Cheraw, South Carolina -- Seamus Burke and co-driver Charlie Bradley fought off Patrick Lilly and co-driver Bernard Farrell to win the 2005 running of the Sandhills Sandblast, Round One of the 2005 Eastern States Rally Championship. Over the 65 miles (105km) of the timed competition Burke and Bradley were in command from the beginning taking 6 of the 7 stages. Tom Lawless and co-driver Jason Gillespie took stage 1 by 4 seconds but Burke pushed ahead taking 20 seconds on stage 2 while Lawless retired after stage 2 with gearbox problems. Patrick Farrell and co-driver Kieran McElhinney tried to keep Burke in sight up until their withdrawal in the last service after finding a large hole in his gearbox. Making a rare ESRC appearance was Matt Johnson and co-driver Wendy Nakamoto. Johnson and Nakamoto kept the podium from being an all Mitsubishi affair, coming in third with their new Super Stock 2 classed Subaru WRX.

Mark McElduff and co-driver Damien Irwin took the Group N honors while the 2004 ESRC champions Danny O'Brien and co-driver Stephen Duffy continued to develop their Super Stock 1 class 2.5-litre Subaru STi by finishing 7th and first in class. First of the two wheel drive cars, and 15th overall were Preston Stempler and co-driver Roberto Amato in their Modified 2 VW GTi, followed by Matt Smith and co-driver Matt Robinson finishing first in Modified 1 in a Merkur XR4ti. The soft sandy roads took their toll on the field, with 21 out of 38 starters taking the finish.

Organizer Charles Sherrill was extremely pleased with the successful running. " I think the results show the level of competition of our championship and what lies ahead for the teams."

Pos Time Vehicle Class Driver/Co-driver

1. 0:58:55 Mitsubishi EVO VIII Prototype1 Seamus Burke - Powder Spring, GACharles Bradley - Kennesaw, GA
2. 1:03:20 Mitsubishi EVO IV Prototype1 Patrick Lilly - Yonkers, NYBernard Farrell - Yonkers, NY
3. 1:04:00 Subaru WRX SuperStock2 Matthew Johnson - Apex, NCWendy Nakamoto - Sac, CA
4. 1:04:30 Mitsubishi EVO VI Prototype1 Liam Egan - Great Neck, NYCharlie Donnelly - Great Neck, NY
5. 1:06:16 Mitsubishi EVO IV Prototype1 Gerrard Coffey - Dearl River, NYSean Coffey - Maspeth, NY
6. 1:07:42 Subaru WRX Group N Mark McElduff - Chicago, ILDamien Irwin - Chicago, IL
7. 1:08:03 Subaru WRX STi SuperStock1 Danny O'Brien - Maspeth, NYStephen Duffy - Yonkers, NY
8. 1:09:16 Toyota Celica Prototype1 Mark Bowers - Afton, VADuffy Bowers - Afton, VA
9. 1:10:40 Subaru WRX Prototype1 Maciej Przybysz - N. Dartmouth, MADominik Jozwiak - Ridgewood, NY
10. 1:11:52 Audi S2 Prototype1 Scott Gardner - Carpentersville, ILConstantine Mantopolous - Staten Island, NY
11. 1:12:11 Subaru WRX Prototype1 Bob Wall - Apex, NCRobert Gray - Fernandina Beach, FL
12. 1:12:22 Eagle Talon Prototype1 Darrell Pugh - Rockwood, TNDwain Cromer - Rockhill, SC
13. 1:13:19 Subaru Impresa SuperStock2 Greg Healey - Saugesties, NYJohn McLeod - Quincy, MA
14. 1:15:17 Subaru Impresa 2.5 RS SuperStock2 Emilio Arce - Watertown, MASarah Gardescu - Burlington, VT
15. 1:16:22 VW GTi Modified2 Preston Stempler - Fort Valley, VARoberto Amato - Rhode island, NY
16. 1:18:55 Jeep Cherokee Prototype2 Mike Strawbridge - Cleveland, TNJosh Aslinger - Sale Creek, TN
17. 1:21:57 VW GTi Modified2 Mark Spence - Nokesville, VAAndy Trovell - Front Royal, VA
18. 1:28:18 VW Golf Modified2 Marc Lawrence - South Orange, NJRobert Maciejski - Avenel, NJ
19. 1:43:42 VW Scirocco Modified2 Aaron Mosher - Madison, ALDarrell Kreuger - Roswell, GA
20. 1:57:55 Mitsubishi Mirage Prototype1 Michael Reidy - Yonkers, NYKevin Fleming - Bronks, NY
21. 1:58:37 Merkur XR4ti Modified1 Matt Smith - Raleigh, NYMatt Robinson - Raleigh, NY

Full results maybe found at http://www.rallyscoring.com/results/2005/Sandblast

The 2005 running of the Sandhills Sandblast was sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport, organized by Charles Sherrill and Sandblast, LLC, and constituted Round One of the 2005 Eastern States Rally Championship, coordinated by Rally Promotions, LLC.

For more information, visit www.sandblastrally.com, www.nasarallysport.com, or contact Dr. Kendall Russell of Rally Promotions, LLC at 11102 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37922; Office: (865) 671-1133; E-mail: [email protected].

Round Two of the Eastern States Rally Championship is the Cherokee Trails International Rally, taking place on March 18-19, 2005. It is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will run on the roads of the Cherokee National Forest.