Los Angeles – The California Rally Series heads to Northern California with the Mendocino Rally on August 4^th, 2012. Fourteen teams are set to compete on fifty miles of twisty hard packed dirt roads outside of Ukiah, CA. New for 2012, teams will be provided with stage notes to help them navigate the extremely technical course. With over ten lines of instructions per miles, co-drivers will definitely have their work cut out for them!

The top seeded team is Alex Rademacher and Jeana Yi, who won the event last year in their Subaru Impreza. The team will be looking to redeem themselves after a mistake at the last event in North Nevada caused them to get stuck off the road and cost them an overall victory. They will face stiff competition in the production-based four-wheel drive CRS-GT class from Aaron Ekinaka and Marra Estep, also competing in a Subaru Impreza. Ekinaka hasn’t competed since the Gorman Rally last Summer, but he took the class win over Rademacher at that event, so expect a tight battle between the two Impreza drivers at Mendocino. Also fighting for class points are Ray Piloto in his Subaru and Michael Carnes and Reza Yazdani in their Audi 4000CS.

Michel Hoche-Mong is the current points leader in the small-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-2 class, and is a favorite to extend his lead. Look for him to be pushing his VW Golf to its limits in a fight for the overall podium. Meanwhile, the team of Erik Christiansen/Amy Floyd, also in a VW Golf, will also be pushing to score championship class points in order to move up the leaderboard.

In the production-based two-wheel drive P-Stock class, the two teams who have been battling all season will be at it again in Mendocino. Sarkis Mazmanian currently has a narrow lead in the year end points total. He is teaming up with veteran co-driver John Dillon in hopes of taking the class win in their Acura Integra. Hoping to usurp the lead is John Black, who pairs up once again with Lori Stone in their Ford Ranger. The two drivers have been trading stage times all season long, so the class competition should be extremely close.

The 2012 Mendocino Rally is based in Ukiah, CA. The rally features nearly 50 miles of hard-packed twisty stages contained within the South Cow Mountain off-road vehicle park. For more information on the Mendocino Rally visit http://www.mendocinorally.com.

Los Angeles – The back-country roads of northern Nevada set the stage for the California Rally Series as fifteen teams contested the North Nevada Rally July 6 & 7, 2012 covering over one hundred miles of competitive stages. The first day featured a set of smooth gravel roads near Lovelock, NV as cars raced into the night. The next morning the rally moved northwest to the fast and tricky roads outside of Gerlach, NV. Twelve teams made it to the finish on the final day, ending just before sunset.

Locals Alex Rademacher and Jeana Yi took top honors on Friday night, winning the production-based four-wheel drive CRS-GT class and besting the entire field in their Subaru Impreza RS. Alex has run this event every year since its inception in 2008 and his knowledge of the roads paid dividends in the darkness Friday night. They fought a tight battle with Leelyn Pritchard and Logan Mineer, who were also competing in a Subaru Impreza. Pritchard/Mineer were only 13 seconds behind after the first five stages when they went off the road and rolled on stage six. The team was uninjured, but their car was too badly damaged to continue. Rademacher/Yi nearly suffered the same fate on Saturday when they planted their car about ten feet down off the road on the day’s fourth stage. They were eventually able to get the car extracted, but not after losing well over an hour. Ray Piloto, also driving a Subaru Impreza, ended up taking the CRS-GT class win on Saturday in his debut event.

The always popular small-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-2 class saw plenty of action all weekend. In the dark on Friday CRS veterans Chuck Wilson and Brent Ellzey scored the maximum points in their Ford Escort. Brent Hercelinsky and Alex Orozco finished less than thirty seconds behind in their Suzuki Swift to claim second. Saturday only competitors Erik Christiansen and Amy Floyd managed to take the honors on Saturday in their VW GTI, with Wilson/Ellzey scoring second place points.

P-Stock, the production-based two-wheel drive class once again came down to a battle between the Acura Integra of Sarkis Mazmanian and the Ford Ranger of John Black, who have been in close competition all season. Each driver paired with a new co-driver for this event: Mazmanian with Michael Mazmanian and Black with Marra Estep. Friday saw Black/Estep take the class victory after the Mazmanians suffered a setback on the very first stage. The tables were turned on Saturday, however, and the Mazmanians took the victory by only 14 seconds after trading stage times all day long!