Over the past few years, one of the intriguing ‘little guy’ stories in American karting has been the occasional forays of the Italian-made Bestkart chassis in national level karting. Often put into competition through single-kart efforts, the brand has gone toe-to-toe with the major manufacturers and most recently came away with a podium finish in ROK Masters at the 2025 ROK Vegas event outside the Rio Hotel & Casino at the hands of Ryan Casner. The brand will carry significantly more momentum into 2026 thanks to the focus of Chris and Alex Murray at Prodigy Motorsports, the karting team and shop based in Charlotte, North Carolina region.
Brickley and Chris Murray at SKUSA SuperNationals 28
The Murray-Bestkart collab was front-and-center at the SKUSA SuperNationals 28 in November, when Chris decided to put together a last-minute program to run Adam Brickley in his Pro X30 debut after they were not able to get into the KA100 Senior group. The Bestkart factory shipped a new F03 chassis from Italy out to Ryan Casner’s shop in SoCal, which Murray mated with a BBS-supplied engine. Brickley qualified the Bestkart 19th in the stacked 90-kart field, just 0.026 seconds behind eventual on-track SuperSunday winner Joe Turney. Brickley finished 10th in Heat 1, was taken out of 12th on the final lap in Heat 2, and led Heat 3, finishing right behind Gus Lawrence, who would go out to win on SuperSunday. In the main event, Adam was collected in the opening corner wreck and finished 32nd. Murray chalked the weekend up as a major win, showing the outright pace of the material. You don’t lead a Pro X30 heat race at the SuperNationals without a fast chassis underneath you. It was a big outing for Prodigy Motorsports and will provide momentum going into 2026.
Launched in 2020, the Murray’s goal with Prodigy Motorsports is to provide their clients and customers with a fun, family-friendly, competitive experience. Their SuperNats success in November shows they can get it done on all levels of racing, which is key because they’re program can support families running in club, regional, and national series. The father-son duo provides driver coaching, setups, and maintenance programs for their customers, and will now focus on their new program with Bestkart.
Prodigy Motorsports provides arrive and drive options in both 2-cycle and 4-cycle categories at all levels of the sport
Originally founded in 1984, Bestkart rose to prominence throughout the 1980s and ’90s, earning a reputation for its craftsmanship and attention to detail in chassis design and construction. After stepping away to launch and grow other top karting brands, the founding Stefanello family brought Bestkart back in 2025 with renewed focus. The revived brand is aimed squarely at professional teams around the globe, like Prodigy, with dedicated support for key American classes like KZ, KA and Briggs 206. The brand carries forward its legacy of 100% in-house design, welding, and precision machining – pillars of the brand’s original values. The family not only builds their own chassis, but they also produced the widely-respected AMV line of components.
In early 2025, the Murrays partnered with the Stefanello family to become the official East Coast and Midwest importer and distributor for Bestkart chassis under ‘The Kart Shoppe’ banner. Building the brand’s dealer network is a primary focus for 2026. This strategic alliance brings one of Italy’s most respected karting brands back to American soil, offering drivers access to world-class engineering and race-proven performance with Prodigy Motorsports. With a legacy of craftsmanship and competitive success, Bestkart and AMV are positioned to make an immediate impact in the U.S. karting scene.
Ryan Casner drove his Bestkart to a podium finish in ROK VLR Masters at 2025 ROK Vegas (Photo: EKN)
Prodigy Motorsports is planning a full attack with Bestkart in 2026 and will be running the complete United States Pro Kart Series and Stars Championship schedules. Brickley will run X30 Pro at the United States Pro Kart Series and KA Senior at the Stars Championship Series while Matt Landers will run KA in both USPKS and Stars competition as well. The team expects to confirm the participation of additional Senior and Masters drivers before the start of the season. In addition to a full program at the team’s home track – Trackhouse Motorplex – Murray also plans to run selected SKUSA and CKNA events. The team has openings for arrive-and-drives in all KA classes, Mini and Micro Swift and X30. They’ll also have arrive-and-drives available for the Briggs races they plan to enter. The factory has also talked about bringing European drivers over for the KZ category, which would further expand Bestkart’s exposure and awareness in the US.
