SRFKC: Barrie preview

Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship takes Barrie by storm!

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- This weekend is probably the most anticipated weekend of the year for any Eastern Canadian karter -- it is the Barrie Grand Prix weekend, the showcase event for the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels. The event, the only street race in Ontario for the series, is also round three, which marks the halfway point for the series.

The Barrie Grand Prix is the one event that every karter in the series wants to win, and come Sunday afternoon, there will be 11 very happy champions -- each one crowned King of the Bay for their respective classes.

The race format for this weekend has changed to deliver fans of the championship a thrilling viewing experience. Practice, qualifying and pre-finals will all be run on Friday and Saturday. Then all 11 classes in the championship will have their finals run on Sunday, which will create the best show for not only the fans, but the racers themselves.

The Barrie Grand Prix has also given the series a chance to give back to the community, as many special events are planned for the weekend. The most popular is the 'media/celebrity' race, which puts media members with karters for a team event on Saturday. The karters raise money and the top 10 fund raisers are picked to partner the media members. All the proceeds are donated to the Breast Cancer Society. Sunoco, the primary sponsor of the series steps up in a big way to match the amount raised by the karters -- last year the total donation was over $20,000.

As if the drivers in the series didn't have enough incentive already -- being crowned King of the Bay -- the Discovery Channel's Star Racer television program will pick three drivers from the event to join the show. Twelve drivers in total will compete at the end of the year on Star Racer to see who earns the prize of a funded Star Mazda ride for 2007.

More information on the opening event, including directions to the track can be found at www.grandprixofbarrie.com and for more information on the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels, visit www.asncanada.com

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.

-bond-