“As a result of this new deal, we are now in a position to financially reward new competitors to the sport, there will be prize money on offer for the rookie series competitors which should help to ease the burden on their back pockets and help them to keep turning up to events” advised AMSAG President Dave Aitchson, “The sport of rallying really needs these new guys to keep competing, and breathe some new life into the sport, and if we can help them with that through this new deal then that’s a benefit for not only AMSAG but the sport of rallying too”.
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Matthew Pearce of Race Brakes Sydney is also keen to be helping out. “Race Brakes Sydney are very happy to be the naming rights sponsor to this series, the idea of helping rookie competitors to get into rallying is something we really want to help with”. “We have assisted the one make Hyundai Excel series in NSW over the last few years, now we are just as pleased to be offering a valuable incentive to a new group of competitors, some that are running cars of an older era when rallying was prosperous like Datsun 1600’s, Mitsubishi Lancer’s and the crowd favourites like Holden Commodores!”. “if we can have some part in getting rallying in NSW back to the way it was back then, well… that is something we can be proud of.”
The AMSAG Rookie Series was created at the start of the 2009 season and is coordinated with the assistance of one of the AMSAG event directors, Jamie Neale. “We had a massive response to the inaugural rookie series last year, we had close to 30 drivers register and 20 navigators. Some of those competed at nearly every event, not just the rookie series events and also figured in the results at all of the events. This shows that the talent is out there in these new competitors, if we can encourage this and help them build their skills even further, then who knows, we may have a future champion there” said Jamie, “I think this year has the potential to be even better than last year!”.
The series is run as part of the cheaper events on the regular AMSAG calendar, Series registration is free and is open to any competitor of any age as long as they have competed in less then 5 rallies as either a Driver or Navigator prior to their first Rookies Series rally (this included CAMS events), For example, if a competitor has been navigating only for say 3 years and decides they want to have a go at driving, they are eligible as a Rookie Series Driver as they have not competed as a driver in more then 5 events. Rookie navigators are only eligible for points if they are paired with an eligible rookie series driver.
The points structure is aimed at rewarding overall competitiveness, not just winning. The points are allocated for the overall classification of the registered Rookie Series competitors, as well as the top 3 Rookies for each stage that is run. As an added incentive there are bonus points on offer for finishing an event with incurring a maximum stage time penalty, such as not starting or finishing a stage.
This year the rookie series will be run at 4 of the 6 rounds of the full AMSAG series, these rounds are Round 1 – the Jenolan Rallysprint on 10th April, Round 2 the Cowra Shire Stages Rally on 15th May, Round 3 the City of Orange Classic Forest Rally on 19th June and Round 4 the Oberon Rally on 30th October (which will also be the final round of the full AMSAG series).
Competitors interested in registering for the 2010 Race Brakes Sydney Rookie Series can also find information about the series via the AMSAG Website www.amsag.com.au.
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