Merrick Forest Stages Rally Sept 8th

Plans are well advanced for the newly-named Merrick Forest Stages Rally which will start and finish in Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, on 8th September.

The "Merrick" replaces the Park Systems Furniture event of recent years, following the ending of a long and successful partnership with the Glasgow company.

Despite efforts to find a suitable replacement for Park Systems, this year's rally will run without a major title sponsor.

However, the new organising team have pushed on undaunted and put together a compact event with greatly reduced road mileage between stages.

Key to achieving this will be a new central service area in the heart of the renowned Glentrool forest complex.

Rally manager Allan Marshall said “We have started with a fresh sheet of paper, and come up with an event of around 44 stage miles and just 60 road miles.. That makes it one of the most compact rallies in the Scottish Championship calendar".

He added that he was confident the new format would be voted a success by competitors and spectators alike.

The Merrick Forest Stages will be Round 7 of the County Saab MSA Scottish Rally Championship.

The Newton Stewart event will also count as rounds of the Beatsons Borders Stage and Five of Clubs rally championships.

Further information can be found at http://www.merrickstages.co.uk