Penza, 28 March 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza kart racing club “Shikana” holds a racing competition under the federal campaign “On Your Marks With Rostelecom!”

Photo by press service of Penza branch for Rostelecom

The spring school break tournament, fifth in a row this year, brought together the 11-13-year-old students of the local boarding school No. 1.

In an opening word before the competition, Alexei Makarov, head of the press service of the Penza branch for Rostelecom, pointed out that kart racing is not just an entertainment, but a sports discipline that hones accuracy, attention to the surroundings and quick reactions, while some begin their career in autosports by dabbling in kart racing.

“Such tournaments for foster home and boarding school students as part of our federal campaign already became our trademark tradition,” he stressed.

The kart racing competition was divided in several stages, allowing each young racer to see how well he or she can drive the sports kart.

The qualifying and track races were preceded by training laps along the tracks.

Each team that competed in the track races brought forward three of their fastest racers, who went on to compete for the main prizes in the superfinals. Even though the tournament was a first event of this kind for many children, all of them demonstrated great skills and good times.

After the superfinals, Alexander Balalaykin earned the first place, while Sergei Terekhin came second and Ekarterina Tokhtaeva third.

All contestants received participation prizes from Rostelecom – plush bear athlete toys.

According to the competition winner Alexander Balalaykin, this was the second time he is participating in a kart racing tournament.

“I was one of the top racers in the past autumn as well. You quickly get accustomed to the sports kart and the track, but sometimes that hurts my opponents: they begin to relax, stop paying attention to the speed, and make mistakes on dangerous turns as a result. On the other hand, I try to stay careful, and accelerate only where I can make a maneuver without a mistake,” he explained.

The sports events in the region became a tradition for Rostelecom. In Penza alone, around 500 children – mostly students of foster homes, the boarding school and the Olympic reserve school – took part in the summer and winter sports events organized by the company.