JUPITER, FLA. (FEB. 18, 2009) - - Palm Beach International Raceway's Grand Opening Kart Race will be held February 27 - March 1, 2009. The purse for the race is $10,000 and other items such as helmets and gloves will be awarded to participants.

It is the first official kart race since the venue transformed from Moroso Motorsports Park to Palm Beach International Raceway. PBIR's Kart Race was designed from feedback the kart staff received from customers that raced at the former Moroso Motorsports Park.

"The structure is very different from the way Moroso setup the event," stated Jay Howard, PBIR President of Karting. "We are trying to go away from the little club event that does not have much track time. We want to move to a fast and efficient race weekend."

The schedule for the kart race weekend begins on Friday with an official practice. On Saturday morning, participants qualify, followed by four heats. The driver generating the most points through all the heats earns the pole position for Sunday morning's Pre-Final event. There will be a lengthy pre-final for all competitors to setup for the main final.

The starting positions for the main final will be determined by the fastest lap time from the pre-final, therefore, whoever sets the fastest lap will start on the pole, regardless of his/her finishing position. The second fastest driver will start in the second position, third fastest will start in the third position, and so on. This is a unique approach never seen in the USA. PBIR believes this will be very popular amongst our competitors. The top-three finishers in each event category during the final event will receive the purse.

"You will see the structure is setup so every competitor is required to purchase a set of tires, fuel and oil from the track," stated Howard. "We want to keep this race on even grounds because we are awarding prizes to our competitors."

All tires will be stamped and designated to the driver for the duration of the weekend. This starts during qualifying. No one will be allowed extra tires throughout the weekend. Competitors all have tires from the same batch and same supplier. This is the same for the fuel and oil. Howard warns drivers that PBIR will test fuel.

Our competitors may walk away with exciting prizes such as, cash, entry into the PBIR Champions of the Future Kart Series, a Formula BMW test, Radical Racecar tests and more.

For more information on Palm Beach International Raceway's Kart Center, log onto www.racepbir.com  or contact Jay Howard, President of Karting at (561) 622-1400.