Stock Moto category. Aboard his Aluminos prepared CRG machine, Smith showed why in Friday’s practice with scorching lap times to put him at the top of the leader board. Posting an even faster lap in Saturday’s morning qualifying session, Smith was shockingly edged out by a slim 0.020-second for the pole position. Putting that behind him, Smith would go on to dominate the heat races with two-second margin of victories in each. Untouchable and leading all 20 laps, Smith recorded the victory in the main event by six-seconds. The following day, Smith and the Aluminos squad made the necessary changes to insure he scored maximum points by securing the pole position by over four-tenths. Though challenged, Smith came away with both heat wins once again to start the main event on the pole. A tad slow off the line, Smith slotted into second on the opening lap of the feature. Quickly reassuming his position at the front, Smith checked out to lead the final 19 laps and score win number two on the weekend.