CALIFORNIAN
IN SEARCH OF MAGIC HAND AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Stars of Karting
National Finals Preview
LAS VEGAS, NV - October
10, 2008 - The 2008 season has been a successful learning
curve for Gustavo Menezes as he continues to develop
both on and off the track at the young age of 13.
Traveling thousands of miles over the last ten months
to compete in both the United States and in multiple
events throughout Europe and the Americas, Menezes
is maturing as a person and as a competitor.
This weekend, Menezes
will contend for the Snap-on Stars of Karting Junior
Intercontinental A (JICA) national championship at
the National Finals event, which is being held inside
the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada. Entering the
weekend sitting in third place in the championship
standings, Menezes is gunning for his best weekend
of the year in hopes of moving up in the standings
and taking home the national title. Last year, he
was the vice-champion in the ultra-competitive JICA
category.
Since competing at
the series’ Western Division finale in Seattle, where
he pulled out two top-five finishes, Menezes has earned
thousands of frequent flyer miles. First was a trip
to Sao Paulo, Brazil to compete at a local event at
the famous Brazilian karting circuit. From there it
was to the Gotheborg Cup in Gotheborg, Sweden with
his European team - Ward Racing. Winning one of the
heat races, Menezes would eventually finish sixth
in the feature.
Just last weekend,
he made the journey to Zuera, Spain for the final
round of the WSK International Series. The last event
of the program saw Menezes record his best performances
of the year in qualifying and the heat races to earn
a direct bid to the Prefinal. A finish of 23rd put
him on the grid for the main event, however, heavy
contact in the feature cost him any chance of moving
up in the finishing order.
Heading into the
National Finals, Menezes trails by 75 points. As they
say in racing, nothing is finished until the final
checkered flag, as Menezes experienced at last year’s
event, just missing the national title by a few points.
Looking for his best performance of the year, a perfect
weekend could give Menezes his first national championship.
Following the Stars
of Karting finale, Menezes will board a plane set
for Monaco to compete in the CIK-FIA Monaco Kart Cup
for KF3, racing against the best young drivers in
the world.
Gustavo is able to
compete at this level thanks to his many sponsors,
including Tony Kart USA, Red Bull, UP Racing, Pyramid
Parking Inc., Ward Racing, On Track Promotions and
Oakley. Additional information on Gustavo Menezes
can be obtained from his personal website, http://www.gustavomenezes.com
For more information
or hi-res photography, please contact Gustavo Menezes
@ 310-801-4856
About Gustavo
Menezes:
Now just 13 years-of-age, Coto de Caza, CA’s Gustavo
Menezes is considered one of the most promising young
karters in America. Running an international schedule
that includes the Snap-on Stars of Karting national
championship in the United States and various major
events in Europe, Gustavo runs for Italian karting
manufacturer Tony Kart in the Junior Intercontinental
A (JICA) and KF3 karting categories. In 2007, he was
the vice-champion in the JICA class on the Stars of
Karting tour, scoring race wins and multiple podiums.
Gustavo’s ultimate goal is to represent the United
States in Formula 1.
Gustavo Menezes is focused heading into the final
event of the Stars of Karting program
(Photo courtesy of FotoFormulaK.com)
