Castaneda Takes the First Win in Inaugural Pan American Challenge

This past weekend recent DD2 Champion of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas and 2010 Rotax World Finals team USA member, Troy Castaneda, competed in the first weekend of the Pan American Challenge. The Pan American Rotax Max Challenge is a new addition of high performance kart racing in the United States. This series brings together the highest level of competition of Rotax drivers from around the world. The Pan Am Challenge boasts 4 weekends of racing all across the U.S. Each race weekend includes Friday practice with qualifying, 18 lap pre-final and a 27 lap final for both Saturday and Sunday.

Since Troy has already qualified to compete in the Rotax World Finals in DD2, he decided to switch classes for this series and compete in the Rotax International class. The difference between the Rotax DD2 and the Rotax International (Senior Rotax) classes is that the DD2 class motors feature a chainless drive system, 2-speed gearbox operated by shift paddle from the steering wheel and softer tires while the Rotax International motors feature a chain with a rear sprocket with a single speed gearbox and harder tires.

The debut of the Pan Am Challenge was held in beautiful Angleton, Texas at MSR Houston. This track features few passing zones so qualifying was extremely important. On Saturday, Troy qualified a reasonable 3rd in his first out in the Rotax international class in over 2 years. At the start of the pre-final Troy had a great jump was immediately in second and made a pass for the lead into turn one. As two drivers exited the corner, they were side by side and remained that way for the first few corners. In the end Troy slotted into second. The pre-final would portray the skill of level of these drivers as they swapped the lead every lap. About half way through the race while Troy was leading, the second place driver attempted to get a run leading onto the main straight and went in a little too quick into the chicane and spun out. By this point, both of the drivers had pulled a gap from the rest of the field. Troy cruised to the victory and would start the main on pole. Once again, Castaneda had a great start and led the field into turn one. From that point on he would control the race, pulling away from the field and would go on to take the win.

On Sunday, Castaneda was looking to do it again and found a bit more speed qualifying second. Taking the green for the pre-final, Troy had a decent start, but excited turn one in third. Within a couple laps Troy began to suffer from some sort of motor issues and lost touch of the leaders. Soon he was battling for 3rd and eventually lost the position and ended up finishing the race in 4th. After reviewing the data, the team noticed that Castaneda had lost 1000 rpm at the end of the straight. Making several checks and changes to some of the equipment and components, things seemed to be ok and ready for the main event. Starting in 4th for the main, the field took the green for the 27 lap main event. Slotting into fourth, Troy was hot on the heels and hungry for the win. Unfortunately after the first lap, the motor started having the same issue. For the next 26 laps, Troy had to fight hard to hold his position. At the end of the race, he only lost one spot and finished in 5th.

At the end of the first Pan American Challenge weekend, Castaneda is on top of the leader board by 1 point heading into the next rounds which will take place at the New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana June 11-13.

“Saturday’s race was fantastic,” exclaimed Castaneda. “I couldn’t have planned it any better. I am so happy to be able to come out here in my first weekend competing in a different class and take the win. Sunday was unfortunate because we were even faster than we were on Saturday so we were hoping to take a back to back win. Nonetheless we are leading the points heading into New Castle and I can’t wait to get back out there!  A big thank you to Joe Ramos, James Perez and Patrick Stevenson for all of their hard work and support.”

Special thanks to super tuner/ mechanic Diego Valverde for his fantastic work ethic and support over the weekend.

Troy is supported by SSC West (www.sscracing.com) for the Pan American Challenge. If you would like to learn more about this series check out www.rotaxpanam.com. For more information and partnership opportunities, please visit contact the TAC Racing team at press@troycastaneda.com.