BAJA GB 2007, August 17-19th, 2007
Great Britain’s third round of the 2007 FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas
For immediate release
Monday, August 6th, 2007
FORMER BRITISH CHAMPION ALISTER MCRAE SET TO DEBUT
NEW MCRAE ENDURO RALLY CAR AS BAJA GB COURSE CAR
Czech and Dutch crews head to mid-Wales for Baja GB;
Huddersfield’s Harrison and Doncaster’s Lee aim for quad wins;
Local hero Rowan Jones flies the bike flag for Llanidloes
NEWTOWN (Wales): Former British Rally Champion and regular international rally driver Alister McRae will give the brand new McRae Enduro rally car its first public competitive appearance as course car for Baja GB on August 17th-19th.
The car has just undergone a couple of shakedown tests in Essex and both Alister and father Jimmy – a five-times British Rally Champion – were delighted with its potential.
~I am extremely pleased about the reliability from the start,~ said Alister McRae. ~To come up with a new design concept and for it to run faultlessly is just quite remarkable. Between us we clocked up 550 km of rough surface testing without any major failures.
~Every change we made to the spring and damper settings gave improvements and even better driver feed back. I then pushed very hard for the rest of the test and nothing broke – a testament to our engineer Peter Bennett and the rest of the team. I’m now looking forward to Baja GB.~
The international entry will be bolstered by a pair of 3.2-litre Mitsubishi Pajeros entered in the T1 category. Porizek Zdenek and Koresz Preemysl will line-up alongside Czech team mates Zapletal Miroslav and Janecek Miloslav running on Hungarian licences. Dutchman Toni van Deijne and co-driver Woulter Rosegaar will also take part in the Baja at the helm of a Team Van Deijne Mitsubishi L200 Club Cab 4WD.
Regular off-road competitors have entered the national category: Matlock’s Trevor Milner and co-driver Andrew Lees will tackle the National ‘A’ event in their Milner R45 Protruck and Penketh’s Mike Moran will have Richard Suter reading the notes in his powerful Bowler Wildcat 100. They will be joined by Chris Hammond/Ben Gott, Andrew Graham with an Allisport entry and Glen McKeith alongside co-driver Caroline Smith in a Land Rover Freelander. Scottish Hillrally winner Dan Lofthouse is also set to enter the National ‘A’ event.
Local motorcycle racer Rowan Jones will be flying the Welsh flag with pride. The Llanidloes-based rider lives a stone’s throw away from Sweet Lamb and will take part in the Baja on his Yamaha 450 in Class B1. He will be joined on the entry list by the Isle of Man’s Kieran Clotworthy: the Castletown rider will take part in a KTM 450 entered in the B1 category.
Huddersfield’s Matt Harrison will be hoping to improve on the third place he achieved in the quad category in last year’s Baja, when he lines up at the start in Builth Wells on Friday, August 17th. But last year’s Doncaster-based winner Matt Lee stands in his way and is sure to push him to the limit on his Yamaha Raptor.
This year’s Baja GB has the full backing of the Welsh Assembly Motorsport Initiative, the Forestry Commission Wales and the Motor Sports Association (MSA).
Officials, media and competitors wishing to reserve accommodation for Baja GB weekend should contact the Builth Wells Tourist Information Centre, Tel: + 44 (0) 1982 553307. Entry forms and regulations are available from www.BajaWales.com or Wendy Tomley (e-mail wt@BajaWales.com).
Ends
For further media information:
Neil Perkins, Baja GB Press Officer, NDP Publicity Services, NCH Building, Upper Bar, Newport, Shropshire, Tel: +44 (0)1952 825078, Fax: + 44 (0) 1952 825001, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@compuserve.com. www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).
www.BajaWales.com