From 30 October to 2 November 2025, the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas once again hosted ROK Vegas, the biggest event on the international ROK Cup calendar. With more than 315 drivers entered from around the world and a temporary barrier-lined circuit built around the hotel, with the Las Vegas Strip as a backdrop, the event ran over Halloween weekend in near-perfect weather.
ROK Vegas has established itself as one of the key dates in international karting thanks to its unique mix of competitive level and spectacle: eleven different classes, from the entry-level ROK Micro and ROK Mini to the most powerful ROK Shifter Super Master and ROK VLR Senior, raced on the same street layout over five intense days of practice, qualifying, heats and finals. The 2025 edition also saw the North American debut of the ROK SV Pro engine, an important step in the brand’s technical evolution, and the arrival of Team Benik as a new event partner.
ROK GP Junior: chaos and drama until the last lap
Leonardo Serravalle dominated qualifying and the heats, but the final was a roller coaster: Theo Salomao took the lead at the start, Isaac Malcuit briefly recovered it, and Serravalle led again mid-race. With three laps to go Salomao was still in front, but he ended up in the wall after contact that opened the door to a five-way fight. Marco Sammut crossed the line first on the last lap, but post-race penalties handed the win to Erik Doan, ahead of Malcuit, Tristan Murphy and Travis Petit.
ROK Mini: Maxwell Macha’s flawless win
Macha led from start to finish after a perfect launch, resisting constant pressure from Lawrence Peremen and Santiago Orioli, who swapped second place several times. Macha completed a perfect weekend (pole, heats and final), winning by 0.764 seconds.
ROK Shifter Pro: Jacob Gulick dominates
Gulick took the lead at the start and held it despite a charge from Massimo Valiante, who moved up to second after a great fast lap. Adrien Renaudin pressured Valiante to the end, but Gulick held on to win by less than a second.
VLR classes: four finals decided at the flag
In ROK VLR Master, Renato David and Ben Cooper swapped the lead several times until, with two laps to go, contact between David and Charlie Fonseca sent them into the barriers and handed Fonseca the win. In ROK VLR Super Master, Mario Barrios dominated, winning by five seconds over Tim Meyer. In ROK VLR Junior, Isaac Malcuit led from the first lap and won by more than seven seconds, while Ryker Magro took second in a fierce fight for the podium. In ROK VLR Senior, Jeremy Fletcher, a last-minute entry, led almost the whole race and kept the win despite pressure from Collin Lloyd and Jonathan Portz.
Junior and shifter classes: comebacks and debuts
In ROK Micro, Dutch Westbrook produced one of the weekend’s most spectacular comebacks, starting from 15th on the grid and winning with the best pace of the race. In ROK Shifter Master, Hunter Hagenbuch took the title after a poor start dropped him to sixth. In ROK Shifter Super Master, Kevin Woods led from start to finish ahead of Patrick O’Neill. Finally, in the ROK SV Pro’s US debut, Caden Mcqueen took the lead on lap eight and held it to the end, ahead of Jake Drew.
Mike Burrell of ROK Cup USA thanked the drivers, teams and families who made the event possible and said the organisation is already working on the 2026 edition of ROK Vegas, as well as the Florida Winter Tour in January.