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FYI
04-29-2001

SKUSA JOINS CIK-FIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dublin, OH – Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) is very please to announce the inclusion of their headline SuperPro division in Round One of the CIK/FIA Karting World Championship event, scheduled to be held on June 16-17, 2001. SKUSA drivers, thirty-tow in all, will be invited to the race at Circuit St-Roch-de-L’Achigan in Quebec, Canada.

This huge opportunity will present SKUSA’s finest professional drivers and teams to world level scrutiny, not only to the international racing community, but also to legions of fans that follow the championship.

“This is the culmination of many months of discussions with ASN/Canada and SRA Karting. My efforts have been to introduced SKUSA to the traditional upper crust of karting,” said Jim Murley, President of SKUSA. He continued, “ I am very pleased that we have been able to make this program happen.”

Michel Boisclair, president of SRA Karting stated, “With SKUSA participating, we have the top North American drivers in shifter karts. SKUSA, along with the elite CIK/FIA Formula Super A and its European drivers, will assure that our event includes the cream of the crop in karting!”

The SKUSA North American ProMoto Tour visits Barrie, Ontario the following weekend, about 400 miles from Montreal. SKUSA’s SuperPro drivers will join the rest of the ProMoto classes to contest the Moto World Championship, which culminates in Oklahoma City on September 23.

Additionally, the FIA Formula One event in Montreal is the weekend prior to the CIK-FIA/ASN/SKUSA event. Within a period of 14 days, three significant motorsports events will take place in eastern Canada, making for a rather attractive package.

CIK-FIA KARTING “WORLDS”

Dublin, Ohio – The Karting World Championship was established in 2001 by the

Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). Patterned after the Formula One World Championship, the CIK/FIA has two categories: World Championship Drivers and World Championship Teams. Each team consists of two drivers and two karts. The racing machines are Formula Super A-class karts.

Formula Super A (FSA) is the most prestigious karting class in the world. The Championships are contested over ten races at five events around the world. CIK/FIA Karting World Championship is the main event at each venue and is supported by other classes representing the sport of karting in each world region. The Championship begins in Canada and will finish in Japan after visiting France, Italy and Belgium.

PANTANO FINISHES IN TOP TEN

Barcelona, Spain – Former kart racer Giorgio Pantano scored the first top-ten finish of his FIA Formula 3000 career in the third round of the championship in Spain on Saturday April 28. The rising Italian star started 10th and finished ninth at the wheel of his Astomega Lola after a processional race that featured virtually no overtaking and just one DNF.

Pantano said, “The positive thing about this weekend is that we had a trouble-free race. On the downside, however, I was confident that I could do better here because my previous testing form at this circuit has been good.”

“In qualifying, we struggled to get the chassis balance quite right and there was no obvious reason for the problem. I had a lot of oversteer at first, and although we improved the car during the weekend, we still struggled a bit for traction in slow corners during the race. Starting ninth meant it was never going to be an easy afternoon, because overtaking at this track is incredibly difficult. If you get to close to the car ahead of you, you lose frontal grip, and when that happens you risk running off the track. You can see the same thing with Formula One cars at this circuit, too. Even Grand Prix drivers find it incredibly difficult to overtake each other.”

Astomega technical director Chris Murphy is impressed with the promise Pantano has shown so far. He said, “We have a couple of things go wrong in the first few races, but Giorgio has great potential. I have worked with many good young drivers in the past, and Giorgio is up there with the best of them. He is a fast, no-nonsense racer and a great communicator. I believe he has a very bright future.”

Pantano is determined to pick up his first points finish of the season when the FIA F3000 series resumes at Austria’s A1-Ring on May 12th. “I know that we are able to turn out a good car,” he said, “and I am looking forward to proving as much at the next event. Now (that) this race is out of the way, I am fully focused on taking a step forward two weeks from now.”

WORLD WATERPARK ASSN. LOSES FOUNDER

Lenexa, Kansas – The World Waterpark Association has announced the death of Al Turner, founder, President and CEO of the Kansas-based association. Turner passed away in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was receiving medical treatment for a rare disease called Amyloidosis. The illness and treatment proved too much for his system to withstand.

Turner was also president of Future Communications, publisher of “Splash” and “Resort Attractions” magazines, the Waterpark Developers Reference and the WWA Buyer’s Guide. An avid and talented photographer, Turner received a degree in Journalism in 1967 from the University of Oklahoma. Turner and fraternity brother Dave Bruschi, started a property and casualty insurance agency in Kansas City, Missouri in 1974, which in the late 1970s began to insure waterslides across the country.

In 1980, Turner and Bruschi formed the American Waterslide Association, originally to but a group insurance policy and established an unprecedented risk management program for the then fledgling waterpark industry. Under Turner’s creative leadership and vision, the Association expanded rapidly to include publications, annual conventions, risk management conferences and additional membership services to keep pace with the growing industry.

BY 1984, the association had changed its name to the World Waterpark Association (WWA) to more accurately reflect its broadening member base and the industry’s growing international development. Having just celebrated its 20th Anniversary, the WWA is now the world’s premier water leisure trade association serving more than 1,300 park and supplier members representing water attractions in 52 countries worldwide.

“The industry has lost a visionary and a great friend,” said Terry Turner, WWA Board Chairman. “ The vitality and strength of the organization and the dedication of its staff are a testament to Al’s leadership and vision. We will forge ahead in his memory to ensure the Association and its members continue to prosper.”

END

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