Rocket Rally teams up with Easy Rider and BFGoodrich Tires

Courtesy Rocket Rally

SQUAMISH, BC, JUL 31, 2006 - Patrick Richard, the dominant rally driver in North American rally car competition and the reigning U.S. Rally Champion, announced today two additional associate sponsorship agreements for the 2006 Summer X Games 12, to be held this week in Los Angeles, Aug. 3-6th.

The Easy Rider, one of the largest independent snowboard/skateboard retailers in Western Canada, and BFGoodrich Tires, the leading supplier of tires to the World Rally Championship, have both joined Richard and his Canadian team Rocket Rally in their bid to secure a medal at this week's X Games 12.

"Patrick is one of the favorites for an X Games gold medal in the rally cars," explained Easy Rider principal Warren Currie, "and involvement in the X Games is a natural fit for our business. Everyone who comes into our stores knows about the X Games and will either be there in person, or watching the X Games on television. If we can proudly display our involvement with the team and help Patrick along the way, its a win for both sides."

The Easy Rider is the top dealer in Western Canada for a number of top snowboarding brands including Burton Snowboards and Forum Snowboards, as well clothing and accesory brands Volcom, Quiksilver and Nixon. "The Easy Rider is a hard core shop," explained Richard, himself an avid snowboarder and 1995 North American Boardercross champion. "They've been involved in the business since 1983, and Warren and his brother Scott were instrumental in first getting snowboarding allowed at all the major Canadian resorts on the eastern side of the Rockies."

Also teaming up with Rocket Rally is BFGoodrich Tires, the leading supplier of rally tires to the World Rally Championship. "We were able to secure a last-minute deal with BFGoodrich Tires that will allow us to use their world-class product at the X Games. This is a major coup in our bid to place in the medals - their competition tires are simply the best out there. This places us on an equal footing tire-wise with some of the other top contenders." Other top drivers invited to X Games 12 include World Rally Champion Colin McCrae and renowned motion picture stunt driver Rhys Millen, driving star of "The Dukes of Hazzard" movie and "Fast and Furious 3 - Tokyo Drift".

Richard will be partnered at the 2006 X Games by his sister, Nathalie Richard, who has co-driven Patrick to his most recent North American Rally titles. Nathalie, a strong rally co-driver in her own right, is currently the host of the Rally America television series, broadcast internationally on both ESPN and OLN. Most recently, she hosted the televised broadcast of the International Pikes Peak Hillclimb for ESPN2.

The 2006 X Games 12 Rally Car event will start on August 3rd, finishing August 5th in front of over 40,000 live fans at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, California. Featuring a live telecast in prime-time on ABC, one of America's premier broadcast networks, the X Games rally event will also be broadcast internationally through ESPN and its worldwide affiliates.