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Rocket Rally Racing Returns to Oregon
SCCA ProRally Championship leader looking to widen points gap

Hillsboro, OR, April 23 - SCCA ProRally points leader Patrick Richard returns to the Oregon Trail ProRally this weekend, looking to extend his narrow points gap in the fight for the SCCA ProRally Championship title. Richard, the 2002 Canadian Rally Champion, will be driving the same Subaru Impreza WRX which brought him victory at the SnoDrift ProRally, the most recent round of the American-based rally championship. As a competitor in the internationally- recognized Group N class, Richard's win at SnoDrift was the first time in recent history a Group N machine took an overall victory against the more powerful "Open class" rally cars.

"My main objective is to place well within the Group N class," explained Richard, "but if we have a chance to place well in the overall results, it would be icing on the cake." Richard is also the current leader of the 2004 Canadian Rally Championship, where he drives a Subaru for the factory-backed Subaru Rally Team Canada. "We're leading both the Canadian and American championships right now, so there's a bit of pressure on us to perform this weekend to try and keep that status. But priority-wise, if we can walk away from here with a decent class finish we will be in a very strong position for the rest of the year."

Making the weekend interesting will be the debut of a new pairing inside the car. Nathalie Richard, Patrick's sister, who most recently competed as a co- driver in the ultra-competitive Australian Rally Championship, will be joining Richard for the remainder of the 2004 SCCA ProRally Championship season. "I'm happy to get back in the North American rally scene, it?s been a long time since I've been to an American event," she stated. "This will be my first time using the supplied course notes that
they use in the United States, as I am more familiar with doing full reconnaissance of the rallies as we do in Australia." In the SCCA ProRally Championship, drivers and codrivers do not have any opportunity to see the rally roads prior to having to drive on them at full competitive speed. Rallies conducted to the international regulations formulated by the FIA, the world's governing body for motorsport, allow drivers and co-drivers to 'reconnoiter' the route prior to competition, allowing them to make detailed and precise notations of every kink, turn and bump in the road. In the United States, this is performed by the rally organizers, who
deliver a set of 'course notes' to the competitors just prior to the rally start.

"There's going to be an adjustment period at the beginning," cautioned Richard, "but I am confident that we will get up to speed with the organizer- supplied route notes fairly quickly."

The brother and sister duo will also be debuting a new graphic and colo scheme for the car, modeled after Richard's previous championship-winning cars from the 1999 and 2000 SCCA ProRally Championship seasons. Featuring yellow cartoon-like rocket graphics synonymous with the Rocket Rally Racing logo, the branding effort represents a step forward in terms of exposure for current team sponsors. "We've had a lot of support from Patrick's personal sponsors for his 2004 campaign," explained Team
Co-ordinator Ken Kwong, "and we are still seeking an elusive title partner for the rest of the year. Globalstar, OMP, Motul, DMS North America and NASIOC.com have all been very supportive of our efforts for 2004, and we've taken the step of creating additional value for them while we negotiate for a title sponsor. Given the situation, its the right thing to do."

The Oregon Trail ProRally will start Friday evening at the Portland International Raceway. Featuring 3 short spectator 'special stages', the start area will include rally drivers taking part in a timed drag race as part of the rally, as well as circuits around the raceway mixing in the asphalt road course with the gravel infield. The rally will continue on Saturday morning, where it will take a 'proper' start in the forests outside Hillsboro, Oregon, finishing Sunday afternoon after over 100 miles of hard-packed action on the tree-lined gravel roads of the Pacific Northwest.

For more information contact: info@patrickrichard.com
www.patrickrichard.com

Up to the minute results and news: www.rallyamerica.com

 

Canadian driver captures second SCCA ProRally win in a row
Patrick Richard and Rocket Rally Racing now two for two

Hillsboro, OR, April 26 - Canadian rally driver Patrick Richard came out on top at this weekend's Oregon Trail ProRally, the second round of the SCCA ProRally Championship. Driving a Subaru Impreza WRX rally car in the internationally-recognized Group N class, Richard's overall victory against the more powerful Open class cars was the second in a row for the British Columbia - based Canadian, and his first victory of the year on gravel.

"Coming off the snow events, it is great to also see us take a win on the gravel," explained Richard. "It kind of rebukes the rumors that we Canadians are only able to drive on the ice," he joked.

After establishing themselves as the early leaders after Friday's first set of stages, Richard and his co-driving sister, Nathalie Richard, experienced problems on Saturday which saw them drop over a minute to interim rally leader, Irishman Seamus Burke.

"We had some communications issues inside the car. While we were very competitive, we lost a lot of time on two of Saturday's stages in particular," explained co-driver Nathalie Richard. "Coming into the final leg of the event, we were sitting in third place, 15 seconds behind Karl Jardevall."

A sensational drive on the final leg of the event saw the brother and sister duo win all but one of Sunday's stages, overhauling Jardevall for second place and cutting the time gap to Burke in half. Retirement for Burke on the penultimate stage handed the victory to Richard, and the former Canadian champion now has a strong lead in the SCCA ProRally Championship overall standings.

"Seamus had a big lead on us coming into Sunday morning, and I didn't think that it was going to be possible to close the gap," explained Richard. "I put a lot of pressure on Karl Jardevall, and we both moved closer to Seamus. Ultimately I think Seamus had some sort of mechanical failure, and once past Jardevall we inherited the lead. I don't enjoy taking a win that way, but walking out from a tough event like Oregon with full points is something that I wouldn't trade for almost anything else."

"We're still unsure about how far we can go this season," explained Rocket Rally team coordinator, Ken Kwong. "Patrick has been delivering the goods in the car, and obviously has done a great job considering he's running in Group N, but we still have not closed our funding for the remaining rounds of the season. It's going to be very difficult to try to make it to the summer events unless something changes," he cautioned.

Supported by associate sponsors Globalstar, DMS North America, Motul, OMP and NASIOC.com, Patrick Richard and Rocket Rally Racing now sit atop the SCCA ProRally Championship overall standings and will be making their next appearance at the Rim of the World ProRally, May 7-8, near Palmdale, California..

For more information contact: info@patrickrichard.com

www.patrickrichard.com

 

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