ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – High speed kart racing action returns for the 23rd year to the downtown streets of Rock Island with the Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix powered by Mediacom. The world’s largest karting street race will offer two days of high-speed racing through the city streets Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 2-3.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix powered by Mediacom is excited to announce that this year’s race will be broadcast on Facebook Live utilizing graphics and video technology that has not been using in karting or any other kind of racing previously.

Wiegand dominates gearbox; Lawson scores 4-wins; Udell and DeLaO win twice in their first Rock Island Grand Prix

ROCK ISLAND, IL. - Ohio's Gary Lawson notched four more wins to run his win total at Rock Island to an amazing 20 victories, while Kyle Wiegand won his third King of the Streets title at this year's Rock Island Grand Prix, presented by AT&T.

Wiegand started the day off right by winning the coveted King of the Streets stock moto title over a tough field including reigning King Jordon Musser. Wiegand benefited from some attrition behind him as Derek Crockett got into the barriers. Nick Lucido also bounced off the plastic barriers and ended up sideways and collected Musser in a nasty crash. This left Wiegand just having to avoid lapped traffic and mechanical failures as he cruised to win the 30-lap race over Jake French. Canadian Max Gamble finished third, but was removed by a technical DQ giving the third spot to Cole Mathewson.

For his efforts, the Top Kart driver won a $1,000 check, a special KartRaiser Electric Kart Stand valued at approximately $890 supplied by Michael Polizzi and Full Bore Karting, and the coveted Rock trophy. "After all these years, I finally don't have to lift the kart onto the stand any more," said father and tuner John Wiegand.

The race was sponsored by the 42 area McDonald's restaurants and Ronald McDonald placed the traditional cape and crown on the winner. Wiegand had previously won the King's title in 2004 and 2005. With the two first-place paychecks, Wiegand surpassed Alan Rudolph as the all-time money winner at Rock Island with $19,535.

Meanwhile, Gary Lawson carved his way through the streets of the city to win the 2-cycle Senior Sportsman Medium and Heavy classes sponsored by CBS4, as well as 4-cycle Animal Heavy and the Rumble at The Rock Animal Medium classes sponsored by AT&T.

"I had really good starts today and that's what made the difference. Getting out in front and not having to deal with too much traffic kept it clean," said Lawson.

This was the first year that the Rock Island Grand Prix co-promoted four classes with Championship Karting International and the blending of the organizations seemed to work well. Wiegand also won the CKI North American Street Championship for KZ2.

"Rock Island has such a rich history of bringing all levels of karting together for this unique event, that CKI could not pass up the opportunity to be a part of this tradition," said Kevin Williams, CKI's General Manager. "There was fantastic racing in all categories and everyone at CKI is thrilled with the results of the weekend."

Texan Alec Udell won the Rotax Junior race sponsored by Kids Racing for Kids, over Cameron Smock and Drake Woodard. He was challenged early by Austin Self but he ended up in the barriers at Turn 2. Arizona's Phi De Lao O won the Rotax Senior and Leopard events. Each of the four CKI classes also brought with it a $500 certificate to the Bob Bondurant School of Performance Driving besides a check and a Rock.

"After I got in the lead, I just put my head down and focused. There was no real excitement except for what I put on myself to hit my marks and not trick myself," said DeLaO.

Udell (Top Kart/Rotax) also added a hard-fought win by just .069 of a second over Texas teammate Bristol Gunderson (Top Kart/Rotax) in TAG Junior sponsored by Kids Racing For Kids. Hers was the top finish by a female driver for the weekend. Indiana's Alan Berry was third.

The biggest field of the weekend was in TAG Senior sponsored by AT&T where Sam Beasley (Arrow/Motori 7) bested Nevin Nelson (Energy/Rotax) and Eric Schumacher (Kosmic/Rotax). Alabama's Mack McCormack (Arrow/Motori 7) won the 23-kart TAG Masters race over fellow veterans Scott Hamble (Margay/Motori 7) and John Dixon (Tony Kart/Sonik).

The 2-cycle Pipe Heavy class sponsored by Lafarge North America was a battle between a number of Rock Island-area drivers with Tim Goettsch taking the checkered flag, but losing the win when he came in light at the scales. This gave the win to Drake Ostrom with Michael Dittmer second and Garrett Bouchard third.

Minnesota's Chris Enderlein found himself in a duel to the finish with Lance Lane before winning the 125cc shifter Masters race sponsored by CBS 4. Graham Wilcock was third. After competing at Rock Island for eight years, Enderlein finally won his Rock.

"It was the first time I didn't look behind me. I just drove. I've been here so many times before and been in front and thought I was going to win and crashed out or hit the walls," he said. He originally hadn't planned to race, but changed his mind at the last minute.

The new 4-cycle International (clone) exhibition race sponsored by Schurr Power Racing was won by Travis DeVriendt of nearby Sherrard, Illinois over a field of 22 drivers. Indiana's Scott Hamble was second and Mark Luna of Illinois third.

The Rock Island Grand Prix, the world's largest karting street race, draws entries from throughout the United States and Canada, competing for one of karting's largest purses. It has also hosted racers from Italy, France, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, Argentina, Bermuda, the Philippines and Mexico. It includes 15 feature races in 4-cycle, 2-cycle, TAG and shifter classes.

Complete results can be found at: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=588926

The next Rock Island Grand Prix will be 3-4 September 2011.

O'Reilly Auto Parts, Kids Racing For Kids are new partners

Rock Island, IL - The Rock Island Grand Prix, the world's largest karting street race, is proud to announce that communications giant AT&T will return as a Presenting Sponsor of the race for the 16th year!

They will also be joined by several new sponsors in 2010.

While AT&T has shared the top billing at Rock Island from time to time, no other company has been such a high profile supporter for every year of the race's existence. The long-term support from AT&T has allowed the race to thrive in some years and survive in others, according to RIGP president Roger Ruthhart.

"AT&T's support of this grass roots motor sports event, the city of Rock Island and the Quad-Cities in general has been unsurpassed. Over the many years this support represents almost $150,000 in commitment to the sport of kart racing. We hope racers across the country keep that in mind when they make decisions about communication and internet suppliers and directory advertising," said Ruthhart.

"The Quad-Cities Convention and Visitor's Bureau has estimated that each year the Rock Island Grand Prix has an economic impact of more than $2 million on the local economy.  The investment by AT&T's and other sponsors in the Quad-Cities has translated into more than $32 million over the life of the event," Ruthhart added.

"Every year the Rock Island Grand Prix is an exciting event that brings the Quad-Cities community together and even brings racers and tourists from around the world," said Dennis Pauley, director of external affairs for AT&T. "At AT&T we want to connect people to their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else. That's why we are proud to continue our investment in the Quad-Cities as the presenting sponsor of the Rock Island Grand Prix. We look forward to an exciting and enjoyable Rock Island Grand Prix in September."

The Rock Island Grand Prix also has signed a new corporate partnership deal with O'Reilly Auto Parts.

"We are excited to have a dominant national retail and service-oriented company like O'Reilly Auto Parts involved with our event," said Ruthhart. Our racers come from all over the country and whether it is parts for their karts, haulers, trailers or family vehicles, they can rely on the O'Reilly family of auto parts stores to keep their equipment rolling."

"We look forward to working with the O'Reilly stores in the Quad-Cities and surrounding region to help promote their service and product lines," Ruthhart added.

The RIGP is also proud to announce a new partnership with Kids Racing for Kids (KRFK). The foundation was started by Tim Self to benefit children who, unlike his son Austin, were unable to enjoy the thrills of racing. The foundation will sponsor the TAG Junior class at this year's Rock Island Grand Prix.

"We would like to thank Tim Self, Jim Sharkey and Kids Racing for Kids foundation for their support this year. We look forward to helping to educate the karting world and the Quad-Cities about the great work done by this group," said Ruthhart

"I started this foundation not only to give back to children in need, but also to promote positive values in kids that aren't always learned by what they're taught in school," said Self. "I wanted to partner with a racing organization with exposure so we could get attention to the foundation, while bringing exposure to karting in the communities we race in."

Race details are available on the Grand Prix website at rockislandgrandprix.com.

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