Thanks once again for everyone’s support of this year’s Rock Island Grand Prix and thanks to all of the media for the great coverage of our event. We are looking forward to seeing you all again Sept. 3-4, 2005. Mark your calendars!! As always, if you would like to be removed from this email list, please respond stating such and we will do so immediate.

1) We are happy to report that we have received our first entries for the 2005 Rock Island Grand Prix. How does that work, you ask? North Texas Karters have approved a program by which the club will pay for four of its racers to race at The Rock – entry and practice fees, pit passes, hotel. They will tentatively be sending competitors in 2-cycle Super Sportsman, TAG Senior, 125 motor and ICC. It’s a great program and we are happy to work with Rod and Tammy Heslor and everyone at NTK to develop this. If any other clubs are interested in doing something similar, please let us know.

3) Hotel blocks have been established for 2005 at both the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton – our host hotel for the 11th year – and the Radisson Hotel just across the river in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Make your reservations early while rooms are still available. Room rates remain at $69 a night at Four Points and $89 a night at the Radisson. Other hotel packages will be completed soon and all hotel information will be on the website. If you encounter any problems with hotel bookings, please email us as grandprix@qconline.com or phone the Grand Prix office (309) 292-8133.

4) Our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Ron Huber of CompCor and everyone in the Tony Kart organization on his untimely death following an accident at the SKUSA Super Nationals. Ron was a businessman of vision and would have had a tremendous positive impact on the sport.

5) Congratulations to RIGP racers Kaitlin Mangham and Jordon Musser on their national championships for Easykart and Rotax Max. Kaitlin and her family dodged hurricanes to make it to The Rock to race and she proved her talents again with the win in Easykart Jacksonville and a strong showing at the World Championships in Italy. Jordon, who qualified for his first Rotax Nationals with a last-minute win at Rock Island several years ago, this year won his third straight national title. He will be off to the World Championships in the Canary Islands in January.

6) And last but not least, congratulations to Jason Bowles and Bonnier Moulton on their wins at the SKUSA SuperNationals. Jason, who has also raced at The Rock, was one of our traveling companions for a week on Tom Argy’s last factory tour to Italy. He’s a talented racer and a great guy and all of us in Rock Island are hoping for great things from him. Also a shout out to Bonnier who followed up his win here with a G1 SuperNats championship.

7) Finally, our congratulations to Vincent Caro who was recently appointed the acting head of CIK. As the only race in the U.S. on the CIK international calendar, we have communicated from time to time with Mr. Caro and found him very helpful. He was also a friend of our former race director, Tom Argy Jr., who always spoke of him in glowing terms. We offer him our support in hopes that international racing can move forward under his stewardship.

Stay safe !!

(Roger Ruthhart)