2007 United States Rally Championship

Posted: November 21, 2007 11:14 AM

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THE UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ANNOUNCES NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
The United States Rally Championship completed its third season on a high note with the final round at the well-attended Laughlin International Rally, a FIA-listed event, and Motorsport Festival that took place in Laughlin, Nevada on November 8 – 11, 2007. Laughlin is located eighty miles south of Las Vegas.

At the awards ceremony at the Aquarius Hotel on Sunday night, Michael Taylor, the USRC President announced the new National Champions. They are Seamus Burke, Driver and Eddie Fries, Co-Driver in the All-Wheel Drive USRC Championship, and Bill Holmes, Driver and Kevin Carter, Co-Driver in the USRC Two-Wheel Drive Championship.
Josh Wimpey, Driver and Jeremy Wimpey, Co-Driver, and Kevin Carter, Co-Driver are the USRC Rookie Champions.

Michael Taylor said: “It has been a privilege to be President of the USRC. We have taken bold steps to make National Championship competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. The new Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for cross-country travel. In addition, six top-scoring teams from the Eastern part of the country became eligible for a cash subsidy to travel to the Laughlin International Rally and received $2,000 each tonight. Finally, in order to give teams competing in two-wheel drive cars more visibility, we have introduced separate All-Wheel Drive Championship and Two-Wheel Drive Championship so we were able to announce USRC Two-Wheel Drive Champions tonight.”

As a result, unprecedented 22 teams competed in four or more USRC events and 37 teams competed in three or more USRC events. The total of 312 competitors participated in the 2007 United States Rally Championship. Under the new Championship structure, Eastern teams had an advantage of being able to drop several events because of more USRC events in the Atlantic Division. On the other hand, they were obligated to replace their lowest score of the season with the score from Laughlin. Western teams simply added their score from Laughlin to the rest of their Pacific Division scores.

Most Eastern teams suffered from bad luck at Laughlin as they were hard pressed by the Western teams of Moberly/Moberly who won the event, Gubelmann/Richard, Hoeck/O’Hanlon, Holmes/Carter, Williams/Moody Jardewall/Trowbridge, Malik/Edstrom, Doganis/Smith and Loeffers/Deere. The Eastern teams of Burke/Fries and Donnelly/Gallagher did not finish at Laughlin but were still able to place first and third in the USRC All-Wheel Drive Championship. O’Leary/O’Leary were delighted with their six place in the event. None of the Eastern two-wheel drive teams finished the event. However, they ended up high in the Championship standings. Wimpey/Wimpey placed second in the USRC Two-Wheel Drive Championship and won the USRC Rookie Championship. Listopad/Dorman took fourth place and Bridwell/Kattinger placed fifth in the USRC Two-Wheel Drive Championship.

The United States Rally Championship is owned an operated by United States Rally Championship, Inc. The Championship offers a combination of gravel and tarmac events. Most events allow full reconnaissance and pace notes and are run under USRC Super Rally Regulations.

The Championship will announce its 2008 Calendar shortly with the final round of the Championship anticipated in the Atlantic Division, allowing Pacific Division competitors the chance to travel east at seasons end. The full 2007 Championship results are as follows:

The USRC AWD Driver Championship
1. Seamus Burke – National Champion
2. Roger Loeffers
3. Celsus Donnelly
4. Lisa Klassen
5. Enda McCormack
6. Leon Styles

The USRC AWD Co-Driver Championship
1. Eddie Fries – National Champion
2. Colin Deere
3. Noel Gallagher
4. John Dillon
5. Bernard Farrell
6. Guido Hamacher

The USRC 2WD Driver Championship
1. Bill Holmes – National Champion
2. Josh Wimpey
3. Bill Malik
4. Rafal Listopad
5. Hampton Bridwell
6. Tony Chavez

The USRC 2WD Co-Driver Championship
1. Kevin Carter – National Champion
2. Jeremy Wimpey
3. Christopher Edstrom
4. Thomas Smith
5. Josh Kattinger
6. Dave Stockdill

The USRC Rookie Driver and Co-Driver Champions
Josh Wimpey, Driver and Jeremy Wimpey, Co-Driver
Kevin Carter, Co-Driver

The USRC Class Winners
Open AWD Driver – Seamus Burke
Open AWD Co-Driver - Eddie Fries
Production AWD Driver – Eduardo Bancalari
Production AWD Co-Driver - Matthew Tremmel
Open 2WD Driver – Bill Holmes
Open 2WD Co-Driver - Kevin Carter
Production 2WD Driver – Kristopher Marciniak
Production 2WD Co-Driver - Christine Marciniak

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31/07/07
THE UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP AT MIDSEASON
As the United States Rally Championship passes the mid point in the year, battles are heating up in all categories on both sides of the country.

In the Atlantic Division, the Irish hotshoe Charlie Donnelly in a new, faster Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for this season ably co-driven by another Irishman Noel Gallagher are leading the AWD Championship at midseason. This is after winning Sandblast Rally and Rally New York USA and in spite of being penalized by stewards at Rally New York USA and at Rally Tennessee where they finished third. Another Irish crew, Enda McCormack and Bernard Farrell also in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution are second in the AWD Championship after excellent performances at Sandblast Rally and Rally New York USA. The reigning United States Rally AWD Champion, Irishman Seamus Burke in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution with a new co-driver Eddie Fries are in the third place. They won Rally Tennessee after a string of mechanical failures at Sandblast Rally and Rally New York USA.

In the 2WD Championship in the Atlantic Division, brothers Josh and Jeremy Wimpey in a VW Golf are leading with a wide margin after winning all three events - Sandblast Rally, Rally New York USA and Rally Tennessee. The Wimpey brothers put in some amazing performances mixing it freely with more powerful and faster AWD opposition. Rafal Listopad and Greg Dorman in another VW Golf are second in the 2WD Championship after good performances at Rally Tennessee and Sandblast Rally - taking the second and the third place respectively - and finishing under Super Rally at Rally New York USA. Third in the 2WD Championship are the always-impressive and reliable finishers Mike Hall and Dave Stockdill in their trusty, well prepared Mitsubishi Mighty Max rally truck.

Individual Atlantic division class leaders are Donnelly / Gallagher in Open AWD, Bancalari / Tremmel in Production AWD / Group N, Wimpey / Wimpey in Open 2WD and Bridwell / Katinger in Production 2WD.

Competition in the Atlantic Division will continue with the remaining events that include Rally West
Virginia (www.rallywv.com ),
International Rally New York (www.rallynewyrok.com ) and
Black River Stages (www.blackriverstages.com ).

Atlantic Division teams look to earn one of only six coveted $2,000 cash travel subsidies for the Laughlin International Rally and Motorsports Festival, the final Championship round of the USRC, November 8-11 in Nevada (www.rallyusa.com ). 180 competitors, drivers and co-drivers, have participated in the competition in the Atlantic Division to date.

The Pacific Division has only enjoyed one event so far, the abbreviated Subaru Rim of the World Rally in Lancaster, California. With the loss of access to the amazing forest roads in the Angeles National Forest, used for decades, the Rim of the World organizers were forced to use a short-course format and run the entire event inside the considerable facilities at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. Using portions of the Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) series’ track used the week prior, competitors were started two at a time, a half-lap apart in a four-lap pursuit format. Each competitor had multiple runs over the weekend with pairings changing for each run.

Taking the overall win at Rim and putting her in first place in the AWD Championship is Lisa Klassen with co-driver Guido Hamacher. Second in the AWD ranks is Marvin Ronquillo in his always potent Subaru with John Burke in the right seat. Third in the Championship is Blake Yoon with Andy Goubarev along side.

The 2WD Championship has Bill Holmes and Kevin Carter in first after a win at Rim and nearly winning the event overall. The overall win came down to the final run of the weekend with only seconds separating Holmes from Lisa Klassen’s Evo. Second in the 2WD championship is the duo of Tony Chavez and Mustafa Samli. These two are regulars with the California Rally Series and have assembled a very strong VW Golf for this year’s championship. Third place is held down by driver Bruce Davis and co-driver Jimmy Brandt in their trusty Neon SRT-4.

Current Pacific Division class leaders are Klassen/Hamacher in Open AWD, Ronquillo/Burke Production AWD,/Group N, Holmes/Carter Open 2WD, Marciniak/Marciniak Production 2WD.

Competitors in the Pacific Division are eagerly looking forward to the Gorman Rally, August 18th in Gorman, California followed by the Prescott Rally October 5th and 6th in Prescott, Arizona with the Laughlin Rally as the series finale on November 9th, 10th and 11th in Laughlin, Nevada where top Atlantic and Pacific Division competitors will meet.

The 2007 United States Rally Championship (www.usrallychampionship.com ) is taking bold steps to make national competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams.
The new Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for cross-country travel by providing competition on each side of the country with the final round at the end of the year counting both in the Atlantic Division and the Pacific Division and deciding the top sports in the Championship.

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19/01/07
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP SIGNS A TWO-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR WORLDWIDE TELEVISION AND INTERNET PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
The United States Rally Championship (USRC) and Replica Productions entered into a two-year agreement to develop a Broadcast License Agreement for worldwide television and Internet production and distribution of the events of the United States Rally Championship. The agreement covers the 2007 and 2008 USRC seasons.

Replica Productions, headquartered in New York City, has a long track record of bringing the sport of Rally to broadcast television. It produced the television broadcasts of the SCCA ProRally Championship during the period 1995 through 2004. The shows were produced for ESPN, SpeedVision and Speed Channel. Throughout the 2006 season of the United States Rally Championship, Replica Productions assisted in producing television shows from the 2006 USRC events. The shows will be broadcast on HDNet TV channel in high definition in the near future.

In a related development, USRC will engage Creative Edge Events of Ridgecrest, California, as a consultant and an advisor. Creative Edge Events produced the very successful one-hour television show from the 2006 Rally New York USA and from other events of the 2006 United States Rally Championship.

United States Rally Championship

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23/12/06
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ANNOUNCES ITS THIRD SEASON AND 2007 CALENDAR

The 2007 United States Rally Championship (USRC) is taking bold steps to make national competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. The new Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for cross-country travel by providing competition on each side of the country with the final round deciding top spots in the Championship at the end of the year.

Teams may enter any number of events but will only score points in one Division – Atlantic or Pacific. Each team may count the best results from events with the maximum of 360%, with the final event, the Laughlin International Rally, counting toward both Divisions. The teams can achieve the maximum points for the Championship in as few as four events.

The top three teams in both the All-Wheel Drive Championship and the Two-Wheel Drive Championship from each Division will be invited to compete for the top six places at Laughlin International Rally. The Championship will subsidize travel costs for teams from the Atlantic Division with a fixed cash amount approximately equal to the cost of the cross-country travel.

“Fewer and fewer teams can afford towing back and forth across the country”, stated Michel Taylor, USRC President. “A meaningful National Championship needs to embrace the reality that most of our top competitors are professional and trades people who have been excluded from serious consideration in previous championship formats due to the time or financial demands of cross-country travel. With our new format, that has all changed.”

The new structure opens the Championship to all national and regional rally competitors without the requirement of an additional national license or higher national rally entry fees.

An announcement regarding the TV coverage of the 2007 USRC season will follow.

1. Sandblast Rally Feb17 NASA 60% Atlantic
2. Rally New York USA Mar 30-31 RNY 100% Atlantic
3. Subaru Rim of the World Apr 27-28 NASA 100% Pacific
4. Rally Tennessee May 5 NASA 100% Atlantic
5. Gorman Ridge Rally Aug 18 NASA 60% Pacific
6. Rally West Virginia Aug 18 NASA 60% Atlantic
7. International Rally New York Sept 7-8 RNY 100% Atlantic
8. Black River Stages Sept 29 NASA 60% Atlantic
9. Prescott Rally Oct 5-6 NASA 100% Pacific
10. Laughlin International Rally Nov 9-11 NASA 100% Atlantic 100% Pacific

United States Rally Championship