Los Angeles – Saturday May 4 marks the start of the 2019 California Rally Series (CRS) Rally Championship with the High Desert Trails Performance Rally. Based out of Ridgecrest, CA, the event offers some of the most diverse stage roads in the championship. The competitors will tackle flat out top speed sections across a wide desert valley, hairpin switchbacks that climb to a high elevation forest, and everything in between (and a little tarmac thrown in for good measure). This year’s schedule features eight stages that combine for over 80 stage miles in a compact format that is competitor friendly, with reconnaissance available on Friday for teams that want to preview the course. A parc expose will take place at the Springhill Suites in Ridgecrest, CA on Friday at 6pm allowing fans to get up close and check out all the cars.

Last year Santiago Caballero was leading Open Four-Wheel Drive class, and the rally overall, when a busted tie-rod caused him to retire from the event. He is teamed up with co-driver Richard Dickson this event, and they will be looking to put their Subaru Impreza at the top of the leaderboard. However, there are two drivers that are moving up into Open Four-Wheel Drive class that will be putting up a fight. Last season’s Performance Stock champion Travis Fienhage has swapped his Dodge Neon for a Subaru Impreza and is teamed up with journeyman co-driver Ryan Dunham for his Open class debut. Expect them to set some fast times as he gets used to the increased power and traction. Also moving into Open class is Ernie Manansala, who competed in Open Lite the last two seasons. Sitting next to him will be veteran co-driver Alix Hakala, who has experience running at the top end at this rally.

Returning once again in the normally-aspirated four-wheel drive Open Lite class are two-time class champions Kurt Northrup and co-driver Will Smith in their Subaru Impreza. They will be focused on extending their class victory streak into 2019. Expect Michael Seidman and co-driver Tommy Luhrs, also competing in a Subaru Impreza, to keep them honest.

The large-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-5 class has a healthy field with a number of drivers who will be shooting for the class victory. High Desert Trails marks the return of Brian Tullio, who sat out last season in order to rebuild his Mazda MX-3 after he rolled it at the Prescott Rally in 2017. Tullio showed impressive speed with that car before the crash, so don’t be surprised to see him and veteran co-driver John Dillon fighting for the overall podium. However, Andrew Cowan is a proven fast driver in his VR6 powered VW Jetta. Expect him and co-driver Tim Brown to be trading stage times with Tullio/Dillon. Meanwhile last year’s CRS-5 champions Fred Hatch and co-driver Charles Grabow are looking to repeat their winning ways in 2019. Hatch/Grabow got faster with every stage here last year, beating all other two-wheel drive competitors on the final “power stage.”  

Last year Eddie Fiorelli took the overall win in his CRS-2 (small-displacement two-wheel drive) VW Golf GTI. He will have experienced co-driver Marie Boyd calling notes as he tries for a repeat. Battling him in the CRS-2 class will be Erik Christiansen and co-driver Amy Floyd, who were only seconds behind Fiorelli last year in their own VW Golf GTI. Joining the battle in CRS-2 Eliza Coleman and co-driver Andres Bautista in a Scion xD. Coleman has been consistently gaining speed with each event.

The production-based two-wheel drive Performance Stock (P-Stock) class is shaping up to be a tight race as well. Chris Palermo will be debuting a new vehicle (a Toyota Tacoma) and a new co-driver – Danny Downey. They will have competition from Jen Stonecipher, who was runner up in the 2018 P-Stock championship. She will be joined by her husband Terry Stonecipher in the right seat of their VW Golf GTI. Jonathan Compton and Daniel Keyes had a strong finish here last year, and will be looking to improve on that in their Ford Focus.

The High Desert Trails Rally was first run in 1973 on roads to the Southeast and West of Ridgecrest, CA. This year’s event features over 80 stage miles of smooth stages from the desert floor to mountain switchbacks. Located just two and a half hours north of Los Angeles, the competitor friendly format makes this a perfect season opener for the California Rally Series. For more information on the High Desert Trails Rally, visit http://highdeserttrails.com.

The California Rally Series is the premier performance rally championship in the southwestern United States. The Series incorporates events from various sanctioning bodies in order to create a meaningful regional championship for its members. The Series celebrates more than 40 continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United States. To learn more about the California Rally Series visit www.californiarallyseries.com and follow @californiarallyseries on Instagram.

The California Rally Series (CRS) Rallycross Championship is gearing up to be a fun-filled and competitive year. The competition in 2018 was exciting, and there are plenty of drivers that are chomping at the bit to get back in their seats and hit the dirt in 2019. If you’re new to Rally Racing and don’t know where to start, Rallycross is probably the easiest way to get into this sport; you can compete in almost any car (see the CRS rulebook for details), and we have plenty of opportunity for you to get some seat time.  For 2019 we will have 11 Rally Crosses among venues in northern and southern California. We may even have some additional new venues in the works, proving that this sport is on the move and growing!! 

2019 CRS Rallycross Schedule

February 10th, Ridgecrest

March 10th, Prairie City

March 31st, Santa Rosa

April 21st, Glen Helen

May 5, Ridgecrest

May 26, Prairie City

June 2, Glen Helen

June 30, Santa Rosa

October (date TBD), Santa Rosa

November 10th, Glen Helen

November (date TBD), Prairie City

In southern California, we have two rallycross ocations, one in Ridgecrest at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds and one at the Glen Helen Motorsport Park near San Bernadino. The Ridgecrest Rallycross races are typically held the day after the CRS Rally School in February and the day after the High Desert Trails stage rally in May; this venue utilizes a large smooth open plot of hard-packed land that tends to be a fairly fast course. Glen Helen is the closest venue to Los Angeles and host to multiple Rallycrosses throughout the year; although each venue is limited in the number of CRS point’s races they can host, this venue regularly sees a dedicated group of competitor turnout. In northern California, we currently race at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds, which is in the heart of the Sonoma Wine Country, and the Prairie City SVRA Park located near Rancho Cordova about a half an hour outside the State’s Capitol. Santa Rosa is generally a tight and technical course held on 10 acres with some fun elevation changes and rapidly changing course conditions. Prairie City uses a few (of the many) dirt roads held in this off-roading paradise and the course design never disappoints.

 If you’ve ever wanted to give Rally a try- 2019 is your year! The 2019 CRS Rally School is now open for registration and offers three different options to suit your needs. If you are wanting to learn more about stage rally driving, co-driving or to sharpen your Rallycross driving make sure to register as soon as possible; space is limited for these classes and they fill up quickly. The CRS represents over 40 continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United States. To learn more about the CRS Rally School visit www.california rallyseries.com and http://crsrallyschool.com or follow @crspress on twitter. For more information about Rallycross races, in northern California, please visit www.norcalrallycross.com; and in southern California check out www.calclubrallyx.com. 

Photos courtesy of John Krzesinski.