Author: Gorman Ridge Rally Media

            

The eighteenth running of the Gorman Ridge Rally brings top Western States
rally teams together in Lebec, California for round five of the United States Rally
Championship. Twenty-five teams are slated to take the start on Saturday,
August 16 including current USRC Pacific Division points leaders Brian Scott with
co-driver John Dillon. Also entered is X Games silver medal winner Chrissie
Beavis.

 

Scott and Dillon took their Subaru Sti to an early lead in the all-wheel category
with an overall win at the Idaho Rally in July while Bruce Davis and co-driver
Jimmy Brandt picked up the two-wheel drive lead in their Dodge Neon. The
husband and wife team of Jimmy and Melissa Keeney are currently leading the
Pacific All-Wheel Drive Production Cup in their Subaru WRX. Another husband
and wife team, Kris and Christine Marciniak top the Western Two Wheel-Drive
Production Cup in their Neon.

 

The current leaders will be facing plenty of competition on the rough mountain
roads of the Gorman event. The reining two-wheel drive national champion, Bill
Holmes and a new co-driver Sean Gallagher are debuting their new Ford F150
two-wheel drive pickup. The off-road racing champion and former Pro Rally
national champion proved to be a formidable force at the Gorman event last year,
taking the overall win after displacing a raft of lighter and more agile all-wheel
drive competitors. Fresh off her silver medal performance at the X Games,
Chrissie Beavis is jumping from the co-driver’s seat to drive her VW Jetta where
she has consistently proven herself among the fastest of the two-wheel drive
teams.

                     

           Gorman Ridge Rally 2007

          

 

On the all-wheel drive side, points leaders Scott and Dillon will have to contend
with fellow Subaru pilots Jeff Regester and co-driver Duncan Smith. Regester
and Smith are looking to vindicate themselves after a mechanical failure took
them out of the Idaho Rally while they were challenging for the lead.

 

This year the rally also includes motorcycles in the exciting new RallyMoto group.
“These are basically the same kind of bikes you see running the Dakar Rally.
They are big dual-sport motorcycles designed for long distance cross country
travel over challenging roads like those in Gorman”, stated Ray Hocker the event
chairman. He explains, “RallyMoto is attracting a group of new competitors to
rally.” Just like their four-wheeled counterparts, RallyMoto bikes must be fully
street legal and licensed. All racing is confined to special sections of closed
roads located inside the Hungry Valley State Vehicle Recreation Area.

 

After the Gorman Ridge Rally, the United States Rally Championship heads to
the final round of the Pacific events at the Prescott Rally (www.prescottrally.com)
in Arizona before the final round of the Championship at the International Rally
New York (www.rallynewyrok.com) in October.

                    

In-car 2006 (featuring RallyBrat on the notes)

 

 

Pacific Division teams are competing for coveted cash travel subsidies that will
be awarded to top six teams in the Division. The total of $12,000 in subsidies will
be distributed to Pacific Division teams to assist them with traveling to the final
round of the United States Rally Championship in New York.

 

The United States Rally Championship is taking bold steps to make national
competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams.
This is the second season of the new Championship structure that minimizes or,
for many teams, eliminates the need for repeated cross-country travel during the
Championship season by providing competition on each side of the country. The
final round of the Championship at the end of the year counts both in the Atlantic
Division and the Pacific Division and together with the results from all previous
rounds decides the top spots in the Championship.

 

Contact:

Donna Hocker
Series Administrator
United States Rally Championship
Office 760-446-4097
Direct Cell 909-908-2429
Donna@RallyUSA.com