Cheraw, SC -- Following the cancellation of this year's Dakar in Africa, the organizers of the Sandblast Rally sent out word that riders were welcome to compete here in the states. Dakar rider James Embro decided that the opportunity to run so close to home was too good to pass up. Sandblast Rally is in Cheraw, SC, only about six hours from Embro's base of operations in Norcross, GA.

"I'm excited that James is coming up from Georgia," reported event organizer Anders Green. "He's bringing some of his teammates and a variety of honest-to-goodness Dakar bikes. Just to have this machinery around and on display will be fantastic. Usually these exotic bikes are either doing training in the deserts of the west or competing in Africa, so having them out in public on the East Coast will be a real treat for the fans and fellow competitors."

Sandblast Rally is going to be the debut of James Embro's new venture, THE RACE SHOP. "It makes perfect sense, really," said Embro. "We're going to specialize in Husaberg motorcycles, from sales, service, and parts all the way up to putting together adventure and training rides. High performance bikes showing what they can do at an actual full-on, full-speed rally is a natural."

THE RACE SHOP will be having their Grand Opening just two weeks after the rally. On Friday February 22 and Saturday February 23, the new facility will be open from 10am till 8pm. The shop is located at 5666 Duford Highway in Norcross, Georgia, where Duford crosses Mitchell Street. More information and directions are available by calling 678-739-2091.

There are very few places in the world where motorcycles can compete in a rally format. Last year NASA Rally Sport created RallyMoto�. RallyMoto� is NASA Rally Sport's trademarked program that allows motorcycles to battle each other in a stage rally format. Racing sections, called 'special stages', are linked by untimed 'transits'. Each racer starts the stage one at a time; there are no mass starts. The events which offer the RallyMoto� program do so in conjunction with rally cars.

Sandblast organizer Green thinks the new facility will do well. "Rally, in any of its variations, is a difficult sport. The logistics, planning, and training are very different from a sprint event like motocross. So when you look at the experience of someone like James, who's done Dakar, Baja, Best in the Desert, that kind of history makes all the difference. You just can't replace having that experience and I think it's cool that we'll have an East Coast source for that."

Note to Editors:

• Sandblast Rally is part of the Atlantic RallyMoto� Cup
• RallyMoto� is a trademarked program of NASA Rally Sport
• More information on the event is available at SandblastRally.com
• More information on NASA Rally Sport is available at NASARallySport.com