BEACHBURG KARTER WRAPS UP SEASON WITH THIRD PLACE POINTS FINISH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19, 2006

MONTREAL – Twelve-year-old Nathan Blok has a lot to be proud of as he returns from the year-end banquet for the Coupe de Montreal.

The young karter from Beachburg capped off his first season in the Quebec series with a third place finish in the points for the Honda Junior class and was one of the youngest competitors in his class. Everyone else in the top ten was fourteen.

But that’s not it. Of the seven races this year, Blok had the pole twice, had the fastest lap in four, had one win and two second-place finishes, raced twice recovering from a broken foot and above all, had a lot of fun doing it.

This despite some of the problems which plagued his last three races of the year.

During race number five held at St. Roche de L'Achigan, Blok went into the weekend with a clear disadvantage, the inability to weight bear on his gas peddle due to a cracked bone in his foot.

And this was a special two-day event where there were three qualifying heats to determine the starting position of the final race.

Blok performed some skilled passing which lead to a fourth place finish in the first heat. Unforeseen mechanical issues forced him to start a lap down for the second heat, yet he still managed to finish 17^th out of 20 and heat number three was held in torrential rain with Blok taking seventh place and fastest lap of the race by nearly .5 seconds.

Blok started the 18-lap final in the rain in tenth place. Within the first few laps he was up to sixth place and tried to make a move on the lead pack when #12 Chris Smith cut the corner and ran into the back of his kart spinning him backwards off the track.  By the time he was able to safely get back on the track he had fallen back into eighteenth position and was well behind leaders.  Undaunted, he started making his way back through the field laying down the fastest lap, but despite this effort, he was too far behind to catch the leaders and finished the race in twelfth place.

In race number 6 held at Mont St. Hilaire a mix of weather conditions made for tricky setups but Blok was able to qualify in eighth then move up to fourth in the pre-final.

Choosing a wet setting for the mixed weather final proved to be the wrong choice for Blok and his team, as the rain stopped and the sun came out to dry up the track.

Despite having the wrong setups, Blok managed to gain some positions however it was all thrown away as he was tagged on lap four by #32
Patrick Manny who sent him off the track and into the tire barrier.  By
the time he was able to get the kart back on the track he was a lap
down., finishing 20th out of 24.

In the final race of the season held at SH Karting, Blok had to switch to his team’s backup engine due to mechanical difficulties.

He qualified eighth out of 23, maintained his position for the pre-final and started the final in eighth.

On first corner, the top two karts tangled and went off the track. This
moved Nathan to sixth position. Nathan then passed two karts, moving him into fourth place by the end of lap one.

By the end of lap two, the top five karts started to pull away from the pack bumper to bumper. On lap seven the misfortune of three karters helped to move Nathan up to third place, but just before the last lap #56 Kevin King made a pass on Nathan, pushing him back to fourth where he finished the race.

As the season came to a close, Blok also enjoyed some celebrity appearances, taking part in the "End of the Summer Car Show" held at the Renfrew Fair Grounds where, out of 130 participants he won one of the People's Choice Awards.

He was also featured in a story on CJOH news where he talked of his “need for speed” and his goal of making it to Formula One.

In the off-season, Blok plans to focus on his physical fitness, working to achieve his black belt in karate at Whitewater Martial Arts, as well as doing some winter testing of his kart in preparation for next season.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Steve Blok (613) 582-3877