USRC: Laughlin season finale preview

LAUGHLIN INTERNATIONAL RALLY NOV. 9-12 CONCLUDES 2006 USRC CHAMPIONSHIP

Seamus Burke and Christine Beavis hope they can protect their five-point lead in the United States Rally Championship standings and claim the 2006 title Nov. 9-12 when the series concludes with the Laughlin International Rally and Motorsports Festival in Nevada.

The team of Burke and Beavis have been victorious in the two most recent rallies, in Linden, Tennessee and Prescott, Arizona, and a third straight victory would assure them of the 2006 crown. Challengers Wolfgang Hoeck and Piers O'Hanlon finished second in Tennessee and third at Prescott. Burke and Beavis will pilot an Evo 8, while Hoeck and O'Hanlon are entered in a Lancer Evo VII.

Bruce Davis and Jimmy Brandt, with victories in three rallies this year, lead the two-wheel-drive championship by a 39-point margin over Kristopher Marciniak and Christine Wittish going into the Laughlin finale.

The International Rally, first developed and organized by American Rally Sport Group, Inc., in 1998, remains America's longest-running endurance rally with international FIA listing. It receives sanction through United States Automobile Club (USAC) in association with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) and NASA RallySport West. It is the final event in the United States Rally Championship.

The inaugural Laughlin International Rally & Motorsports Festival opens Veteran's Day Weekend November 9-12 with something for all ages and anyone with an interest in cars and trucks, competition motorsports, rally racing, car shows, and fun. American Rally Sport Group, Inc., in association with the Laughlin Tourism Committee, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and Las Vegas Events has moved from its former two-event December Rally weekend into an earlier November date, as the new and unique International Rally & Motorsports Festival.

The final competitive leg of the Laughlin International Rally opens Sunday morning, Nov. 12, at the Laughlin Special Events Arena at Bruce Woodbury Drive. Following two challenging days of high-speed competition over winding desert ravines and curving mountain roads in the Land of the Hualapai, the rally teams gather for the final six hours of their exhausting three-day challenge. Tension runs high during the final moments of America's final Rally Championship event. The slightest mistake will make or break the United States Rally Championship team winner for 2006, as well as the regional winners for the Western States Rally Championship and tri-state California Rally Series. It's all on the line at the SuperStage where a team's year-long pursuit for the gold can be made or lost in a split-second on the SuperStage.

The SundayStage® has two or sometimes three rallyists in high-speed runs over special parallel dirt courses through the sandy wash areas and foothills. The goal is fastest time while avoiding hitting the berm or rolling over before the finish line.

The United States Rally Championship team will be among honored 2006 USAC champions at the USAC National Awards Dinner January 19 in Indianapolis, Ind.

The unique Laughlin International Rally is featured on four rally video games: Richard Burns Rally Championship, Rally Championship Xtreme, Rally Championship, and, for the Nintendo, Top Gear Rally 2.

--USAC--