Forestburgh, New York — The excitement is building in anticipation of the next running of Rally New York USA on April 3 – 4, 2009. Thirty nine teams from the United States and from abroad are on the entry list (http://newyorkusa2009.rallies.info/entries.php?type=u) for the Rally New York USA (www.RallyNewYork.com). In spite of the economy, the number of teams entered exceeds the number of entries in the previous running of the event.

Rally New York USA is the first round of the 2009 United States Rally Championship (USRC) (www.usrallychampionship.com). Each day is a separate round of the 2009 New York Rally Championship (NYRC). This all-tarmac rally includes 99 miles of special stages in the beautiful southern Catskill Mountains merely 90 miles northwest of New York City. One half of the stage mileage consists of entirely new special stages. The total length of the two-day event is 415 miles. A new prize fund guarantees that each team finishing in top 30 percent of all finishers, including at least one Production Cup car and one two-wheel-drive car, will receive prize money.

Notable entries are Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino, winners from last year, in Subaru Impreza STi, the two-time (2006 and 2007) United States Rally Champion Seamus Burke with Eddie Fries, the 2007 Champion Co-Driver, in Mitsubishi Evo 9, and Thomas Lawless, the 2005 United States Rally Champion, with Irish co-driver Brian Sharkey also in a Mitsubishi Evo 9. Both teams are previous winners of Rally New York USA. Another previous winner (2007) and the 2007 NYRC Champion is the team of Charlie Donnelly and Bernard Farrell.

Other notable and fast entries are the local New York team of Otis Dimiters and Dominik Jozwiak, young Joseph Burke with Ole Holter, Rally New York regulars Maciej and Kristin Przybysz and a slew of Irish hot shoe teams of Martin Donnelly and Stephen Duffy, Patrick Brennan and Eamon Sweeney, Enda McCormack and Bernard Farrell, Michael O’Leary and John O’Leary, Daniel O’Brien and Brendan McCabe, and Eoin McGeough who is returning to Rally New York USA after a hiatus of four years with the second place overall in 2005. New York competitors Michael Cosgrove and John O’Reilly are the 2008 NYRC Champions.

In two-wheel-drive, the crews of note are Joshua Wimpey and Jeremy Wimpey, the 2007 United States Rally Championship runner ups, a fast local New York driver Andrew Havas, who last competed in Rally New York USA in 2004, with a Rally New York regular Aaron Crescenti, Dan Brosnan with Shane McCann, who placed third in NYRC in 2008, Gustavo Garrido with Jeremy Neyhart, and Michael Gillespie with Brian Kirby.

Four new local teams participate in Rally New York USA with generous sponsorship from Robert Cella, a retired engineer and a Rally New York radio operator. They are the teams of Tomas Barton / Brian Barton, Matt Gottlieb / Austin Gager, Robert Martai / Zsanett Fabian and William Petrow / Vincent Nguyen.

The United States Rally Championship is taking bold steps to make national competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. This is the third season of the new Championship structure that minimizes or, for many teams, eliminates the need for repeated cross-country travel during the Championship season by providing competition on each side of the country. The final round of the Championship at the end of the year counts both in the Atlantic Division and the Pacific Division and together with the results from all previous rounds decides the top spots in the Championship. The highest-scoring six teams from the USRC Pacific Division are eligible for the coveted cash travel subsidies totaling $12,000 to attend the final round in New York.

Rally New York organization also presents the International Rally New York on October 23 – 24, 2009. This gravel event is the final round of the 2009 United States Rally Championship. All Rally New York events are conducted according to the international rules with two-pass reconnaissance on Thursday and two days of racing on Friday and Saturday. Most events in the United States Rally Championship allow for reconnaissance of the rally course.