Dunne, Kane and Palmer Represent Andersen Racing's National Karting Team At First Round of Pan Am Rotax Max Challenge

PALMETTO, May 16, 2010: Andy Dunne, Jeremy Kane and Andrew Palmer represented Andersen Racing’s national kart team at the launch of the Pan American Rotax Max Challenge, a new karting series designed for top karters from South, Central and North America.

The three-event series kicked off recently at Motor Sports Ranch (MSR) Houston in Angleton, Texas. It will be followed by Round 2 June 11-13 at New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Ind., and Round 3 Aug. 20-22 at Homestead Raceway in Homestead, Fla.

Dunne competed in Senior Max while Palmer and Kane represented the Palmetto, Fla.-based team in Junior Max at MSR Houston, a 0.7-mile, 17-turn track located 35 miles south of downtown Houston. They drove 2010 Birel karts.

Dunne, of Westmont, Ill., finished fifth on Saturday and third on Sunday in a 2010 Birel R31 chassis. “Andy qualified third for Saturday’s race,” reported Wes Phillips, Andersen Racing’s director of competition karting. “At the end of the final he had an all-out scrap for third place resulting in light contact and a nearly three-wide finish to end up fifth.

“He qualified third on Sunday too, and stayed there for the remainder of the day to end up on the podium behind Jesus Rios Jr. and Victor Pedrosa.

“Andy will also be taking part in Andersen's international division to compete in the Rotax Euro Challenge,” Phillips added. “I think that when he comes back he'll have a few new tools to use on his competition.”

Kane, of Lakewood, Calif., steadily improved on Saturday and then ran in third place for most of Sunday’s Junior Max final until he fell to fourth in the closing laps. “He’s really been impressive because he’s come very far in a short time,” Phillips said. “He attended the Andersen Racing Competition Karting Camp in December, posted impressive qualifying results in the Florida Winter Tour, and is looking to have a serious go at the Junior championship in the Rotax Pan American Challenge.”

Joining him in Junior Max was Andersen Racing’s Andrew Palmer, who hails from Chicago. He was second in practice on Friday, and then qualified fifth for Saturday’s final. He moved into second early in that race but then his kart developed a problem with its chain and he finished 13th.

On Sunday he topped the charts in practice, but then an axle shift caused his kart’s chain to explode almost instantly in the 13-minute qualifying session.

“He still got a seventh place starting spot with the limited time he had on track, which was remarkable given that a shifting axle will also cause the brake rotor to rub against the pads,” Phillips pointed out.

Palmer got off to a great start in Sunday’s pre-final, advancing to third until loose gravel in an overtaking zone set him back to seventh for the start of Sunday’s main event. He moved into fourth at the start of that race until he was involved in an accident and was forced to drop out.

“The Pan American Challenge allows for drop races in the title fight, so Andrew will still be a sure contender for the championship,” Phillips said.

“I'm happy to see that these three boys are becoming more comfortable with their surroundings,” Phillips added. “They are now attacking practice though every turn and every lap. They realize that there is no time to rest when it comes to driver development and kart setup, so they are attentive to gather as much information as possible in a short period of time.

“Jeremy, Andy and Andrew get along quite well so it’s easy for me to structure the team when I have drivers like these to work with,” he added. “I anticipate the team will grow in number of drivers for the next round, so the challenge will be making sure we stay unified as a team while still extracting every ounce of performance out of driver and machine that we can.”