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The Mitsubishi Country Racing Series, which proved such an enormous success when conducted for the first time last year, kicks off again at Atherton on Saturday.

The Queensland component of the national series involves the running of 12 races in three regions and an allocation over two years of close to $250,000 from Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd.

“The reason we got involved in racing was to further strengthen the relationship between our dealerships and their local communities,” the national sponsorship manager of Mitsubishi Motors Australia, Wayne Oats, said today.

The Mitsubishi Country Racing Series is staged in most states of Australia and this year in Queensland there have been some strategic changes, which will see finals run in Cairns on Saturday April 3d and on Rockhampton Cup day, Saturday, June 19.

A highlight of this year’s Series will see Mitsubishi Motors Australia sponsor the Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich on Cup day Saturday, June 19.

This meeting attracted the largest attendance of any day during last year’s Queensland Winter Racing Carnival.

South East Queensland Region races in the Mitsubishi Country Series will be run at Esk (May 15), Beaudesert (May 30), Toowoomba (June 12) and Ipswich (June 19).

North Queensland Region qualifiers will be run at Atherton on Saturday, Innisfail (Saturday week) and Townsville (March 23), leading up to the Series final in Cairns on April 10.

Capricornia Region qualifiers have been scheduled for Mackay (May 1), Thangool (May 22), Emerald (June 5) and the final in Rockhampton on June 19.

The decision by Mitsubishi to become a major sponsor of the Eye Liner Stakes means that the South East Region Series will not have a final. Instead the company will add $10,000 in stakes to the purse for the Ipswich feature sprint, taking its total stakes to $175,000.

Queensland Racing