LEBEC, CALIFORNIA — The 20th running of the Gorman Ridge Rally brings top Western States rally teams together in Lebec, California for round four of the United States Rally Championship. Twenty rally teams are slated to take the start on Saturday, August 28th, including reigning United States Rally Champions and winners of last year's event, Keith Jackson and Marra Estep in their Subaru WRX. This event has a reputation for being tough and this year it is even more challenging with the addition of two new stage roads and a rigorous schedule requiring teams to complete 16 stages in less than 12 hours.

The current points leaders will be facing plenty of competition on the rugged mountain roads of the Gorman event. Past two-wheel drive national champion Bill Holmes and co-driver Sean Gallagher are returning in their formidable Ford F150 two-wheel drive pickup. The off-road racing champion proved to be a force to be reckoned with during the 2008 Gorman Ridge Rally, taking the overall win after displacing a number of competitors in lighter and more agile all-wheel drive cars. Other hot two-wheel drive teams will be challenging Holmes including veteran driver Tony Chavez with co-driver Raquel Salas and Michel Hoche-Mong with Marie Boyd; both teams are driving VW Golfs. All-wheel drive challengers vying for the top spot will also include the team of Doug Chernis and Craig Macnair in their Subaru WRX STi, who are guaranteed to be setting a fast pace from the start.

This year the rally also includes motorcycles in round three of the BikeBandit.com California Rally Series Moto Championship. "These are basically the same kinds of bikes you see running the Dakar Rally," said Ray Hocker, the event chairman. "They are big dual-sport motorcycles designed for long distance, cross-country travel over challenging roads like those in Gorman. RallyMoto is attracting a whole new group of competitors to rally." Last year's bike winner, Andrew Sutherland, is facing some tough competition from the current championship leader, Chris Martin. Martin currently holds a slim 48 point lead over Sutherland in the BikeBandit.com sponsored Championship.

Rally and RallyMoto features street-legal production-based cars, trucks, and motorcycles racing one at a time against the clock over established roads closed to the public for the event. All racing is confined to special areas located inside the Hungry Valley State Vehicle Recreation Area.

After the Gorman Ridge Rally, the United States Rally Championship heads to the International Rally New York (www.rallynewyork.com) and then to the final round of the USRC Championship at the Prescott Rally (www.prescottrally.com) in Arizona.

Atlantic Division teams are competing for coveted cash travel subsidies that will be awarded to the top six teams in the Division. The total of $12,000 in subsidies will be distributed to Atlantic Division teams to assist them with traveling to the final round of the 2010 United States Rally Championship at Prescott, Arizona.

The United States Rally Championship is taking bold steps to make national competition more affordable and accessible to a larger number of rally teams. 2010 marks the fourth season of a 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.

Live scoring will be available during the event to keep those not able to attend up to date via the rally's website: www.GormanRidgeRally.com.