USRC: Lawless, Gillipsie earn 2005 championship

LAWLESS/GILLEPSIE 2005 UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONS

Dynamic duo dominate the competition at Ramada Express International Rally

Indianapolis, IN (December 13, 2005) - Irishman Tom Lawless and co-driver Jason Gillespie dominated the competition at this weekend's Ramada Express International Rally in their Mitsubishi Evo VIII, taking the overall win by nearly three minutes, as well as the 2005 United States Rally Championship title. At the end of the third day, Lawless and Gillespie were spraying champagne at the top of the podium, followed by 2004 New Zealand Group A Champion Sam Murray and co-driver Anton Cheetham in a Group N Subaru, and Irishman Seamus Burke and co-driver Eddie Fries, third-place finishers in the rally, and fourth-place finishers in the USRC, in the Shamrock Building Systems Evo VIII.

Final 2005 USRC standings have Matthew Iorio and Ole Holter, in the Paladin Rally Mitsubishi Evo VII in the runner-up position overall behind Lawless, followed by Peter Workum and Christine Beavis in the Autosport Engineering Subaru WRX.

In two wheel drive open class, driver Craig Hollingsworth and co-driver Jason Grahn had a disappointing finish to the Ramada Express event, including a roll. However, this was tempered by the overall two wheel drive open class win in the 2005 USRC in their immaculately prepared Volkswagen Jetta. Jimmy Keeney and co-driver Brian Moody however, were atop the two wheel drive podium at the event, with a ninth overall and first in class in their Honda Civic, and were also able to celebrate their third place 2005 USRC finish. Second in the two wheel drive open class for the 2005 USRC was Bruce Davis in a Dodge SRT4.

2005 USRC top three standings by class are as follows:

Pos Overall Driver
1 Tom Lawless
2 Matthew Iorio
3 Peter Workum

Pos Overall Co-Driver
1 Jason Gillespie
2 Ole Holter
3 Christine Beavis

Pos Open 4wd Drivers
1 Thomas Lawless
2 Peter Workum
3 Seamus Burke

Pos Open 4wd Co-Drivers
1 Jason Gillespie
2 Christine Beavis
3 Ole Holter

Pos Group N Driver
1 Ken Block
2 Sam Murray
3 Mathew Iorio

Pos Group N Co-Driver
1 Alex Gelsomino
2 Anton Cheetham
3 Ole Holter

Pos Open 2wd Driver
1 Craig Hollingsworth
2 Bruce Davis
3 Jimmy Keeney

Pos Open 2wd Co-Driver
1 Jason Grahn
2 Amity Trowbridge
3 Brian Moody

Pos Grand Touring Driver
1 Danny O'Brien
2 Cyril Kearney
3 Patrick Farrell

Pos Grand Touring Co-Driver
1 Stephen Duffy
2 Noel Gallagher
3 Kieran McElhinney

Pos Super Stock Driver
1 Emilo Arce
2 Stephan Verdie
3 Dennis Chizma

Pos Super Stock Co-Driver
1 Allan Walker
2 Craig Thrall
3 Andrew Cushman

Pos Stock Driver
1 Doug Robinson
2 Mike Masano
3 Eric Heitkamp (tied)
3 Tony Chavez (tied)

Pos Stock Co-Driver
1 Sue Robinson
2 Linda Masano
3 Andrew Jessup (tied)
3 Bret Robinson (tied)

The United States Rally Championship, America's premier rally championship, consists of Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) internationally listed events sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and presented by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). More information on the Championship is available at the series website at www.usrallychampionship.com. More information on USAC is available at www.usacracing.com and on NASA at www.nasarallysport.com.

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