News

CARS is pleased to announce the final television schedule for the 2006 Canadian Rally Championship. The series is being filmed by ATV Productions of Vancouver, BC under the direction of ATV’s CEO, John Lovelace. The six round championship will be aired as thirteen (13) thirty minute programs with each event being divided into two parts along with a 30 minute season wrap-up. Each program will air as a premier and will have a repeat giving the series a television run of twenty-six weeks in a regularly scheduled time slot.

The main broadcaster will be the CHUM Television Network with the program airing on either its A channel or CITY TV stations (as scheduled below). The CHUM network broadcast will consist of nine participating stations in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia (totaling a reach of over 37 million households in Canada).

In addition, the series will be broadcast on both Canadian Learning Television (CLT) and Drive-In Classics. Both CLT and Drive-In Classics are specialty channels that are seen in every province. (CLT has over 4.7 million subscribers across the country.)

While the series will be available in English, no French language broadcaster has picked up the series for 2006. Efforts are continuing to find a suitable broadcaster for 2007 and beyond. However, many homes in Quebec do have access to all three English language broadcasters (e.g. 289 000+ CLT subscribers -2002 Mediastats Report).

Schedule (starting on)

A Channel
Sunday, October 22, 2006 2:30 PM British Columbia: CIVI Vancouver
Sunday, October 22, 2006 5:30 PM Ontario: CKVR Barrie, CHRO Ottawa, CFLP London, CHWI Windsor, CKNX Wingham

City TV
Saturday, October 21, 2006 1:30 PM Alberta: CKEM Edmonton, CKAL Calgary
Sunday, October 22, 2006 4:30 PM Manitoba: CHMI Winnipeg

CLT
Saturday, October 28, 2006 2:00 PM (EST) Canada wide

Drive-In Classics
Saturday, November 4, 2006 8:30 PM (EST) Canada wide
Sunday, November 5, 2006 7:30 AM (EST) Canada wide

(It should be noted for CLT and Drive-In Classics, that 2:00 PM (EST) for Ontario and Quebec means it will air in Newfoundland at 3:30 PM and in British Columbia at 11:00 AM local times.)

ANTOINE L'ESTAGE SLOSHES TO VICTORY IN 33RD ROCKY MOUNTAIN RALLY
Weather Provides the Major Opposition to Competitors

Just to have finished the 33rd annual Rocky Mountain Rally was an achievement. The weather for the May 26-27 event was another opportunity for competitors from across North America to see all four seasons in one day---snow, sleet, rain, and sunshine.

The plan was to race over the Powderface Trail in Kananaskis Country and the Blackfoot Motorcycle Park on Friday and in the Porcupine Hills, west of Claresholm, on Saturday. Scheduled for 180 kms. and 14 competitive stages, organizers saw 33 competitors start the two-day event and 20 still running at the finish. Sixty kilometers were cancelled and five of the stages did not run.

It was left to competitors from the east scoring the fastest times to win the event. The top three finishers came from Quebec and the United States.

This year's Rocky winner Antoine L'Estage, of Quebec, with co-driver Mark Williams of Vermont, is currently on a winning streak. With his Rocky win, he has claimed each of the Canadian championship events once. L'Estage and Williams were in a John Buffum prepared Hyundai Tiburon in open class with a finishing time of one hour, 13 minutes, 17 seconds. The Rocky was the second win of the 2006 season for L'Estage.

L'Estage, a very talented young driver, said, "I was very proud of how everything went. The car was fantastic. Sure, the weather was a problem but it was the same for everyone."

Taking second place was the father and daughter team of Sylvain and Chloe Erickson, both of Quebec in a Mitsubishi Lancer. The last time Erickson entered the Rocky Mountain Rally, in 2002 with his brother co-driving, he won the event through two feet of snow. The Erickson's time was one hour, 14 minutes, 29 seconds-one minute, 12 seconds behind L'Estage.

In third place on the podium was the 2005 North American rally champion, Matt Iorio of New Hampshire, and co-driver Ole Holter of California in a Subaru WRX. Their Subaru was serviced by 2004 North American champion Pat Richard of Vancouver. Iorio's time was one hour, 16 minutes, 51 seconds.

Western Canada Rally Championship
In the regional category, first place was Brooks, Alberta businessman Gord Olsen with Todd Patola of Port Alberni, BC co-driving in a 1994 VW Golf. Second was the Edmonton team of Warren Currie, with Robin Chaplesky, in Currie's newly built Subaru WRX. Currie started building the Subaru on Christmas Eve to have it ready for the 2006 rally season after destroying his Eagle Talon during an event in BC in October.

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Rocky Mountain Rally

Taking third was the Vancouver team of Aaron Neumann and Graham Coates. Neumann debuted his very quick Honda Civic by winning the opening event of the Western Canada Rally Championship in Cochrane in March.

The Rocky Mountain rally took its toll in attrition with 13 of the 33 entries failing to finish. Stage mileage, the actual distance that competitors race, was also shortened due to impassable roads. Five of the 14 stages planned for the event had to be cancelled due to the poor weather and muddy conditions. That included the very popular stages at Blackfoot Motorcycle Park in Calgary on Friday night.

Among the teams that failed to finish were last year's winner Peter Thomson of Toronto and Rod Hendricksen, of Clinton, NJ, in Thomson's Mitsubishi Lancer; three time winners, brothers Frank and Dan Sprongl, also of Toronto in their yellow Suzuki Swift Plus; local pilot Carl Barrell and Jeff McMechon in a VW Golf; and local driver Colin Armstrong with Ryan Warrington, co-driving, in another VW Golf.

The next event for the Canadian Rally Championship is in New Richmond, Quebec on June 30 - July 1 while the next event in the Western Canada Rally Championship is the Mountain Trials Rally, in Merritt, BC. on June 16-17.

The Rocky Mountain Rally organizers wish to thank Platinum Mitsubishi, for the loan of a course car and advertising support; Northern Metalic Sales (Calgary), for their ongoing support of the volunteers; and Globalstar Communications for the use of satellite communication equipment vital to safety when the event is conducted so far from regular communication outlets.

The Rocky Mountain Rally is the second event in both the Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) and second event in the Western Canada Rally Championship (WCRC). The CRC will be televised on national television network beginning in September.
More information can be found at
www.rockymountainrally.com
www.carsrally.com Canadian Rally Championship
www.rallywest.com Western Canada Rally Championship

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Final Results

[ Click Here ]

Day 1 Results [ Click Here ]

Antoine Lestage leads Sylvain Erickson by 2 seconds with Iorio third, Thomson 4th and Leblanc 5th.

Very very wet and sloppy conditions today although Powderface Trail held up very well. There was some slushy snow at the higher areas.

Frank Sprongl and Jim Stevens both rolled on stage 3 - all are OK (except the cars). Sylvain St-Pierre had engine problems and Martin Donnelly was off for some time.

The Super Special at the motocross track had to be cancelled because it was totally impassible.

Event and Series Press Releases distributed today.

Please join us on Stephen Avenue Walk on Thursday May 25 from 11:00am to 1:00pm to see top rally cars and meet the drivers and codrivers.

Competitor Update:

Competitor Prizes. Hans Performance Products have provided some prizes to be given out at the awards ceremony.

Start Order has been posted to the Entry List page. This is subject to change at the discretion of the Stewards on the day of the event.

Competition Schedule is available for your movement plan and tire/fuel calculations. See the competitor page.

Media Day: All teams are welcome (and encouraged) to attend the media day on Stephen Avenue Mall in Downtown Calgary on Thursday May 25 from 10:30 until 1:30pm. Address is 1st Street & 8th Avenue SW. Directions will be available at the Blackfoot Inn. They estimate up to 60,000 people on the walk at lunch time during the summer.

Pick one up at Platinum Mitsubishi, 2720 Barlow Trail NE or at the event.

We did a pre-event flight today. Here are some different "pre-run" photos.

Pre Run Photos
Enjoy!

Late May in the Rocky Mountain foothills …There’s nothing like it.

Come and be a part of the 33rd running of the Rocky Mountain Rally on May 26th and 27th in Calgary, Alberta. As the second round of both the Canadian Rally Championship and the Western Canadian Rally Championship, and as a qualifying round of the North American Rally Cup, 'Rocky' will be a scene setter for the season to come.

National competitors will start on Friday afternoon with the captivating Powderface Trail in scenic Kananaskis Country. The 34km road is run as two stages each with a combination of high speed and technical sections. The regional competitors join on Friday evening with the now trademark spectator stages at the Blackfoot Motorcycle Park. Normally the home to Motocross races, the rally cars take over the park to run a pair of short stages in front of fans in the heart of Calgary.

Once again, the Porcupine Hills south west of Calgary will host the competitors in one of the most spectator friendly stage road complexes in North America.
With the return of the Canadian Rally Championship to television, and a new production company at the helm, this event is bound to be a good one for team exposure.

Starting in 2006, the Canadian Rally Championship now counts all events towards the season points. Teams will travel from far and wide to protect their championship chances. To help even out the playing field, Rocky is pleased to be partnering with Jemba once again to bring you stage notes that offer great detail and convenience. "Jemba Inertia Notes System is the most advanced system available. It gives a consistent set of safety notes from a fully inertia based system."

L. Hansen's Forwarding and Canadian Pacific Railways have expanded their transportation support for competitors by now shipping cars to and from Montreal as well as Toronto making it easier than ever to catch a ride across the country for events.
Northern Metalic Sales, Platinum Mitsubishi and Rallysport.ca have all pitched in with their support to help make this year's Rocky Mountain Rally a “must-do” on your calendar

More information about the event, and all the information you need to enter, can be found on our website at www.RockyMountainRally.com or by contacting Shawn Bishop at (403) 277-6291

See you in May!

Subaru Canada Contingency Program continues and enhanced for 2006!

• English Announcement and details
• French Announcement and details

Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Rally for 2006. Hope everyone has an enjoyable event on May 26-27 whether you are competing, spectating or marshalling.

We Welcome Northern Metalic Sales (Cgy) back as a sponsor of our Volunteer Recognition program and Platinum Mitsubishi as a new promotional sponsor! Look for our 2006 Poster available by April 30!