Cheraw, SC -- The NASA Rally Sport’s 2007 Sandblast Rally starts on Friday, and with 68 teams converging on Cheraw, South Carolina, it will be the biggest rally in the America in years. The entrants include both cars and new for this event, motorcycles.

The rally has some new stages this year, increasing the length of the event to just over 76 miles. Trigger is all new, featuring narrow roads and a long water crossing. Fire Drill has been expanded to three times its original length, and now includes a very technical section covering what was a train bed many years ago.

"The bike teams have really turned this into a large event", said Anders Green, who is the chairman of the event. "NASA Rally Sport came up with a trademarked program called ‘RallyMoto™’, which lets street legal bikes run the stages. I think it’s great to have somewhere in North America where bikers can get a little taste of what Dakar is like. Not just the terrain, but the style of a stage rally event. We’ve certainly got the sand, even if we don’t have the dunes!"

Media from various groups and manufacturers have registered to cover the rally with video and print. The 2006 event has about 1600 photos available on the web site, so this year should also prove to have a cornucopia of images.

Live updates from the event will be available via the SandblastRally.com web site. Competitor stories and reports from the volunteers in the field will be called in to rally driver Mark Lawrence who will be posting them throughout the day. Having competed in the event several times himself, Lawrence will certainly be able to let the flavor of the event come through. Live scoring will also be available to see the stage times progress throughout the day.

Note to editors:

This year’s Sandblast Rally will take place in and around the towns of Cheraw, Patrick, and Chesterfield, South Carolina with scrutineering and registration on February 16th and racing on Saturday February 17th. Royalty free images may be found on our homepage at (http://www.sandblastrally.com). Sandblast Rally is the first rally of the Eastern States Rally Championship season sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport.

For media support, please contact Anders Green.