SKUSA-STARS MERGER TERMINATED

Industry-leading shifterkart organization refocuses on positive future

For Immediate Release - September 3, 2003

DUBLIN, OH – Superkarts! USA would like to officially confirm the recent Stars of Tomorrow press release announcing that the merger discussions between the two organizations were terminated this past weekend, ending the potential union that could have resulted in a single national racing program. SKUSA and Stars officials each worked diligently through the negotiations to enter a possible relationship although, in the end, the ‘marriage’ was deemed to be inappropriate for either group.

In the early going, the talks proceeded slowly. After working to finalize a confidentiality agreement that would allow both SKUSA and Stars to share proprietary information in pursuit of an official unification, talks began in earnest. It was quickly identified that the basic directives were much too unique and that any cooperation would be unlikely to provide each respective membership base with the necessary support.

‘The challenges in holding SKUSA’s fundamental core values up against a significantly different product structure were sizable,” offered SKUSA CEO, Jim Murley. “I believe this was recognized on both sides of the table and, ultimately, led to Stars withdrawing from further discussions.”

An immediate overnight strategy teleconference between Murley and his SKUSA ‘A Team’ leaders this past weekend renewed excitement for the future as the staff focused their well-known SKUSA energy on moving ahead with the planning of both the seventh annual SuperNationals in Las Vegas and the continued development of the evolutionary approach to the sixth year of the SKUSA national championship program in 2004.

“We are very excited with the continuing development of the work-in-progress 2004 national championship format, particularly after meeting with team owners in Norman, OK last week,” stated Murley, speaking of the feedback session the organization had with the leading ProMoto teams while attending the World Finals. “I feel that the delay through the negotiation process with Stars only served to force us to handle our preparations for the future in a more compressed time window. In short, it helped get us going on what needed to be done.”

The official announcement of the location of this fall’s SuperNationals is expected to be released next week while other major statements are also on deck. SKUSA now looks towards the 2004 and the final construction of their new-look national program