SRFKC Champions rewarded at banquet

February 8, 2004


Hard-earned hardware delivered to drivers

WOODBRIDGE, ONTARIO - The Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship Series 
presented by Toronto Star Wheels held its 2003 Championship Awards 
Celebration on February 8, 2004 at La Vita Banquet & Convention Centre in 
Woodbridge, Ontario. The ceremony was actually a combined celebration as 
the OKDG (Ontario Kart Sport Development Group) also handed out its year 
end awards.

"It is unusual to have a banquet this long after the season, but I think it 
was well worth the wait," ASN Canada FIA's Paul Cooke said.

Cooke, along with Sunoco's liaison to the SRFKC, Brad Brown took on the 
emcee chores to hand over the unique trophies to the top three drivers in 
each class.

Two drivers - Guelph's Robert Wickens and Markham's Daniel Morad - repeated 
as class champions, Wickens in Formula Junior and Morad in Canada Junior. 
Both will take on new challenges in 2004 as Wickens will move up to Formula 
Senior, while Morad will focus on unfinished business in the Formula Junior 
class, where he finished second in the championship this year.

RotaxMax Champion, Shawn Gardner paid tribute to his tuner, Ross Phipher as 
the major contributor to his championship. "Without his support, I wouldn't 
be here," Gardner said.

Making two trips to the podium was Canada Senior and World Formula Champion 
Rob Oakman. Oakman was the only driver in the series to claim two 
championships. As a result of his World Formula class championship, Oakman 
is scheduled to compete in the Ontario Street Stock sedan series in 2004 - 
which was part of the award for winning the inaugural World Formula title.

Formula Senior champion Juliana Chiovitti was unfortunately unable to 
attend the event as she was filming a television show at Infineon Raceway 
in California this weekend. Chiovitti won the final race of the year to 
secure the Formula Senior championship. She subsequently went on to join 
Innisfil's Frank Launi and Ottawa's Jamie Holtom as the new drivers for the 
2004 version of Sunoco's Team Ultra 94.

Chiovitti was not the only 'noticeably absent' star missing from the 
banquet. Series namesake, Ron Fellows was scheduled to attend the banquet, 
but a rescheduling of a test at Sebring for his ALMS C5R Corvette team for 
Monday morning meant he had to miss the banquet. Fellows sent some comments 
that were read by Cooke. Fellows comments were greeted by a large round of 
applause.

Cooke finished off the banquet by announcing that the 2004 schedule for the 
Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship presented by Toronto Star Wheels 
will be announced on Friday, Feb 13.


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.