NEW CASTLE, Ind. — Between driving and tuning, AEM Karting’s Mick Gabriel is one of the busiest people in sprint karting and he’s anticipating another big weekend June 23-26 with two events on his schedule in North Carolina.

An impressive Stars Championship Series season opener May 20-22 at New Castle Motorsports Park has Gabriel eager to return to the series next weekend at the popular GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, N.C.

The Illinois shoe will enter both KA Senior and 206 Senior at the Stars “Night Fight” at GoPro, where he’ll be making his first visit. 

Gabriel was impressive in both divisions at New Castle, which included a powerful run from 30th to P7 in the KA Senior final after he was involved in a wreck while running in the top five in the prefinal. An astounding 55 karts were in the field.

In 206 Senior at New Castle, Gabriel’s AEM Engines-powered 2022 EOS Typhoon was the kart to beat all weekend. After driving through the field in the heat races to score both preliminary wins, he drove from 10th to the lead in the final to cross the finish stripe first; he’d be penalized to P2 for contact with another driver.

“We didn’t agree with the penalty in 206, but it still was an outstanding weekend,” Mick commented. “The Stars series has really grown and it’s great to see. We’ll be gunning for wins at GoPro; I’m excited to give GoPro a try after all these years of hearing about it and watching videos. It’ll be a fun event.”

With Stars running an evening format at GoPro that includes practice Thursday, qualifying and heats Friday and prefinals and finals Saturday, the door is left open for Gabriel and other senior LO206 competitors to travel from Mooresville about 30 minutes southeast to Concord, N.C., on Sunday, where the WKA Gold Cup Series will be running its season opener at the Charlotte Motor Speedway kart track.

Being true competitors always looking for a race, Mick and his dad plan to make the trip down to Charlotte on the final day of the weekend for more senior 206 competition. The day will include a morning practice, qualifying round, heat and feature. The Gold Cup event will mark Gabriel’s third race at Charlotte this season after CKNA’s Spring Nationals and the WKA Manufacturers Cup Nationals, both in March.

Gabriel will be riding AEM-prepared 2022 EOS Typhoon chassis in both events.

For information on joining AEM Karting — one of the fastest growing kart teams in the country — visit their website at aemkarting.com, email info@aemkarting.com or call 630-863-7898.