Los Angeles – The summer break is over as the California Rally Series (CRS) Championship returns to the Hungry Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Park for the Gorman Ridge Rally on Saturday August 25^th. Located just over an hour north of Los Angeles, the rally features a compact, spectator friendly format with twelve stages packed into a single day of racing. As in years past, the roads comprise a twisty and technical course, with big air expected over the famous jumps on Wheatfield Trail.

The favorite for the top of the podium this year is current Open class leader Flynn Baglin with co-driver Alix Hakala. Expect to see some fast times from this veteran crew in their Subaru Impreza STI. However, Santiago Caballero and co-driver Chris Fine will be there to keep them honest and ensure they can’t cruise to a win. Caballero and Fine set some extremely fast times at the season opener High Desert Trails Rally before retiring with a mechanical failure in their Subaru. Now that they have some experience under their belt they could be fighting for the overall win.

Kurt Northrup and co-driver come into this event with the lead in the normally-aspirated four-wheel drive Open-Lite class. Having won the class last year with a clean sweep of wins, they are definitely the ones to watch this weekend. But don’t count out Brent Blakely and co-driver Robert Maselli. Blakely has an impressive history of rallycross victories that could translate well to the tight and twisty roads of Gorman.

In the large-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-5 class, Frederick Hatch and Charles Grabow come into Gorman with the class lead. They went faster and faster with each stage at the last event and could be pushing their Ford Fiesta for the two-wheel drive lead. Looking to challenge them are Corbin Beu and Riley Trout in their Mazda RX-7. The rear-wheel drive Mazda should put on some entertaining opposite-lock oversteer this weekend.

Looking to capture top points in the smaller –displacement two-wheel drive CRS-2 class are Bret Robinson and Amanda Folland, competing in a VW Golf GTI. It should be an epic battle between them and Tony Chavez, who teams up with Andres Bautista in a similar VW Golf GTI. Both teams have extensive experience on these roads, and neither one will be holding back. They will be challenged by Eliza Coleman who is back with co-driver Alex Gelsomino of WRC fame. Coleman is in her second CRS season and keeps building on her speed with each event. She could put her Scion xD in front of the VWs if she pushes.

Rookie driver Travis Fienhage and veteran co-driver John Dillon are leading the production based two-wheel drive Performance Stock class. They will face competition from Jonathan Compton and Daniel Keyes who are looking to move up in the standings.

The Gorman Ridge Rally features the return of Side-by-Sides to the California Rally Series. The nimble handling of these lightweight vehicles make them extremely competitive on the narrow trails of this event. Last year they captured two of the top three positions. This year, Belgian David Sterckx makes his return to the CRS in a Yamaha YXZ 1000R. It would not be a surprise to see him battling for the overall win.

The Gorman Ridge Rally is based in Lebec, CA, located just one hour north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The rally features 48 miles of hard-packed dirt stages located within the Hungry Valley Off-Road Vehicle park. For more information on the Gorman Ridge Rally visit http://gormanridgerally.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 @crspress on twitter.

Los Angeles – The California Rally Series (CRS) kicked off its 44^th season with the High Desert Trails Rally on May 4^th and 5^th. The rally switched to a two-day format for 2018, with a double-points (coefficient 2) event going into the night on Friday followed by a triple-points (coefficient 3) event on Saturday. The rally ran on the same roads as previous years, with stages ranging from ultra-fast blasts across a desert valley to twisty mountain roads that had teams dodging through Sequoia trees.

Last year’s Open class champion Flynn Baglin teamed up with co-driver Alix Hakala for the season opener. They were plagued by strut issues al weekend, but managed to hold on and finish the weekend at the top of the class. Baglin will start 2018 with the points lead in the driver’s championship, although Hakala is second behind Sean McElwain, who co-drove for a non-points eligible driver. Deke Williams also had a new voice calling notes, veteran co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino, but were the victims of bad luck when they had just managed to take the lead from Baglin/Hakala when their Subaru’s engine blew up on the second to last stage Friday night. A similar fate befell Santiago Caballero and co-driver Chris Fine when they found themselves leading the rally on Saturday only to have a busted tie rod end their day with only a few stages to go.

2017 Open Lite (the normally-aspirated four-wheel drive class) champions Kurt Northrup and co-driver Will Smith kept their streak alive and walked away with maximum points for the weekend in their Subaru Impreza. Second place went to Brent Blakely in his very first rally as a driver, with Robert Maselli sitting in the passenger seat. They had a clean run on Friday, but strut issues forced them to withdraw from Saturday’s rally.

In the large-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-5 class, top points went to Fred Hatch and co-driver Charles Grabow in their Ford Fiesta. Their speed improved all weekend, culminating in them throwing down the best two-wheel drive on the last stage of the rally. Second place class points went to Corbin Beu in his Mazda RX-7, who teamed up with co-driver Riley Trout for this event.

The small-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-2 class might have some of the least powerful cars in the championship, but you wouldn’t know it from the stage times. Eddie Fiorelli and co-driver Brock Heinz were at maximum attack in their VW Golf GTI, winning the class on both Friday and Saturday’s rallies, while besting many of the more powerful four-wheel drive cars along the way. Just seconds behind in a similarly prepped VW Golf GTI were last year’s CRS-2 champions Erik Christiansen and co-driver Amy Floyd.

The production based two-wheel drive Performance Stock class has been a CRS staple since 1994, and continues to have a respectable turnout in 2018. Rookie driver Travis Fienhage walked away with the top points on both Friday and Saturday in his first rally event ever. He was paired up with one of the most experienced CRS co-drivers around - John Dillon in a Dodge Neon. Taking second place was Jen Stonecipher in a VW Golf GTI, with her co-driver husband Terry Stonecipher (who happens to have won this class as a driver over twenty years ago!). Marie Boyd emerges from the weekend leading the co-driver championship after sitting with a driver not participating in the CRS drivers' championship.

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 forty-four 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 @crspress on twitter.