(St. Louis, MO - May 14th, 2006) -- This weekend Shane (Intrepid/Leopard) and Evan (Intrepid/Parilla) packed up for the second round of the STARS of Karting Professional Kart Series. The event was held at the New Castle Motorsports Complex in the brand new, top notch facility located in New Castle, IN. As always in the STARS of Karting, the weekend was a double header with a feature event on both Saturday and Sunday. The team had high hopes for the weekend. Shane running the 125cc SPEC class (TaG) was looking for a top 10 finish after his disappointing kart failure while running 10th in the STARS season opener in Norman, OK. Evan running the JICA class was looking to dial in his new carburetor and come home with a top 20 finish after failing to complete a good solid lap at the STARS season opener. This race was an extra special event as highlights and maybe full races from Saturday will be aired on the SPEED channel. The shows will be aired sometime this year in the upcoming weeks. The team will have another press release as soon as they find out this airing information. This made it extra important to come home with a good finish. We cannot guarantee either driver we be in the TV show however since both classes were packed with excitement there is a high possibility as there was only a total of 5 classes.

On Saturday, Shane qualified in the 19th position of 26 competitors. However, after turning in his fuel late on Friday he would be penalized 3 qualifying positions and be forced to start 22nd. This would complicate Shane's goal of a top 10 finish. However, in the pre-final Shane would start on the outside and going into turn one he would pass 3 karts. In the following right hander he would pick up another 3 spots moving him into the 16th position. All things were looking great, Right? Wrong, while heading into a tight corner another competitor would dive under him going into the corner at the last second, this would force Shane into the marbles, he tried to turn but there was zero grip in the marbles and he just drove straight off the track. He would get back up on track in the 20th position. He drove like a wild man and was able to work his way up to 13th for the start the final. In the final disaster would strike yet again. On the start everyone was bump drafting everyone. Going into turn one Shane would jump hard on the brakes. He would still get pushed forward forcing him to lock up the brakes. Coming off the corner another kart on the outside got sideways. While the driver was sideways the kart behind him continued to turn him. Since we were four wide coming off the corner the spinning driver would turn straight across the track to hit another Intrepid driver who was also turned sideways right into Shane. Shane would then jump into the air and into the grass with a bent tie rod, bent spindle, bent steering shaft, and a bent kingpin bolt. For a race that could very well have coverage on the SPEED channel this is not the result we were looking for.

On Saturday, Evan would have have a pretty good run. In qualifying he would fight a bad handling kart and pull out a 42nd place qualifying run of 44 competitors. However, he would also be penalized 3 qualifying positions due to turning in his fuel on Friday. In the prefinal, five or six karts would wreck in the first turn just ahead of Evan. He would drive right through the mangled karts and hold a 31st place position which was a good enough position to transfer to the final. In the final, again in turn one, five or six karts would pile up and Evan would again drive through it coming only inches from getting clipped. He would continue to move through the field after making it through turn one. He would come home with a 24th place finish.

On Sunday, Shane would have a much better qualifying run as he qualified in the 15th position. In the prefinal he would get a pretty good run and pass three or four karts in the first couple corners. However, going into a turn right behind Matt Zies, another kart would come across into Matt this would cause Shane to get hard on the brakes and turn sideways. Shane had a kart to his inside and grass to his outside. He would drive right on his rear bumper and again get lifted into the air and into the grass. Matt would drive away while Shane was stuck trying to climb a hill in the grass with slick tires. By the time he reached the track he was a whole straightaway (about 100 kart lengths) behind the kart in front of him while he was stuck in dead last. He would again drive like a wild man and work his way back up to the 17th position. Things did not look good for the final since the team would start so far back. On the start of the final Shane would work his way around three or four karts in the first few corners. He would get along side another kart to try and gain his fifth spot. However, the driver would turn hard left into him which again lifted him in the air and sent him off in the grass. He would continue but he would loose 2 or 3 positions that he just picked up. For the next 16 laps his mind would be dead set on a top 10 finish. Shane would drive his Intrepid Suzuka past many karts in only a few short laps and quickly work his way into the top 10. By the tine he reached 10th, 8th and 9th had a whole straightaway (about 100 kart lengths) on him. He would chase them down and he would close the distance to only two or three kart lengths. However, he would come up a few laps short and finish in the 10th position. Shane said it had to be one of the best set-up's he ever had with the TaG and it was defiantly the best of the weekend. It was a little disappointing to see as again loose a few positions due to competitor mistakes but the team reached their goal.

On Sunday, Evan qualified in the 38th position. In the prefinal, again trouble would strike in turn 1 a as many karts ran into each other and caused major back-up. They would scramble all over the track to avoid a complete spin. Evan would get held up behind this mess not able to make a move for the next few corners. Once everyone was up to speed and in line. He was able to work his way past three drivers. However, he got bad loose in one turn which allowed two drivers to return the favor. The next lap on the very same corner he would work along side the same driver. While he was trying to pass that driver another driver would stick his nose in the battle at the last possible second making it three wide heading into the fastest turn on the track. This forced Evan to lay off and avoid a wreck. On the following straightaway Evan would give payback for some not smart driving and bump the driver from the rear just enough to let him know. By the end of the race he was able pass those two drivers back and come out with a 29th place finish. In the final disaster would stick yet again. After nailing the carburetor all weekend long the team was looking forward to the start of this race. However, before they even took the green flag Evan would be forced to pull off, his clutch would not grab at all and he failed to get up to speed. He would finish dead last in the field of drivers.

Next weekend the team will put their wheels back on the DIRT. Shane will head to I-55 Raceway Saturday Night. If the car is not tore up to bad he will then head to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday. We have been climbing up through the field on both the DIRT and Karting program and we are looking forward to the upcoming weekend of racing as well as the next STARS of Karting Event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC.

Click here to view Shane's 2006 schedule and results. Click here to view Evan's 2006 Schedule and results. Please stay turned to these pages using the TOURS link at the top of this page and follow the team with their results and point standing throughout the 2006 racing season.

Walters Motorsports would like to thank all our sponsors for there continued support to the team and racing in general. Those include; Caribbean Creme, Champion Racing, Intrepid Kart Technology, Walters Web Design, WMS Race Parts, Home Service Oil Co., Shane Walters Photography, Impressive Race Cars, Hovis Racing Engines, and Mayhem Motorgraphixx.

Media Contact: Walters Motorsports -
Shane@WaltersMotorsports.com
www.WaltersMotorsports.com