2002
Mountain Trials Rally
Press
Releases |
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Specialty
Subaru Mountain Trials Rally
October 5, 2002 in Merritt, BC CANADA
Round 5 of the Western Canadian Rally Championship
Presented by Yokohama Tires
RACE FOR RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO MERRITT
For Immediate Release |
MERRITT, BC (Sept.
24/2002) - Canada's fastest growing form of
motorsport makes a return visit to Merritt when
the Specialty Subaru Mountain Trials Rally rolls
into town on October 5th. This event will
be the fifth of six rallies in the Western
Canadian Rally Championship presented
by Yokohama and promises to firmly establish the
thrill of rally in the heart of BC's interior. |
Fierce competition is
expected to develop between the talented local
contenders and experienced visiting teams, all
of whom will be here hoping to advance their standing
in the Western Canadian Rally Championship.
The championship has taken on a new look this
year and the title chase is still wide open.
Many of the teams that missed out on the last
round, the Pacific Forest Rally, also held here
in Merritt, will be making the trip hoping to
gain a stronger foothold in the standings. |
Last year's Western Canadian
Champion, Janusz Komorowski, has had a
rough season getting acquainted with a new car.
After almost winning the opening round in Cochrane,
Alberta, Komorowski has failed to finish the last
four Canadian events. However, a strong
performance at the recently held Wild West ProRally
in Olympia, Washington reminded everyone just
what he is capable of. |
Among the local drivers
sure to challenge for top honours is last year's
Pacific Forest Rally winner, Scott Trinder.
This year, while competing against some of the
best driver's in North America, Trinder has impressed
many observers in the sport with a couple of brilliant
drives. He, too, recently competed at the
Wild West ProRally, running as high as fourth
place overall before ignition troubles dropped
him to eighth on the very last stage. |
Meanwhile, rally organizers
in Merritt have reached an agreement with Active
Mountain Entertainment Corporation (AME) to
use a network of private roads on their property.
AME hosts the famous Merritt Music Mountain Festival,
which attracts over 140,000 people annually to
the region. AME is also the guiding force
behind the Active Mountain Raceway (AMR) project
that has been in the works for the last few years.
At the Mountain Trials Rally, a network
of roads on the AMR site will be evaluated for
potential use as a full "Super Special"
Spectator Stage. The test run this year
is in anticipation of the National Rally that
will be coming here in 2003. This unique
opportunity is a combined effort between the organizers
and AMR towards building a future rally site as
part of the AMR project. (For more details, check
out www.activemountainraceway.com) |
At the rally there will
be plenty of opportunities to catch the teams
in action, both on the mountain roads and right
in downtown Merritt. It all begins at the
Railyard Mall on October 5th when the rally
officially starts there at 9:30am Saturday morning.
Later, teams will return to the mall for service
stops throughout the day, before heading back
into the hills. Of course, the AMR site
will surely give fans the best chance to see the
rally cars racing on a seven kilometer long stage!
Admission to the site is free. |
For more information about
this event, check out the BC rally website: www.rallybc.com
or contact organizer Paul Westwick at (604) 682-3296,
or via e-mail: paul@rallybc.com |
http://www.rallybc.com
For more information contact:
Paul Westwick (604) 682-3296, mailto:paul@rallybc.com
or
Ken Kwong (604) 808-0536, mailto:ken@rallybc.com
Rally Head Quarters:
Best Western Nicola Inn
Merritt, BC
Media Liaison:
Mitch Kosterman (604) 880-2100, mailto:mkosterman@telus.net |
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