For immediate release.
Montreal, Canada July 11, 2006.

Most passing maneuvers attributed to Marc Flood!

More than 50 of the best drivers from the United States, Canada and South America chose to make the journey to Charlotte North Carolina to compete in the pro ICC shifter category for round #3 of the Stars of Karting championship sponsored by the Indy Racing League. Among the participants were to be found such star drivers as Jonathan Branam (Star Mazda championship contender), Phil Giebler (A1 GP driver for the U.S), Wesley Boswell (the #1 ranked kart driver in North America), Jordi Vorrath (Canada’s #1 ranked ICA and ICC driver, Kyle Wiegand (vice champion of the Stars series in 2005), the brilliant Philippe Gélinas, Jan Velez (a frequent Stars race winner).

The Track:
The temperatures were in the 30’s C / 90’s F with a track temperature in the 40’s C / 100+ F. The track itself is located in the centre of the Lowe’s Motor Speedway oval which makes for an interesting setting with the NASCAR cars buzzing around from time to time. The track is 1.2 kilometers long and consists of 15 corners. The tightness of the track meant that there were absolutely no zones where the drivers could relax. Each lap consisted of over 20 gear changes so that for the actual race finals of 24 laps that meant close to 500 shifts and almost constant one handed driving. Add to this the high G-forces and the extremely bumpy track surface, this track was a real body breaker causing several drivers neck, rib, exhaustion and dehydration problems.

Qualifying and race finals:
Qualifying for Saturday was a nightmare. The new CRG chassis proved impossible to set up properly but Marc was stuck with it for the weekend. Every logical adjustment proved to give the opposite result. This meant that Marc qualified a lowly 34th Undaunted, in the main event final, Marc “dragged” his machine through the pack and set the record for the number of passing maneuvers for the race and finished in 17th place. Quite an achievement under the circumstances. His new physical conditioning program certainly worked in his favour as he was able to pick tiring drivers off as the race progressed. Sunday was much the same story. Qualifying provided a 32nd place grid position and in the final a 21st place finish. By contrast, other than Jan Velez, the other 3 PSL ICC drivers fared even worse so that Marc actually collected the second most points for the team. Hardly a consolation, but a point worth mentioning.

Next race:
No rest at all! This weekend the team head for Quebec City on Thursday where the city will hold a downtown street event that will be run over 3 days. This is going to be a spectacular event that will be televised and a huge spectator crowd is expected. One thing is certain – Marc will be reverting to his old chassis for this one even if it is only a 2005 model. A new 2006 model of his existing 2005 chassis is already on order!

Upcoming Races:

August 4-6 Shawano, Wisconsin, USA (Stars of Karting)
September 1-3 SRA, Québec, Canada (Championnat du Québec)
September 15-17 Thetford Mines, Québec, Canada (Coupe de l’Est final)
September 21-24 Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Stars of Karting)

HSBC Bank, Link International, Les Disques RSB, OPSIA Information Technologies, Cordeau/Clément & Associates (Attorneys), “California Pizza” Restaurants, LeMaitreD.com (Purveyors of fine gourmet foods) and KBHNS (Chartered Accountants), are all proud sponsors of Marc Flood.

Contacts:
Miles Flood: (514) 591 0032