The 2009 West Australian Rally Championship is shaping up to be one of the most successful in many years. In excess of 150 rally enthusiasts attended a launch function at City Subaru in Perth this week.
The current rally advisory panel, headed by respected event organiser and long time rally man Ross Tapper, unveiled many new initiatives already put in place. The 2009 series is set to break the mould as far as innovation, creativity and exposure.
Almost in defiance of the current trends, the events, the competition, the sponsorship and the promotion of WA rallying will be at record high levels.
Since forming late last year, the current panel has secured in excess of $60,000 of cash and services support. A new website, series specific promotional material, new competitor drives and series of training clinics are just some of the examples of where the championship is heading.
“My fellow panel members and I have decided that the 2009 WA Rally championship will not be participating in the current rumoured recession - we have been working extremely hard over the past few months with the heavy load paying dividends almost straight away.
"We are of course very fortunate to be able to take advantage of the great work previous panels have put in to producing a very stable platform for this new group to move forward and build an even stronger WA Rally Championship,†said Ross Tapper, Chairman WARAP.
One of the major announcements for the night was that every round of the Championship will receive significant TV coverage via WA’s RacelineTV program. The coverage will be aired on a weekend daytime slot across the state on the West’s number one regional television network , GWN. In addition to the highlights packages produced for the TV show GWN News & Sport will also take news feeds leading up to and after each event.
“This is a very important achievement for our panel, to have the Championship receive this level of TV and news coverage will be a significant boost to our series and one that will give us the opportunity to expose the sport, and of course our loyal sponsors, to many thousands of house-holds throughout the year,†Mr Tapper added.
The mix of youth and experience that makes up this years panel has resulted in many new initiatives being introduced but also that the day to day running of a successful championship has also been well planned for.
The 2009 WA Rally Championship kicks off with the Quit Forest Rally to be held on April 3 - 5.