Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship

WOODBRIDGE, ONTARIO  February 8, 2004

The Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship Series presented by Toronto Star Wheels held its 2003 Championship Awards Celebration on February 8, 2004 at La Vita Banquet & Convention Centre in Woodbridge, Ontario. The ceremony was actually a combined celebration as the OKDG (Ontario Kart Sport Development Group) also handed out its year end awards for the Ontario KartSport Championship Series.

Back Row - L To R = Shawn Gardner (Rotaxmax Champ), Lynda Chiovitti (Accepting For Juliana Chiovitti, Formula Senior Champ), Rob Oakman (World Formula and Canada Senior Champ), Jason Bradimore (2nd World Formula), Frank Launi (Third, Formula Senior), Tyler Givogue (Second Formula Senior), Marco Di Leo (Third Canada Senior)
Front Row L To R = Robert Wickens (Formula Junior Champion), Daniel Morad (Canada Junior Champ), James Hinchcliffe (Third Rotax Max), Jason Robar (Second Rotax Max) Pearce Herder (Third Canada Junior)

�It is unusual to have a banquet this long after the season, but I think it was well worth the wait,� ASN Canada FIA�s Paul Cooke said.

Cooke, along with Sunoco�s liaison to the SRFKC, Brad Brown took on the emcee chores to hand over the unique trophies to the top three drivers in each class.

Two drivers � Guelph�s Robert Wickens and Markham�s Daniel Morad � repeated as class champions, Wickens in Formula Junior and Morad in Canada Junior. Both will take on new challenges in 2004 as Wickens will move up to Formula Senior, while Morad will focus on unfinished business in the Formula Junior class, where he finished second in the championship this year.

RotaxMax Champion, Shawn Gardner paid tribute to his tuner, Ross Phypher as the major contributor to his championship. �Without his support, I wouldn�t be here,� Gardner said.

Making two trips to the podium was Canada Senior and World Formula Champion Rob Oakman. Oakman was the only driver in the series to claim two championships.

Formula Senior champion Juliana Chiovitti was unfortunately unable to attend the event as she was filming a television show at Infineon Raceway in California this weekend. Chiovitti won the final race of the year to secure the Formula Senior championship. She subsequently went on to join Innisfil�s Frank Launi and Ottawa�s Jamie Holtom as the new drivers for the 2004 version of Sunoco�s Team Ultra 94.

Chiovitti was not the only �noticeably absent� star missing from the banquet. Series namesake, Ron Fellows was scheduled to attend the banquet, but a rescheduling of a test at Sebring for his ALMS C5R Corvette team for Monday morning meant he had to miss the banquet. Fellows sent some comments that were read by Cooke. Fellows comments were greeted by a large round of applause.

Cooke finished off the banquet by announcing that the 2004 schedule for the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels will be announced on Friday, Feb 13.

The objective of the SRFKC is to help foster a professional environment for kart drivers; help create a positive attitude towards appearance, conduct and discipline; help foster the employment of the best practices for the safe and fair running of competitions; and help kart drivers to move up the racing ladder to automobile racing.

For more information, please contact:

Russ Bond, 905-852-2900 [email protected]

Brad Brown, [email protected] (416)-233-8727, Paul Cooke, ASN Canada FIA � 905-403-9000