- Benny Moon opens the season with 2 SKUSA Pro Moto Wins!
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April 16, 2002 - SKUSA Phoenix SuperPro Report by E Karting News
Heating an egg on the 144 degree track temperature
Simply, the first round of the Superkarts! USA ProMoto Tour was an egg fryer. Saturday's record high heat at the Phoenix Formula K Raceway was backed up on Sunday with triple digit mercury, as competitors endured track temperatures of 144 degrees and higher.
Undeniably, the story of the weekend was the performance of Benny Moon, 17, of Shingle Springs, CA. The Paul Tracy Karting driver was, hands down, the star of both Saturday and Sunday's final. On Saturday, he fought his way forward from eighteenth, then benefited from Cliff Kujala's positional penalty and Phil Carlson's disqualification (currently under review by SKUSA) to earn maiden SuperPro victories for himself and his PTK team. In Sunday's final, Moon removed any doubt that he was a worthy race winner, as he capped a thrilling come-from-behind win with a last lap, last corner pass.
Moon came into his own at Phoenix
Photo: Mark LaCour, MLP Event Imaging
Given that Moon was the star of the weekend, the runner-up, both figuratively and literally, was KGB USA's Cliff Kujala. On Sunday, as on Saturday, he dominated the qualifying session and the pre-finals, yet he ultimately fell victim to the intense heat as a pair of mental lapses ultimately cost him the victory.
Similar to Saturday's final, Kujala had left the field in his wake from the green light, immediately opening up a three second cushion. Moon, starting from eighth on the grid, began scything his way forward. A quiet personality off the track, Benny was an aggressive fifth before the end of the first lap. He then disposed of a strong running Chad Allen, Michael Abbate, and Preston Peebles.
Once clear of Peebles, Benny set after Kujala and began taking big chunks out of the KGB driver's five second lead. Moon pushed a bit hard at one point, costing himself almost two seconds, and he seemed to come to terms with the idea that a runner-up finish, combined with his win on Saturday, would be a fine result from the weekend. No need to push it any further, and he backed off for a few laps.
But when Cliff made a very costly error with just two circuits to go, it gave Moon the second chance that he wasn't really looking for but was more than willing to accommodate. For the final two laps, he tailed Kujala down the straight and briefly thought about making an issue of it, yet in each case chose to play it smart. Cliff had seemed to get away with his earlier error, yet on the final turn he slipped wide into the dirt, and Moon crossed the stripe with both arms in the air, capping one of the more thrilling races (in any type of motorsport) that any spectator could hope for.
"Those last five laps, the SwedeTech motor and PTK chassis were working awesome," grinned Benny. "I just focused on trying to not make too many mistakes. I had a good run twice at the end of straightaway, but I didn't want to stick it in there. And on that last corner, I thought he had it won. But then he was sliding, he got off line just a little bit and, today, that's all it took to get into the dirt."
A pair of runner-up finishes for Cliff, but he wanted more
"The support we've had from Paul Tracy Karting and SwedeTech motors has just been incredible," he summarized. "You can't start the season any better than with two wins."
Kujala, understandably, was quite disappointed. But to his immense credit, he shouldered the blame himself, noting that his fitness level wasn't quite what it should be, and that it caused those mental errors in the final laps. One can be certain he is eager to get to the next ProMoto round to prove that he is a championship contender and not just a beneficiary of being
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