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| October 17, 2007 News |
| Andretti, Herta, & Hand Confirmed for All-Stars Karting Classic |
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While the event is still seven weeks away, the wheels of motion have began to turn as teams prepare their driver lineups for the 2nd Annual All-Stars Karting Classic event at the PRI Show in Orlando, FL. Team Top Kart USA has come out as the first team to announce their driver lineup in the All-Star event announcing that it will field IndyCar Series star Marco Andretti, ALMS pilot Bryan Herta, and Grand-Am Daytona Prototype driver Joey Hand in the Masters Division of the event. It also announced that it will field Snap-on Stars of Karting regulars Matt Jaskol (the event’s defending champion in the Karter Division), Kyle Wiegand, and Conor Daly in the Karter Division of the event.
The 20-year old Andretti was set to race in last year’s All-Stars Karting Classic, but was called to action in a conflicting Formula One test for the Honda team in Spain on short notice. He’s looking forward to getting another chance to compete in the one-of-a-kind event. “I was really looking forward to racing at PRI last year. Of course, when the opportunity to test with Honda in Formula One came up I had to jump on it but it will be great to be teammates with Bryan and go for the win in Orlando this year.” Andretti is a former junior national champion (2002) in the Stars of Karting Series
Herta, who won the season opening 12 Hours of Sebring driving Andretti Green Racing’s Acura with the help of teammates Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, was the runner-up in last season’s All-Stars Karting Classic Masters Division race. He is aiming to improve in this year’s event. “Team Top Kart was great to work with last year. We hope to make this year’s event bigger and better, and of course the competitor in me has me aiming one spot higher on the podium. I want to thank Team Top Kart for all of their support and the PRI organization for providing us such a great venue.” Herta is a co-founder of the Snap-on Stars of Karting presented by IndyCar Series.
Joey Hand spent the 2007 racing season racing for the Sigalsport BMW team in the Grand-Am Daytona prototype category and the Panoz Team PTG squad in the American LeMans Series GT2 category and has a strong history in karting as a driver, tuner, and business owner and is the co-owner of Kartel motorsports which sells karting equipment and services karter’s on-site with technical support and driver coaching. “I’ve heard a lot about this event and how much fun everyone had last year. I’ve worked a lot with Mike and Team Top Kart on the business end this year, it will be fun to get behind the wheel and go racing with them in Orlando.”
Matt Jaskol and Kyle Wiegand are regular front-runners in the Snap-on Stars of Karting presented by IndyCar Series ICC (shifter) category. The duo finished one-two for Team Top Kart in the Karter Division of last year’s event and are aiming to repeat on that success. Indiana driver Conor Daly is a front-runner in the Spec Racer category of the series and sees the event as a chance to gain exposure on a national level. Team owner Mike Tetreault is excited about this year’s event and the opportunities it will present the racing and business operations of Team Top Kart. “We have put a lot of effort in putting together a top-notch team to take to Orlando. We’ve invested a lot in the PRI event both on the race track and on the show floor. I’m really looking forward to Orlando.”
The event will take place on the evening of Thursday, December 6 in a parking lot directly adjacent to the Orange County Convention Center on the opening day of the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show. The racing action will be televised in two separate half-hour segments on SPEED Channel’s Lucas Oil on the Edge program series with advertising support from Snap-on Tools and Bridgestone. More announcements regarding team and driver pairings will be released in the weeks to come. |
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