Four times Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates and his champion co-driver Coral Taylor have given the Kumho Rally of the Bay the thumbs up after checking the route for the rally organisers this week.

Bates and Taylor ran over the 128 km course this week and came away praising the roads and the nature of the event proclaiming it 'a true drivers rally'.

"The roads are terrific and really the best possible selection I could imagine in the Batemans area," said Neal Bates.

"It was really interesting having Coral alongside checking both the Bega rally a few weeks ago and the Rally of the Bay, because she has done very little rallying in this area and in fact did all of her state championship rallying in Queensland," said Neal.

"I think Coral was quite impressed with the quality of the roads and was amazed at how good they are," he added.

"The other thing that impressed us was the condition of the roads, which was absolutely great, and anyone who enters will have a great time," said Neal.

Neal was at pains to point out that while he checked the route he didn't pace note it and wants to remind competitors and potential competitors that it is a blind rally and it has to be treated with respect.

"I was a little surprised at Bega when a few drivers came up to me and said that they were taking crests flat because they knew I had checked the rally, I checked it but I didn't make it safe to go flat over crests, it still has to be treated with respect," Neal emphasised.

Neal Bates will be a special guest at this year's Rally of the Bay and one of the panels of speakers at the annual Rally dinner at the Bay Waters Resort in Batemans Bay on Friday 28th June along with rally legend Ed Mulligan.

The Kumho Tyres Rally of the Bay is due to be flagged away in the main street of Batemans on Saturday morning 29th June at 10am.

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