Laughlin, Nevada -- The United States Rally Championship (USRC) announced the 2006 United States Rally Champions in all-wheel drive (AWD) and two-wheel drive (2WD) categories.

Seamus Burke, an experienced Irish driver living in Georgia, is the 2006 USRC AWD Driver Champion and Christine Beavis, an experienced, young Californian, is the 2006 USRC AWD Co-Driver Champion. Bruce Davis of California is the 2006 USRC 2WD Champion and Jimmy Brandt, one of the top US co-drivers in the unofficial lifetime points standings, is the 2006 USRC 2WD Champion.

Burke and Beavis in their Mitsubishi Evolution 8 were narrowly second behind the 2005 United States Rally Champions Lawless and Gillespie at Rally New York USA, the season opener, and won International Rally Tennessee and Prescott Rally. They were able to overcome difficulties with their car at Laughlin International Rally to secure the closely contested Championship over Wolfgang Hoeck and Piers O’Hanlon.

Davis and Brandt, who were driving Dodge Neon SRT-4, showed their perseverance and commitment. While they were not always the fastest car in their category, they won in the end three events – Subaru Rim of the World Rally, Olympus International Rally and International Rally Tennessee.

The Class Winners in the 2006 United States Rally Championship are Burke and Beavis in Open 4WD, Davis and Brandt in Open 2WD, Street and Amato in Group N and Marciniak and Wittish in Stock Class. The 2006 United States Rally Champions will be honored at the United States Auto Club (USAC) Annual Awards Banquet at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana on Friday, January 19, 2007.

The 2006 United States Rally Championship consisted of Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) internationally listed events sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and presented by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). Additional information on the Championship is available at the series website at www.unitedstatesrallychampionship.com. More information on USAC is available at www.usacracing.com, on NASA at www.nasarallysport.com and on FIA at www.fia.com.