Taking place next month in the beautiful NSW coastal town of Batemans Bay, the Motorsport Australia NSW Rally Championship round will see crews complete eight stages overall with four different stages being repeated throughout the day. 

 

Organisers for the event have focused on returning it to its routes to use some of the roads that made the rally one of the most popular in the country.

As previously announced, the round will take on a national flavour with some big names expected to take part, with the event acting as a promotional round of the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship.

 

The event starts off with the 8.6 kilometre AGI Roll Cages Dog Trap 1 stage where crews will enjoy flowing corners along the picturesque ridge before tackling the roller-coaster style Shamrock Haulage Buckenbowra 1 stage.

 

Following the opening two stages, the longest stage of the event awaits crews with Techworkz Automotive Western Distributor 1 having 21 kilometres of technical sections and fast sweeping bends.

 

The final stage of the morning will be the Premier Pools Clyde Ridge 1 – a stage where crews will see a range of fast flowing sections on wide forgiving roads and technical downhill sections.

 

In the afternoon, crews will complete second passes of each stage with the Panel Beating Dog Trap 2 and Activ Rallysport Buckenbowra 2 runs up first, before the SW Motorsport Western Distributor 2 and Grill Clyde Ridge 2 stages wrap up the event.

 

Road Director John McCredie believed the route they have created is significantly different to previous years and that crews will enjoy these new stages around the forests of Batemans Bay.

 

“It’s quite a different route” McCredie said. 

 

“The weather events over the past 12 months combined with the bush fires at the beginning of 2020 have meant we needed to change the route this year.

 

“So, we looked around at different options and decided to use a few roads that the event hasn’t used for many years, like Ridge Road and Dog Trap Road on the Eastern Side of the Princes Highway, just to the west of Batehaven. This has also allowed us to add a Spectator Point just 5 minutes from town.

 

“We initially planned on using River Road again, but there were sections that weren’t up to the quality we are known to deliver. Plus, it’s sometimes good to consider the residents in choosing roads and this year we decided that because parts of River Road were corrugated, it was a good chance to give the residents a rally free year.”  

 

A number of RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship high profile crews have already entered the event with the likes of Harry Bates, Lewis Bates, Richie Dalton and JJ Hatton to use the event as a precursor to August’s Gippsland Rally. 

 

The AMH Automotive Group Rally of the Bay takes place in the forests surrounding Batemans Bay on 17 July.