The United States Rally Championship completed its third season on a high note with the final round at the well-attended and FIA-listed Laughlin International Rally event and Motorsport Festival that took place in Laughlin, Nevada, from November 8 to 11. Laughlin is located eighty miles south of Las Vegas.
During the awards ceremony last Sunday night, USRC President Michael Taylor announced the new National Champions.
Driver Seamus Burke and co-driver Eddie Fries took the All-Wheel Drive Championship, while driver Bill Holmes and co-driver Kevin Carter claimed the Two-Wheel Drive Championship.
The USRC Rookie Championship went to driver Josh Wimpey and co-drivers Jeremy Wimpey and Kevin Carter.
"It has been a privilege to be President of the USRC. We have taken bold steps to make National Championship competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams," said Michael Taylor.
"The new Championship structure minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for cross-country travel. In addition, six top-scoring teams from the Eastern part of the country became eligible for a cash subsidy to travel to the Laughlin International Rally and received $2,000 each tonight. Finally, in order to give teams competing in two-wheel drive cars more visibility, we have introduced separate All-Wheel Drive Championship and Two-Wheel Drive Championship so we were able to announce USRC Two-Wheel Drive Champions tonight," Taylor added.
As a result, an unprecedented 22 teams competed in four or more events, and 37 teams competed in three or more races. A total of 312 competitors participated in the 2007 United States Rally Championship overall.
Most Eastern teams suffered from bad luck at Laughlin as they were hard pressed by the Western teams of Moberly/Moberly who won the event, Gubelmann/Richard, Hoeck/O'Hanlon, Holmes/Carter, Williams/Moody Jardewall/Trowbridge, Malik/Edstrom, Doganis/Smith and Loeffers/Deere.
The Eastern teams of Burke/Fries and Donnelly/Gallagher did not finish at Laughlin but were still able to place first and third in the USRC All-Wheel Drive Championship. O'Leary/O'Leary were delighted with their six place in the event.
None of the Eastern two-wheel drive teams finished the race; however, they ended up high in the Championship standings. Wimpey/Wimpey placed second in the USRC Two-Wheel Drive Championship and won the USRC Rookie Championship. Listopad/Dorman took fourth place and Bridwell/Kattinger placed fifth in the USRC Two-Wheel Drive Championship.
The United States Rally Championship offers a combination of gravel and tarmac races. Most events allow full reconnaissance and pace notes and are run under USRC Super Rally Regulations.
The full 2007 Championship results are as follows:
USRC AWD Driver Championship
1. Seamus Burke – National Champion
2. Roger Loeffers
3. Celsus Donnelly
4. Lisa Klassen
5. Enda McCormack
6. Leon Styles
USRC AWD Co-Driver Championship
1. Eddie Fries – National Champion
2. Colin Deere
3. Noel Gallagher
4. John Dillon
5. Bernard Farrell
6. Guido Hamacher
USRC 2WD Driver Championship
1. Bill Holmes – National Champion
2. Josh Wimpey
3. Bill Malik
4. Rafal Listopad
5. Hampton Bridwell
6. Tony Chavez
USRC 2WD Co-Driver Championship
1. Kevin Carter – National Champion
2. Jeremy Wimpey
3. Christopher Edstrom
4. Thomas Smith
5. Josh Kattinger
6. Dave Stockdill
USRC Rookie Driver and Co-Driver Champions
Josh Wimpey (driver) and Jeremy Wimpey (co-driver)
Kevin Carter (co-driver)
USRC Class Winners
Open AWD Driver – Seamus Burke
Open AWD Co-Driver - Eddie Fries
Production AWD Driver – Eduardo Bancalari
Production AWD Co-Driver - Matthew Tremmel
Open 2WD Driver – Bill Holmes
Open 2WD Co-Driver - Kevin Carter
Production 2WD Driver – Kristopher Marciniak
Production 2WD Co-Driver - Christine Marciniak
The Championship will announce its 2008 Calendar soon.
