Contact: John Morris 416-963-3222 Jud Buchanan 905-873-7163		Date: May 18, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Calgary, Alberta - While two six-time Canadian champions are going head-to-head for a record seventh Canadian Rally Championship title, a relative newcomer with World Rally Championship experience seems ready to block their efforts.

Up-and-comer Pat Richard celebrates just five years in the sport when he takes his 2003 Impreza WRX STi to the road for Subaru Rally Team Canada at the CRC Round 2 Rocky Mountain Rally presented by Makita in Calgary May 28 - 30. A Quebecer by birth who lives in Squamish, BC, Richard is fresh from last season's battle on the WRC circuit and has dominated every event he's entered in the US and Canada so far this year.

Meanwhile, teammate Tom McGeer, from Georgetown, Ont., has taken home six Canadian championship titles to Richard's one. Top co-driver and British Rally Championship contender Howard Davies joins McGeer for his first ride in their new 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi in Calgary.

Privateer Frank Sprongl, with his brother Dan in the co-driver's seat, dominated the sport in the 1990s scoring six Canadian Championships. After several years on hiatus they’re back in a scorching Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI they've prepared at their renowned Georgetown, Ont., rally shop, Four Star Motorsports.

The challenge to this event, Round 2 of the Canadian Rally Championship, will be conditions; the mutable weather and roads in the mountains change from moment to moment. With organizers reporting a dusting of snow right now, it's anyone's guess what the course will be like when the race begins.

New factory team: Rally racing’s growing popularity on the national scene has attracted a new factory team this year. Suzuki debuts a two production class contenders, a pair of Swift+ rally cars at the Rocky Mountain Rally presented by Makita.

The Canadian Rally Championship is one of the few televised all-Canadian motor sport series. That, coupled with the manufacturers' commitment to rallying offers confirmation of what fans love about the sport. These are real cars - not too different from the average daily driver - pushing the limits in some of the toughest conditions anywhere as they charge through narrow and twisty roads on mud, snow, rocks and gravel at speeds approaching 200 kilometres an hour.

To see what a car can do, watch it rally.

The Rocky Mountain Rally is supported by Makita Canada, Northern Metalic Sales Calgary and Macs Convenience Stores.