“NEW CAR COMPETITIVE RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX AT PRESCOTT”

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Photo by Seana Rutherford

Tached-Out Racing is Now Currently in 1st Place for the Northwest Region OL Championship After Finishing 2^nd in OL at both Regional rallies of the recent Rally America Olympus Stage

Building on their successful start of the year, driver and owner Corey Salsbery and his co-driver Mike Milos put a great deal of effort in making improvements to the car leading up the two regional Open Light class rallies September 22 and 23 at Shelton WA. The improvements were evident and a very successful recce of the stages was accomplished prior to official start of the rally. Because of recent fire dangers, Olympus Rally started very early that Saturday morning, ran until noon, took a long break before running five stages in the evening after dark, and held one stage on Sunday.

For the first regional rally, the team did some suspension changes prior to the start of the Stage 1 and suffered some evil handling characteristics limiting their stage time. However, after quickly undoing these changes in service they had very successful results in Stage 2 and Stage 3. By the time of the storied Nahwatzel Stage 4, the team had got into a good rhythm and quickly progressed down the stage only to run into some issues in an area where many teams suffered problems. These issues eventually lead to losing their entire exhaust and a bending a front strut. The team returned to service with the handily out of kilter and deafening noise in the car. The service team Lawrence and Kyle had the afternoon to get the car ready for the evening stages. When the scores were posted, the team was in a solid second place in class for the first regional rally.

Night stages are not run often in the US, even at the National level, so most drivers have limited experience in the dark. The night stages started with a special stage using a large part of the Ridge Motorsports road course for the spectators, then moving out into the woods. Because of its morning success, the team moved up in the start order and was warned not to cut corners or pull gravel on to the road course. Cory shared their dramatic experience:

“We took the stage easy because many of the cars in front of us had left gravel on the course which made things very slippery. We returned to service for a very quick tire change prior to going back into the woods. We got to the start of Taylor Towne Stage 6, and as we lined up, there was a lot of confusion with the timing but we got away from the start and immediately experienced amounts of hanging dust because of the night still air. This dust situation made driving at competition speed really challenging. Towards the end of the stage things improved and we were glad to finish. We transited to the start of Coqualum Stage 7 thinking the dust would be an issue-and it was until the last part of stage where we were able to progress at a pretty good rate. There were some issues with a car off the road on Stage 8 which delayed that stage and Stage 9 so both were cancelled for all cars. So our night ended well after midnight after only running three stages.”

The next day, with only one stage on the schedule, Corey and Mike were excited for another chance at this 20-mile stage. Mike recalls the excitement:

“When we started off on the transit, we were 11 seconds out of third with the first place car starting in front of us. We were confident that we could make up the time. About half down the stage we caught the car in front of us. They had suffered a flat and stopped to change the tire. They graciously waited and let us pass them before restarting. So that put us in third place for sure. The car in third also suffered delays on stage, so we passed them as well this moved us into second place for the second regional bringing a great end to our weekend. We packed up after returning to service and went to the well-deserved awards banquet.”

Corey and Mike thanked many people for the weekend.

“First the organizers, who put on a fantastic rally even with the limitation on stage usage because of the fire hazards; all the volunteers that came out to staff and work the stages so we could do what we love; PREracing.com for their support; our Service Team Lawrence and Kyle, who kept us on the road all weekend; and last but not least, TAG Rally Sport, which allowed us to be part of their pits.”

Now the team is working on plans to defend their Northwest Regional OL championship points lead at the last regional rally left in the season at Mt. Hood.

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Black Box driver Alvin Fong is looking to contend the 2012 United States Rally Championship with a solid finish at the upcoming Prescott Rally. Fong and co-driver Billy Machin will challenge the predominantly Open AWD class field of championship contenders in a Laengworks’ Production AWD Evo rally car. A Production AWD car is essentially a stock car with minimal modifications for safety. Despite having significantly less power than their open class competitors, Fong is optimistic about the event: “I think we showed at Gorman Ridge that we could be competitive in a Production class car when we took first in AWD Overall. Especially for Prescott, with the stakes so high, you can be sure that we’re going to drive flat out!”.
Although the team had an almost 200 point lead in the United States Rally Championship going into Prescott, the cancellation of Rally Delaware and International Rally New York caused the organizers to enact a provision in the rules to level the playing field for the final round at Prescott. This caused the points from one of Black Box rally team’s events, to be dropped. The new standings reflect a 3-way tie for first amongst Black Box rally team, Joseph Burke, and Byron Garth. Undettered, Co-driver Billy Machin said: “Never before has MANKIND been privy to such an event; the coming forth of the fury of THE FONG in this distinguished week’s end will be one of great tribulation, honor, and GLORY. We will wage war with the dirt! We will be as the wind: flowing over the golden sand with constant and persistent subtle force. We will go forth in a stampede of unbridled determination. Fear will not inhibit us. COURAGE will be our counselor. Valor will be our vanguard. We shall SUCCEED.”
This is Black Box rally team’s first full season of stage rally. The team’s first rally was International Rally New York last October 2011, where the duo finished 1st in class and 2nd overall. Since then, the team has taken many class wins in addition to overall AWD wins at this year’s Hyperfest, Gorman Ridge, and Black River Stages.
Prescott rally will take place September 28-29, starting out of Tim’s Subaru in Prescott, AZ. 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the Prescott Rally, a rally known for some of the fastest and longest stage roads and largest elevation changes in US rally. The event consists of approximately 120 miles over 10 stages, and takes place over two days.

You can follow the results of the rally here: http://www.prescottrally.com

Black Box rally team will also be posting live updates on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blackboxrally

and twitter: http://twitter.com/blackboxrally

Team blog: blackboxrally.com

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USRC WRAPS UP CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
AT THE 25TH ANNUAL PRESCOTT RALLY

Author: USRC Media

Prescott, Arizona. (September 24, 2012) The final round of the 2011 United States Rally Championship will be run in the central mountains of Arizona September 28th and 29th where a tight battle for the AWD Championship will be decided. The Atlantic Divisions Joseph Burke and Alvin Fong are tied for first going into the final round with Pacific competitors Ryan Gates and Kris Psara within striking distance if either of the front runners stumbles. Michel Hoche-Mong from California can wrap up the 2WD Championship with a strong finish but John Black in his Ranger is close behind.

The Prescott Rally will take competitors through the historic mining district of Jerome and the ranchlands of the Verde River Valley. A compressed two-day schedule will allow teams to participate in Recce Friday morning, register Friday afternoon, complete the competition stages Friday night and Saturday with awards and prize giving Saturday evening.

Other strong contenders include:

• Keith Jackson/Marra Estep. This team won the USRC AWD championship in 2009 and knows these roads well.
• Cem Akdeniz/Mustafa Samli. This duo has been steadily gaining speed and competed at Prescott last year assuring their home event advantage.
• Kristopher Marciniak/Christine Marciniak. The 2007 USRC 2WD Production Cup Winners have a new Neon to engage the other 2WD teams in what will surely be a great battle.

This year’s event features 120 stage miles over the two day format with activities based at Tim’s Subaru and the Prescottonian Hotel in Prescott, Arizona. Proceeds from this year’s event will help support the Yavapai Humane Society. Sponsors for the event include Scott Roofing of Phoenix, Tim’s Subaru of Prescott along with the Subaru Western Region, The Prescottonian Hotel, Whiskey Row Screen-printing and Morgan Sign. Timing and Scoring are provided by the California Rally Series. Look for live updates throughout the weekend at www.rallydate.com or www.prescottrally.com and like Prescott Rally on Facebook!

Additional event information is available at www.prescottrally.com

Contact: Donna Hocker, Series Administrator

United States Rally Championship

Office 760-446-4002

Direct Cell 760-677-5235 donnahocker@verizon.net

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Since shaking down the car at North Nevada, the rallynotes.com graphics package and body work have been applied. The cute Dodge Neon is transforming into an SRT-4 beast! Driver Kristopher Marciniak talks about the new livery: “One thing that’s always exciting is when the rally car finally matches the logo design at the top of our website. That rally car logo is a sort of talisman for me in that I envision what the rally car will one day become and then work towards it.” The cars silver and red paint scheme was done by Danny’s Auto Body in Long Beach; Seibon Carbon hood; Vinyl by Streetwise Motorsports.

Set in one of the most iconic landscapes in the Southwest, The 25th annual Prescott Rally travels through red rock canyons for miles on winding dirt roads. These roads are considered to be some of the best rally stages in the country. The rallynotes.com team fell in love with the area in 2005 and have been back every year to race or volunteer. This weekend (September 28-29) will mark their 5th year of competition at this event. The team is really looking forward to it!

The competition in the USRC Open 2WD class has 10 entries vying for the win for the final round of the championship. In the regional CRS class, a win at Prescott could mean a podium finish in the California Rally Series CRS-2 class championship. After setting 3rd fastest stage times at North Nevada, the goal is to place well with the new car. “I’d like to do exactly what we did at NNR without getting stuck on a berm for 20 minutes. We love Prescott and we’re going to have fun!” said co-driver Christine Marciniak.

Live updates from this weekend will be on the rallynotes.com tumblelog and APRS rally car tracking will be active starting Thursday!
The Prescott Rally website is http://www.prescottrally.com

Website: http://rallynotes.com
Live Updates: http://rallynotes.com/tumblelog/
Rally Car Tracking: http://rallynotes.com/rallycar-tracking/
Video: http://www.youtube.com/rallynotes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rallynotesteam
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rallynotes

Husband and wife team, Kristopher and Christine Marciniak, have been rallying together since 2005. They are three time USRC Production 2WD champions. Kristopher handles technology and operations at Warm Your Floor in Laguna Hills, CA. Christine has a PhD in molecular biology and is working in the field.

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Williston, VT (September 10, 2012) — The Rally America National Championship season concludes with a bang with this year’s largest assembly of top national and international rally teams at the Olympus Rally on September 22-23^rd in Olympia, WA. Over 70 teams will return to the gravel logging roads once used in the 1980′s World Rally Championship located just outside the Washington State capital and will extend into the picturesque Pacific Northwest peninsula.

All eyes will be on the much anticipated rematch between Ford, Subaru and Mitsubishi’s top rally drivers. The manufacturers previously met at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood last February in Salem, MO where Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block from Park City, UT and Alex Gelsomino from Santa Clarita, CA won the event in their 2012 Ford Fiesta HFHV marginally besting Subaru Rally Team USA’s David Higgins from Trefeglwys, England and Craig Drew from Forest of Dean, England.

“I’m stoked to be back in my Ford Fiesta HFHV racing some rally stages in North America this month,” said Block. “I’m looking forward to getting back to a Rally America race and going up against Higgins and L’Estage once again. Those guys are fast and it’s going to make for some great racing at Olympus.”

The Olympus Rally is Block’s second Rally America event this season and his entry adds a level of flair due in part of his hugely successful Gymkhana videos that helped place rally style racing on the map – not to mention the fact that Block is the only American driver competing in the World Rally Championship. (See Block’s latest video: http://bit.ly/TJPg5N)

Block and Gelsomino will once again face Subaru Rally Team USA’s Higgins and Drew who are expected to throw everything they’ve got at the Monster World Rally Team to avenge the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. After already locking up the 2012 Rally America National Championship, Higgins and Drew can focus solely on beating the Monster World Rally Team.

“It’s great to be able to go to event without having to worry about points and looking forward to competing against Ken again,” commented Higgins, “After five weeks with no rain I think dust could be a major problem. I’m hoping for some rain in the coming week, otherwise the luck of the draw will have an even bigger meaning!

Ford and Subaru’s battle will be joined by the Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team Mitsubishi EVO of Antoine L’Estage from St-Jean-sur-Richlieu, Quebec and longtime co-driver Nathalie Richard from Halifax, Nova Scotia. L’Estage and Richard actually tailed Block when he lead the 100 Acre Wood Rally and looked like the team that could beat Block until L’Estage suffered an untimely transmission failure that passed second place to Subaru.

As the top of the leaderboard duke it out, the Olympus Rally will ultimately decide the winners of the 2012 Super Production (SP) and 2012 Two-Wheel Drive (2WD) National Class Championships as well.

Rally America’s national Super Production class leaders Lauchlin O’Sullivan from San Francisco, CA and Scott Putnam Minneapolis, MN hold the advantage in their Mitsubishi Evolution VIII as they just need to finish the Olympus Rally in order to take the class win. However, the possibility of Rally America’s first real first place tie could become a possibility if second place’s David Sterckx from Los Angeles, CA and co-driver Karen Jankowski from San Marcos, CA win the SP Class in their 2011 Subaru WRX STI and O’Sullivan and Putnam fail to finish – then both teams will share first place, even after tie breaker rules are applied.

In Rally America’s National 2WD Class, Chris Duplessis from Bethlehem, NH with co-driver Alex Kirhurani from Philadelphia, PA are just five points away from winning the 2012 2WD National Championship. In order for Duplessis to capture his third 2WD National Championship, he needs to finish eighth or better which is almost assured considering his impressive finishing record. Right behind Duplessis is Andrew Comrie-Picard from Hermosa Beach, CA along with co-driver Jeremy Wimpey from State College, PA in their 2011 Scion xD rally car for a last chance effort at first place. The team essentially needs six points and Duplessis to not cross the finish line in order to complete the upset.

However, spoilers may come into play with Australia’s Will Orders and Toni Feaver on the entry list in their high-horsepower 1989 Nissan Silvia rear-wheel drive rally car. The Australian team won two national 2WD events this season and are a favorite to win Olympus as well. Their entry could potentially prevent Comrie-Picard and Wimpey from earning the much needed points they’ll need to overcome Duplessis and Kirhurani.

The Olympus Rally will begin on the plaza in front of the Washington capital building in Olympia with a Parc Expose where fans can meet the drivers and co-drivers as well as take pictures of the rally cars on Saturday, September 22^nd at the Olympia Capitol grounds at 9am. It’s a great opportunity for fans to interact with their favorite drivers and get a few autographs.

The Olympus Rally will then move to the newly built Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, WA where the Service Park for the Olympus Rally will be based for Saturday and Sunday. The event will host a Ridge Motorsports Super Special stage, which will allow fans to watch an entire stage from start to finish at one location.

A free spectator guide will be available for download soon at http://www.rally-america.com, which include maps and directions to spectator areas, event schedules and more information.

The 2012 Rally America National Championship is proudly supported by TeleBlend, VP Racing Fuels – the Official Fuel of Rally America, ParkNBlend, Subaru of America, Ford Racing, Exedy Racing Clutches, Hawk Performance Brakes, DMack Tyres USA, GrimmSpeed and RECARO seats.

About Rally America:

Based in Williston, VT, Rally America, Inc. sanctions the Rally America National Championship, the premier performance rally series in the United States. In 2012, Rally America will be conducting six National Championship events at venues across the country, from Seattle, Washington to Newry, Maine. Rally America competitors reach speeds of well over 100 mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses consisting of gravel, dirt or snow. More information about the Rally America National Championship and the sport of rally can be found at http://www.rally-america.com.

Photo: Aaron Kathman

2011 Olympus Rally Winners David Higgins and Craig Drew.

Photo: Monster World Rally Team

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino from Monster World Rally Team.

Photo: Neil McDaid

Chris Duplessis and Alex Kirurani on the verge of a 2WD Championship.

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NASA Rally Sport returns to Lewis and St. Lawrence counties of New York on September 15-16 bringing the Black River Stages rally to life. In a spot just thirty miles from the Canadian border, the tranquility of the gorgeous fall leaf season will be interrupted by the roar of competitors racing down closed roads in the towns of Croghan, Edwards, Harrisville and Pitcairn.

The Black River Stages Rally is the fourth round of the Atlantic Rally Cup. Racing will take place on Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday all day. Spectators who wish to catch the racing action can can stop by the pits at the Croghan Rec Park on Saturday or the Harrisville Fire Hall on Sunday to pick up a limited edition spectator guide with schedules and bios. More rally information and a rally schedule can be found on the web site: BlackRiverStages.com.

Brad Morris is leading the Two Wheel Drive championship, but due to schedule conflicts won’t be contesting this weekend. That leaves the two top dogs, Simon Wright and Dillon Van Way, in a heated battle nearing the end of season. Wright has a scant one point lead over Van Way. Sitting just behind them is an unusual grouping of two rally trucks: the Mitsubishi and Nissan of Mike Hall and Dan Spalinger, respectively.

For the All Wheel Drive rally cars, Eric Wages has a pretty dominant lead over Lance Weisenfluh. However, with Black River being a double points event, a win for Weisenfluh could easily catapult him into the top sport. Michael Reily is leaving the WRC Escort at home for this round and opting for his Escort XR4Ti, which makes predicting his finishing position very difficult. Late breaking news that Wyatt Knox is prepping a car may not impact these standings, as he is pedaling a two wheel drive machine this go around.

In the Atlantic RallyMoto(tm) Cup, Kurt Weigand has been making a strong push for the lead this year. That hard work has paid off with a ten point lead coming into the final round of the motorcycle portion of the ARC. JJ McCarthy and Jack O’Connor can still take the prize with a little luck. However, Weigand will have to best local talent John Wernsdorfer, who has been just itching to upset the points cart as he jumps into this last event after taking a couple seasons off.

Black River Stages Rally still needs volunteers, reports organizer Anders Green. ‘We still have spots open for road marshals and ham radio operators. If you’re willing to give some time to your community, you can help keep everyone safe and see some great racing! It’s really like getting a private spectator area.’ Green suggests volunteers visit BlackRiverStages.com for more information.

NASA Rally Sport, the grassroots rally sanctioning body in the US, focuses on competitor fun and providing support for rally organizers. Providing tools, technology, and systems to the organizers, racers, and fans to increase their enjoyment of rally is a core mission of NASA Rally Sport.
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*The event was part of the Atlantic Rally Cup series, sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport
*More information is available on: http://BlackRiverStages.com

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