Caleb Gafrarar wins in his first event of 2022

“RPG driver shows great pace at AMR Motorplex”.

After a brief hiatus during the holiday season, Caleb Gafrarar returned to the race track this past weekend as he traveled south to the AMR Motorplex in the shadows of the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Taking on drivers in both the KA100 Junior and X30 Junior classes, Caleb G piloted a Rolison Performance Group prepared Kosmic chassis during the opening rounds of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Winter Series.

After two and a half days of practice, it was finally time to go racing but not before some drama would ensue as a change in weather forced the teams and competitors to switch to wet weather tires. With rain entering the area and flooding the facility prior to Saturday morning’s warmup and qualifying sessions, Caleb G took everything in stride and capitalized on his skills and abilities in wet conditions. With a damp, but drying track, Caleb drove his John Russell tuned Kosmic to the pole position in KA100 Junior by a huge margin and set the benchmark for his day. Playing it safe and progressing through the prefinal with a second-place result by a scant .005, Gafrarar drove to the front of the field in the day’s main event to earn his first win of 2022 and added another victory to the Rolison Performance Group program.

After a less than average ninth place qualifying effort during Saturday morning’s timed session in X30 Junior, Gafrarar made up for it in the prefinal gaining four positions to come home fifth. Battling in the top-five throughout the main event, the RPG driver earned a fifth-place result in the main event to keep his streak of top-five finishes alive since joining the powerhouse Rolison program back in October of 2021.

“I am having so much fun running at the front of the field, and we have a chance to win every weekend,” explained Gafrarar. “I am looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow and have my goals set high.”

Returning to the track on Sunday, Caleb G and the rest of the SKUSA competitors were once again forced to battle the elements as changing weather conditions and rain hampered the Homestead area. After qualifying third and winning the prefinal with the fastest lap of the race in KA100 Junior, weather would move into the area just before taking the track, forcing drivers to race the 22-lap main on slick tires. Looking to hold his position at the front of the field, Gafrarar battled hard but to no avail as he crossed the line in fourth for his third top-five result of the weekend.

With the X30 Junior main event the last on track session of the weekend for the North Carolina resident, a split qualifying session due to one group with a dry session and one group in full wets, Gafrarar was mired back in the 24th position and forced to work his way forward. In the prefinal, the RPG driver could only muster a 21st place result after opening lap contact. Starting on the inside of row eleven for the final, Gafrarar was one of the fastest karts on the track as he quickly moved into the top-ten and continued his march forward to the top-five. Looking like a podium was on the horizon, disaster would strike on the fourteenth circuit as the #704 entry pulled off the track and was forced to retire due to an issue at the rear of his kart.

Gafrarar added, “We had the pace and maybe we could have won, but for sure a podium. We will try again next weekend.”

Gafrarar will enjoy no time off as he will be back on track this weekend at the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach, Florida. Taking on the temporary circuit at the ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour, Gafrarar will aim to start the second series of the season off with a victory with his sights set on consistent results and the series championship.

Caleb Gafrarar would like to thank Rolison Performance Group, OTK USA, Kosmic, Bell Helmets, Minus 273, and CPI Security for the continued support in the 2022 racing season.