Los Angeles – The penultimate round of the California Rally Series (CRS) Championship is set to take place on Saturday August 20th with the Gorman Ridge Rally.  Based in the Hungry Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Park located just over an hour north of Los Angeles, the rally is convenient for both competitors and spectators alike.  The twisty, challenging stages with elevation changes and big jumps will keep teams on their toes from the morning to well after sunset.

Thirty-two teams are scheduled to take the start this year, making it one of the largest rallies of the season.  Seeded in the number one spot are Jason Copt and Cameron Meng in their Open Four-Wheel Drive class Subaru Impreza WRX STI.  Fresh off a win at the Idaho Rally in June the teammates have a slim lead over John Coyne and Doug Nagy, who sit less than forty points back.  Coyne/Nagy will be pushing for a strong finish in their older model Subaru Impreza in order to gain that top position on the leader board.  No doubt Copt/Meng will do their best to hold them off.  Looking to play spoiler are Kris Psara and Andres Bautista in their Subaru Impreza WRX STI.  Psara is typically very fast, but hasn’t entered any CRS events this season, so he has a lot of ground to make up if he wants to shoot for a trophy at the end of the year.  Finally, Stephen Benson and Nicolas Renold are seeded third on the entry list and also slot in at third place in the standings, just thirty points behind Coyne/Nagy.  They have a chance to leapfrog into the top spot if they can take a win this weekend.

The small-displacement production based two-wheel drive Performance Stock (P-Stock) class is experiencing a resurgence at the Gorman Ridge Rally with six cars on the entry list.  Class leader Brian Tullio is teamed up with journeyman co-driver Nick Roder in their BMW 318i.  They will be looking to hold off second place class competitors Tony Chaves and Raquel Salas in their Volkswagen Golf.  With multiple P-Stock championships under his belt Chavez has been instrumental in the recent resurgence of competition in P-Stock, so no doubt he will be trying to make up the 31 points he needs to capture first place. Making the jump back to P-Stock after taking the CRS-2 win at the Frazier Mountain Rally earlier this year is the always fast Michel Hoche-Mong and co-driver Marie Boyd, also in a Volkswagen Golf.  Expect them to be running among the fastest two-wheel drive cars on Saturday.

Ryan Millen and Christina Fate are the favorites to take the win in the large-displacement, two-wheel drive CRS-5 class.  The pair were principally responsible for the return of this class to the CRS after their dominating performance last season in their mostly-stock Toyota RAV4.  They are looking to put some points on the board at this event in order to catch up with their competition in the form of Andrew Cowan and Ryan Dunham in a VR6 Volkswagen Jetta.

The small displacement, two-wheel drive CRS-2 class is full of surprises with car changes and co-driver swapping promising to make it an interesting weekend.  Class leader Javier Olivares and co-driver Brock Heinz return to Gorman in their Ford Escort.  They have a tenuous lead over last year’s CRS-2 champions Markus and Alicia Saarinen.  However, the Saarinens will not be competing in their Mini Cooper that has taken them through many tough rallies.  Instead, they will be behind the wheel of a Ford Focus, making it a battle between two Fords for the CRS-2 championship!  Time will tell how well the team adjusts to the new car.  The sole Volkswagen in CRS-2 this rally will be driven by Bret Robinson.  Robinson is a consistently fast driver so it will be interesting to see if he is still on the pace after coming back from a hiatus.  He is joined for the first time by veteran co-driver Christine Marciniak, who has her eyes on maintaining her lead on the CRS-2 co-driver championship.

In the normally-aspirated, four-wheel drive Open Lite class, class leaders Michael Seidman and Thomas Luhrs have captured maximum points at ever event this season in their Subaru Impreza RS  All eyes will be on them to see if they can continue their sweep.  Looking to deny them the opportunity are Alejandro Perusina and Synnove Wise in their own Subaru Impreza RS.

The Gorman Ridge Rally is based in Lebec, CA, located just one hour north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.  The rally features 55 miles of hard-packed dirt stages located within the Hungry Valley Off-Road Vehicle park.  For more information on the Gorman Ridge Rally visit http://gormanridgerally.com/.

 

The California Rally Series is the premier performance rally championship in the southwestern United States.  The Series incorporates events from various sanctioning bodies in order to create a meaningful regional championship for its members.  The Series celebrates more than 40 continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United States.  To learn more about the California Rally Series visit www.californiarallyseries.com and follow @crspress on twitter. 

Los Angeles – The penultimate round of the California Rally Series (CRS) Championship is set
 
to take place on Saturday August 20 th with the Gorman Ridge Rally. Based in the Hungry Valley
 
Off-Highway Vehicle Park located just over an hour north of Los Angeles, the rally is
 
convenient for both competitors and spectators alike. The twisty, challenging stages with
 
elevation changes and big jumps will keep teams on their toes from the morning to well after
 
sunset.
 
Thirty-two teams are scheduled to take the start this year, making it one of the largest rallies of
 
the season. Seeded in the number one spot are Jason Copt and Cameron Meng in their Open
 
Four-Wheel Drive class Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Fresh off a win at the Idaho Rally in June
 
the teammates have a slim lead over John Coyne and Doug Nagy, who sit less than forty points
 
back. Coyne/Nagy will be pushing for a strong finish in their older model Subaru Impreza in
 
order to gain that top position on the leader board. No doubt Copt/Meng will do their best to
 
hold them off. Looking to play spoiler are Kris Psara and Andres Bautista in their Subaru
 
Impreza WRX STI. Psara is typically very fast, but hasn’t entered any CRS events this season,
 
so he has a lot of ground to make up if he wants to shoot for a trophy at the end of the year.
 
Finally, Stephen Benson and Nicolas Renold are seeded third on the entry list and also slot in at
 
third place in the standings, just thirty points behind Coyne/Nagy. They have a chance to
 
leapfrog into the top spot if they can take a win this weekend.
 
The small-displacement production based two-wheel drive Performance Stock (P-Stock) class is
 
experiencing a resurgence at the Gorman Ridge Rally with six cars on the entry list. Class leader
 
Brian Tullio is teamed up with journeyman co-driver Nick Roder in their BMW 318i. They will
 
be looking to hold off second place class competitors Tony Chaves and Raquel Salas in their
 
Volkswagen Golf. With multiple P-Stock championships under his belt Chavez has been
 
instrumental in the recent resurgence of competition in P-Stock, so no doubt he will be trying to
 
make up the 31 points he needs to capture first place. Making the jump back to P-Stock after
 
taking the CRS-2 win at the Frazier Mountain Rally earlier this year is the always fast Michel
 
Hoche-Mong and co-driver Marie Boyd, also in a Volkswagen Golf. Expect them to be running
 
among the fastest two-wheel drive cars on Saturday.
 
Ryan Millen and Christina Fate are the favorites to take the win in the large-displacement, two-
 
wheel drive CRS-5 class. The pair were principally responsible for the return of this class to the
 
CRS after their dominating performance last season in their mostly-stock Toyota RAV4. They
 
8/16/2016
 
are looking to put some points on the board at this event in order to catch up with their
 
competition in the form of Andrew Cowan and Ryan Dunham in a VR6 Volkswagen Jetta.
 
The small displacement, two-wheel drive CRS-2 class is full of surprises with car changes and
 
co-driver swapping promising to make it an interesting weekend. Class leader Javier Olivares
 
and co-driver Brock Heinz return to Gorman in their Ford Escort. They have a tenuous lead over
 
last year’s CRS-2 champions Markus and Alicia Saarinen. However, the Saarinens will not be
 
competing in their Mini Cooper that has taken them through many tough rallies. Instead, they
 
will be behind the wheel of a Ford Focus, making it a battle between two Fords for the CRS-2
 
championship! Time will tell how well the team adjusts to the new car. The sole Volkswagen in
 
CRS-2 this rally will be driven by Bret Robinson. Robinson is a consistently fast driver so it will
 
be interesting to see if he is still on the pace after coming back from a hiatus. He is joined for the
 
first time by veteran co-driver Christine Marciniak, who has her eyes on maintaining her lead on
 
the CRS-2 co-driver championship.
 
In the normally-aspirated, four-wheel drive Open Lite class, class leaders Michael Seidman and
 
Thomas Luhrs have captured maximum points at ever event this season in their Subaru Impreza
 
RS All eyes will be on them to see if they can continue their sweep. Looking to deny them the
 
opportunity are Alejandro Perusina and Synnove Wise in their own Subaru Impreza RS.
 
The Gorman Ridge Rally is based in Lebec, CA, located just one hour north of the Los Angeles
 
metropolitan area. The rally features 55 miles of hard-packed dirt stages located within the
 
Hungry Valley Off-Road Vehicle park. For more information on the Gorman Ridge Rally visit
 
http://gormanridgerally.com/.
 
The California Rally Series is the premier performance rally championship in the southwestern
 
United States. The Series incorporates events from various sanctioning bodies in order to create
 
a meaningful regional championship for its members. The Series celebrates more than 40
 
continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United
 
States. To learn more about the California Rally Series visit www.californiarallyseries.com and
 
follow @crspress on twitter.