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Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship

Series celebrates First Anniversary by Adding New Events, Venues, Awards and Sponsors

Photo - from left: Ron Fellows, Kyle Herder, Daniel Morad (in kart)
Matt Champagne, Robert Wickens and Sunoco's Rob King

Toronto -- March 7, 2003 -- The Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship Series has completed a very successful first year and today announced an expanded series for the 2003 season with new events, venues, awards, and an expanded line-up of sponsors.

Conceived by driver Ron Fellows, the series was launched last year to encourage young career-minded Canadian racers to learn the discipline and professionalism of motorsports, preparing them for car racing competition. Kart racing is the fastest growing motorsport in the world and introduces young people to the world of racing in an exciting and disciplined way. The minimum age for Series participation is 9 for the junior classes and 15 for the senior classes.

In its inaugural season, the Sunoco Ron Fellows Championship series hosted ten races over five events with more than 125 drivers participating at each event. The Champions for the 2002 season are: 18-year old Andre Champagne of Fonthill, Ontario in the Formula Senior class; 14 year old Robert Wickens of London Ontario in the Formula Junior class; 18 year old Kyle Herder of Stouffville, Ontario in the Canada Senior class and 12 year old Daniel Morad of Toronto in the Canada Junior class.

"I'm excited by the positive response that our Series has generated," said Ron Fellows. "We saw some great competition and the emergence of many impressive young drivers. I'm also excited about the kind of support we have received from Sunoco and our associate sponsors. The recognition that our Series is receiving is exactly what we hoped for in the creation of this driver development process".

New Series Title

Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels

Features of the 2003 Season

For 2003, the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship Series will host a total of 10 races at 5 events including new venues in Hamilton, Ontario at the Cameron Motorsport facility and the 3S Karting facility at Sutton, Ontario.

The series will also include new classes including the World Formula and Rotax Max Challenge. This brings the total number of classes for 2003 to 6 from 4 in 2002.

The Series is listed on the CIK-FIA International Calendar as a National Series
Suncor Energy Products Inc under its Sunoco retail brand has renewed its title sponsorship. "Ron Fellows has brought his vision to life with incredible energy and success," said Rob King, Manager, Brand Marketing, Suncor Energy Products. "Sunoco has always been the performance gasoline company and our sponsorship of the kart series allows us to extend our commitment to the motorsport community. We're looking forward to seeing some of these young kart drivers on the CART and NASCAR circuits down the road."
The Toronto Star Wheels has come on-board as the presenting sponsor and the Series carries the name “Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels”. Toronto Star Wheels published every Saturday is providing coverage before the season, before and after each event, and a season wrap-up.
Pfaff Motors has renewed its sponsorship of the Pfaff Motors Fast Qualifier Award providing a cash award to the fastest qualifier in each class.
GM Racing has joined the 2003 Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship as sponsor of the GM Racing Winner’s Circle Award. GM Racing is the organization responsible for all General Motors’ racing activities world wide. This award will be presented at each event to the driver judged to have displayed outstanding competition skills and sportsmanship.
Pratt & Miller Engineering of New Hudson, Michigan, who prepare Ron Fellows’ ALMS and LeMans winning Chevrolet Corvette has joined as a sponsor and will be providing the “Pratt & Miller Team Spirit Award”, a per event award with a trophy and a cash prize. The winning team will be selected by media members and series personnel on the basis of participants who exhibit the highest levels of teamwork in the areas of presentation, preparation and results.
Briggs and Stratton, the largest supplier of small engines in the world, and the manufacturer of the new purpose-built World Formula kart engine is providing support to the Series with their exciting new engine being introduced in 2003 and targeted for karters around the world.
The Ontario-based ActionFront Series, a road-racing series for production cars is supporting the Series by making available a car for their entire 2004 event schedule to the winner of the World Formula class, provided the winner has achieved the age of 16 when the 2004 season starts.
The Rotax Division of Bombardier, manufacturers of the engine used in the new Rotax Max Challenge class and SRA Karting of Quebec are fully behind the Sunoco Ron Fellows series and will be providing technical support at each event. Participants in the Rotax class of the Sunoco Ron Fellows Series will be eligible to compete for an invitation to the Rotax Max Challenge World Finals to be held in Egypt in January of 2004.

Series Race Format

There are 6 different classes of karts in the 2003 Sunoco Ron Fellows Championship regulated in terms of driver skill requirements and horsepower.

The top five finishers in each class at each race receive cash awards. In addition first, second and third place winners receive trophies for each race.

Series Championships

At the conclusion of the season, first, second and third-place championship trophies are awarded for each class.

Sunoco Evaluation Day

8 karters who have achieved the age of 16 will be invited to participate in a one-day evaluation at the Bridgestone Firestone Racing Academy at Mosport driving a Formula 2000 single-seater racing car.

In addition, 2 drivers selected from the ASN Canada FIA National Karting Championships are also invited.

From the Evaluation Day, two drivers will be selected to be members of Sunoco’s Team Ultra 94 by a panel headed by Ron Fellows. The criteria for selection includes: competition skills and results, commitment and behaviour.

The Sunoco Team Ultra 94 members are provided full sponsorship for the 2004 Bridgestone/Firestone Academy F2000 racing series.

These awards follow the same process employed in 2002 which now sees Matt Champagne, Aaron deHeus and Jordy Vorrath competing as the first members of Team Ultra 94 in the 2003 Bridgestone/Firestone Academy F2000 racing series.

About Suncor Energy Products Inc.

Suncor Energy Products (formerly Sunoco Inc.) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suncor Energy Inc., a Canadian integrated energy company. In addition to a refinery in Sarnia, Suncor Energy Products has a network of more than 300 Sunoco-branded retail and Fleet Fuel cardlock sites and a 50 per cent joint venture interest in over 200 Pioneer and UPI retail sites. Suncor Energy Products Inc. manufactures, distributes and markets transportation fuels, heating oils and petrochemicals primarily in Ontario. The company offers consumers Sunoco products and services online through the company's web site at Sunoco.ca.