Indianapolis, IN -- Irishman Tom Lawless and co-driver Jason Gillespie dominated the competition at this weekend’s Ramada Express International Rally in their Mitsubishi Evo VIII, taking the overall win by nearly three minutes, as well as the 2005 United States Rally Championship title. At the end of the third day, Lawless and Gillespie were spraying champagne at the top of the podium, followed by 2004 New Zealand Group A Champion Sam Murray and co-driver Anton Cheetham in a Group N Subaru, and Irishman Seamus Burke and co-driver Eddie Fries, third-place finishers in the rally, and fourth-place finishers in the USRC, in the Shamrock Building Systems Evo VIII.

Final 2005 USRC standings have Matthew Iorio and Ole Holter, in the Paladin Rally Mitsubishi Evo VII in the runner-up position overall behind Lawless, followed by Peter Workum and Christine Beavis in the Autosport Engineering Subaru WRX.

In two wheel drive open class, driver Craig Hollingsworth and co-driver Jason Grahn had a disappointing finish to the Ramada Express event, including a roll. However, this was tempered by the overall two wheel drive open class win in the 2005 USRC in their immaculately prepared Volkswagen Jetta. Jimmy Keeney and co-driver Brian Moody however, were atop the two wheel drive podium at the event, with a ninth overall and first in class in their Honda Civic, and were also able to celebrate their third place 2005 USRC finish. Second in the two wheel drive open class for the 2005 USRC was Bruce Davis in a Dodge SRT4.

2005 USRC top three standings by class are as follows:

Pos 	Overall Driver
1	Tom Lawless
2	Matthew Iorio
3	Peter Workum

Pos	Overall Co-Driver
1	Jason Gillespie
2	Ole Holter
3	Christine Beavis

Pos	Open 4wd Driver
1	Thomas Lawless
2	Peter Workum
3	Seamus Burke

Pos	Open 4wd Co-Driver
1	Jason Gillespie
2	Christine Beavis
3	Ole Holter

Pos	Group N Driver 
1	Ken Block
2	Sam Murray
3	Mathew Iorio

Pos	Group N Co-Driver 
1	Alex Gelsomino
2	Anton Cheetham
3	Ole Holter

Pos	Open 2wd Driver
1	Craig Hollingsworth
2	Bruce Davis
3	Jimmy Keeney

Pos	Open 2wd Co-Driver 
1	Jason Grahn
2	Amity Trowbridge
3	Brian Moody

Pos	Grand Touring Driver 
1	Danny O'Brien
2	Cyril Kearney
3	Patrick Farrell

Pos	Grand Touring Co-Driver
1	Stephen Duffy
2	Noel Gallagher
3	Kieran McElhinney

Pos	Super Stock Driver 
1	Emilo Arce
2	Stephan Verdier
3	Dennis Chizma

Pos	Super Stock Co-Driver 
1	Allan Walker
2	Craig Thrall
3	Andrew Cushman

Pos	Stock Driver 
1	Doug Robinson
2	Mike Masano
3	Eric Heitkamp (tied)
3	Tony Chavez (tied)

Pos	Stock Co-Driver
1	Sue Robinson
2	Linda Masano
3	Andrew Jessup (tied)
3	Bret Robinson (tied)

The United States Rally Championship, America’s premier rally championship, consists of Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) internationally listed events sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and presented by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). More information on the Championship is available at the series website at www.usrallychampionship.com. More information on USAC is available at www.usacracing.com and on NASA at www.nasarallysport.com.