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Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series March 19, 1995
Press Notes by Andy Schupack |
Press Notes #1
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 18, 1995 - 9:00 AM EST
1. Welcome to Olympia, Washington, and the Doo Wops III and IV PRO
Rallies, with the combined days' results counting for 60 percent points
towards the SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series national championship. This
is round #2 of the SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series - round #1 was also a
60 percent points event, held in South Carolina last month.
2. The Doo Wop rallies, to be held entirely in daylight, will run on the
Simpson Timber Company forest roads on Saturday, and on the more
familiar Capitol State Forest Roads on Sunday. Veteran organizer Ray
Damitio points out that the Simpson roads are graded flat to drain
towards the ditches in contrast to the Capitol Forest Roads, which are
crowned for drainage. Competitors will have to be careful on Saturday
as they might end up in those drainage ditches on the new Simpson
roads.
3. The weather - no surprise to Northwest competitors - will be cloudy
with rain most of the weekend, with temperatures in the 50's.
4. As national competitors could only earn points in one of the first two
60 percent events, and Paul Choiniere scored a victory last month in
South Carolina in his Hyundai, Paul will not be here this weekend.
Carl Merrill, who opted to run a Canadian event opposite Sand Hills
last month, will be in Olympia this weekend in his new Ford Escort
Cosworth. Although the drivetrain is similar to last year's model,
Merrill has upgraded his entry with a brand new '95 tub, rebuilt
suspension, and most noticeable, a new paint scheme.
5. Henry Joy was supposed to debut his new Mitsubishi Lancer at this
event, but delays in getting parts from Ralliart in Australia has meant
that Washington State fans will have to wait until next month's Wild
West Rally to see Joy's new right-hand-drive racer. Meanwhile, Henry
will run his tried-and-true open class Eclipse, which ran well here at
Wild West in '94, but did not finish the Doo Wops.
6. The Doo Wop rally will consist of 12 stages over the two days of the
event, covering 213 total miles and 84 stage miles.
7. Another exciting new car which will be delayed from its original
schedule is the Ford Merkur Cosworth of Greg Lund, from Duvall,
Washington. Lund, who has won Doo Wop rallies in the past, is awaiting
arrival of parts from Ford Motorsports Europe and other suppliers. He
and co-driver/wife Lynne will be driving the ex-Janice Damitio Datsun
510 this weekend to keep their rally skills sharp.
# # #
Press Notes #2
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 18, 1995 - 10:00 AM EST
8. Chad Dykes, who gave Guy Light, Gary Gooch, Jeff Hendricks and Roger
Hull great competition for the 1993 PRO Rally truck class title, has
finally completed his Group 2 Toyota Pickup (actually '94 Production
class champion and off-road veteran Dave Turner built it) and will run
Doo Wops. The truck is lowered about an inch and half and has lots of
negative camber dialed into the front wheels. Pat Hanson will be his
navigator again.
9. Bill Nation, a Group 2 entrant from Los Angeles, had his first rally
weekend in Washington at the first Doo Wops in February and won Class 3
(Beginners) both days in his Mazda RX-7. He figures to do well with
the local road knowledge his navigator brings. Erik Thompson, who
normally pilots the Mint Snuff Volvo 142, will be co-driving for nation
as his car is not ready for competition. The Nation/Thompson team will
remain intact for the Wild West PRO Rally here in April, and probably
Rim of the World in May in California.
10. The Mazda Protege of Rick Beson, which won the Doo Wop I divisional
event last month, but suffered damage in a rollover during Doo Wop II
that same weekend, will miss this event, but expects to return to the
Olympia, Washington rally scene for the Wild West event April 21-22.
11. Rui Brasil, a top California Rally Series driver over the past few
years, and a Portuguese native, was involved with the Rally Portugal
WRC event last week with Ralliart, driving the fast chase vehicle for
Rui Madeira, who won Group N in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and
finished 9th overall. Rui's Open class Audi Quattro develops more than
300 horsepower, and Rui has shown in previous events that he can run
with the leaders. The team had a problem earlier this week with a
loose fuel injector rail, but seems to be ready to go for the weekend.
Veteran co-driver John Elkin will be in the navigator's seat.
12. Dave Turner, defending Production class champion, will be servicing
Chad Dykes' Toyota Pickup this season after talks with several
potential sponsors yielded no program for this year. He will contest
CRS Stock Class events in a Plymouth Arrow, and could be driving at Rim
of the World this year if a program he is working on becomes reality.
The Production Class Mitsubishi Eclipse that won last years championship
has been sold to Group A driver Chris Weleff who will use the car in a
small rallycross series in southern California with a turbo engine.
Weleff will contest some Nationals in Group A in his old Toyota, maybe
Wild West, and definitely Rim.
13. Look for Ray Hocker and Lynette Allison to haul their Subaru RX to
Wild West and contest the National. Ray Hocker last competed in
Washington at the 1986 Olympus WRC event where he and his late co-
driver Bill Moore won their class in Group B under 1600cc in a Honda
CRX. Lynette owns the car, her husband Roger is organizer of the East
of Indio Rally, now in it's 11th year.
14. The Jason Priestley/Kevin Caffery Production GT Toyota Celica Alltrac
now has a full year of development in the car, and more importantly, a
full year of experience with the driving team. Priestley, one of the
stars of "Beverly Hills 90210," has been finishing in the top five in
the CRS events, and was doing well at Doo Wop I before he rolled his
car. His best national finish was fourth in class and 12th overall at
Sunriser in Ohio last September. Look for Jason to run most of the
CRS events and several nationals before the year is done.
15. As of the opening of registration Saturday morning, the organizer has
39 entries, a record for the Doo Wop event. The rally will leave
Damitio's office at PDE Enterprises at 11:00 AM Pacific time today.
We will post an updated entry list/start list as soon as it becomes
available.
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Press Notes #3
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 18, 1995 - 11:00 PM EST
16. 39 cars took the countdown at PDE Autobody in Olympia under cloudy
skies on Saturday morning, with Carl Merrill's Ford Escort Cosworth,
Henry Joy's Mitsubishi Eclipse, and Peter Moodie's Mazda 323GTR
expected to duke it out for the overall national points. All three
drivers are running the entire series, and with Paul Choiniere already
gaining 12 points in South Carolina, whoever wins this event will be
tied with Paul going into their first showdown in three weeks in Ohio.
17. Besides the overall battle, we can look for a couple of class tussles
as well. In Production GT, the Toyotas of Janice Damitio and Jason
Priestley should have a lively battle with the Mazda 323GTX of Dale
Beard, while Group 2 rivals Mike Whitman in his Datsun 510 and Sam
Bryan in his Saab 900 will have to watch the new Group 2 Toyota Pickup
of Chad Dykes and the ex-Janice Damitio Datsun 510 being driven by
Greg Lund.
18. After six hours of rallying, the word from the woods is that the Ford
Escort Cosworth of Carl Merrill/John Bellefleur has a healthy lead
over the second-place Mitsubishi Eclipse of Henry Joy/Chris Griffin
(no time reported yet - we should have those shortly). The Peter
Moodie/Michael Fennell Mazda is third, with the Mazda 323GTX of Dale
Beard/Richard Simmons fourth. The Janice Damitio Toyota and the Rui
Brasil Audi Quattro also appear to be in the top five or six
finishers, with Beard probably winning the divisional title.
Organizer Ray Damitio reports that there were 12 of 13 DNFs, but no
major incidents, with many of the DNFs already preparing their
vehicles to enter tomorrow's event. For the divisional competitors,
and those national competitors able to earn divisional points (seed 2
and below), the Saturday and Sunday events are two separate rallies,
so it's just as important to run well tomorrow as it was today.
Details as they come in.
# # #
Press Notes #4
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 19, 1995 - 11:00 AM EST
19. Still don't have times from the conclusion of Saturday's racing,
but we have reports from some of the teams as the day #1 -
Doo Wop III - ended at the Doo Wop Diner.
--The leaders - Carl Merrill/John Bellefleur - are running very strong
with little more than routine maintenance necessary at the service
area. Their Ford Escort Cosworth - reskinned with a '95 tub on the
outside, - has also undergone changes underneath as well as Merrill
has switched preparation duties from Libra Racing to his own shop.
Both the suspension and layout of various engine components have
been reconfigured for this season.
--The Peter Moodie/Michael Fennell Mazda 323GTR - last year's Group A
national champions - are also running well despite an off-road
excursion which cost them 20 seconds on stage #2.
--On the other hand, although experiencing no mechanical problems, the
Henry Joy/Chris Griffin Mitsubishi Eclipse is not going as fast as
Joy would like it to because he "is driving like a mom." Part of
that might be attributed to the fact that he and Griffin - a new
driving pair - are getting used to each other. Griffin, a Los
Angeles-area resident who usually co-drives with his brother in a
very fast, but very old Volvo, has been hired by Joy to replace
Canadian Brian Maxwell for the 1995 season.
--The Rui Brasil/John Elkin Audi Quattro has been slowed by a number
of ills, but should in the top five when the times come out.
The car arrived from Northern California with an inoperative
odometer. Add to that the fact that co-driver John Elkin has
laryngitis, and the team started off behind the eight ball. Then,
after tying Merrill for the fastest time on stage #2, Rui went off
the road on stage #3, nailing the right rear quarter panel. Then,
while inspecting the car last night, the team found that the
transmission and suspension mounts were pulling away from the
chassis, so the crew was up all night welding metal plates to the
components to cement them to the chassis.
--The Group 2 battle is being won by the VW GTI of Dave White/Jimmy
Brandt, who have a 29 second lead over the Datsun 510 of Mike
Whitman/Kevin Linville. The Saab 900 of Sam Bryan/Rob Walden, the
pre-event favorites, is a DNF with a broken front axle. Bryan tried
the limp the car around the course with one-wheel-drive, but finally
retired his car. The Chad Dykes/Pat Hanson Toyota pick-up, in its
debut, went off the road twice - once before the race even started.
The truck almost fell off the trailer, damaging a door, on its trip
from Southern California. Then Dykes went off the road on stage #3
and hit a tree, finishing his effort for the weekend as well.
20. The Jason Priestley/Kevin Caffery Toyota Celica Alltrac did not make
it through the first stage, suffering a fuel pump failure. Priestley
also DNFed in the first stage at Doo Wop I last month due to a crash.
21. The propane-powered Open class Toyota Pickup of Matt Sweeney and
Lucinda Strub DNFed Saturday when the gasket blew out from their oil
filter. The pair hopes to re-start today's divisional event.
22. The rally leaves PDE Autobody in Olympia this morning at 10:30 AM PST,
and finishes up at the Oakville, Washington Grange around 4:00 PM PST.
The winner of each day's event get appropriate divisional points,
while those with a national license - seed 2 and below - will receive
60 percent of regular national points based on the cumulative two-day
performance.
# # #
Press Notes #5
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 19, 1995 - 5:00 PM EST
23. The leading Group 2 entry - the VW GTI of Dave White and veteran co-
driver Jimmy Brandt - is the same GTI built several years ago by Guy
Light. As a matter of fact, Light is here at the Doo Wops servicing
for White, but would much rather be driving. He is waiting for the
change in the new Rally Truck rules and some sponsorship to get back
on the circuit.
Built as a Production class car, White's GTI is still basically stock
except for a Quaife differential. The Benecia, Calif. dentist plans
to run Wild West and Rim with co-driver Ben Greisler, and if he is
doing well in the Group standings after that, he might try to run the
midwest events as well.
24. In some news about an SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally competitor who is not
here this weekend, Matt Chester, from Atlanta, GA - a co-driver at
several event last year - will be going to Africa this summer to co-
drive in the Keynan national championships. He will co-driver for
Kenyan rally star Sammy Aslam in a Subaru Impreza in the national
events, and in an ex-Stig Blomqvist VW Golf GTI in the international
events. He would like to stay in Africa or Europe and become a
professional co-driver; he would be the first American ever to do so.
Chester co-drove for New England divisional competitor Damon Meyers
and Production GT competitor Jim Anderson last year.
25. We finally have the national standings and times after the completion
of yesterday's seven stages, and there are some surprises. One of the
problems with the scoring was that - among the 39 competitors - the
organizer was not sure who was eligible for national points. As it
turned out, there were 14 national and 36 divisional starters, with 11
of the national starters also eligible for divisional points. We
still don't have everything as final as we would like it, but here are
the times as we have them after 7 stages (end of the day Saturday):
Driver/Co-driver Car Class Time_(min:sec.)
Moodie/Fennell Mazda 323GTR Open 107:30
Merrill/Bellefleur Ford Escort Cosworth Open 107:59
Beard/Simmons Mazda 323GTX PGT 109:19
Brasil/Elkin Audi Quattro Open 109.34
Joy/Griffin Mitsubishi Eclipse Open (time undetermined)
Damitio/Berg Toyota Celcia GTS PGT 112:30
White/Brandt VW GTI GP2 112:43
Whitman/Linville Datsun 510 GP 2 113:12
Kosmides/Noyes Ford Escort GP2 115:21
Lund/Lund Datsun 510 GP2 118:54
Nation/Thompson Mazda RX-7 GP2 120:51
Forespring/Forespring Toyota Starlet GP2 123:40
26. Although Peter Moodie has years more rally experience than Carl
Merrill, Merrill has almost 100 hp more than Moodie, and with the
roads on Sunday be less slippery than those on Saturday, Peter will
have a hard time holding off Carl to the end. But both drivers
have been known to go off the road after trying too hard, so the
results of this rally remain very much in doubt.
27. Janice Damitio, who has rallied for several years in an old Datsun
510, has shown the competitors - as well as organizer and husband
Ray - that she is ready for prime time in her new Celica. Her
sixth place overall put her right in the middle of the hunt for a
top five finish.
28. Both Dale Beard, who finished well against the other national
competitors last year, and Rui Brasil, who was in the top ten at
Rim of the World in '94, are within striking distance of the top
should the leaders falter. Beard has the fastest time among the
divisional finishers yesterday, and won the Doop Wop III
divisional.
29. After two stages today, or nine stages total (out of 12), we
now have the following times:
Driver/Co-driver Car Class Time_(min:sec.)
Moodie/Fennell Mazda 323GTR Open 119:54
Merrill/Bellefleur Ford Escort Cosworth Open 120:31
Beard/Simmons Mazda 323GTX PGT 122:07
Brasil/Elkin Audi Quattro Open 122.22
Joy/Griffin Mitsubishi Eclipse Open (time undetermined)
Damitio/Berg Toyota Celcia GTS PGT 125:53
White/Brandt VW GTI GP2 125:55
Whitman/Linville Datsun 510 GP 2 126:25
Kosmides/Noyes Ford Escort GP2 128:55
Lund/Lund Datsun 510 GP2 133:00
Nation/Thompson Mazda RX-7 GP2 133:50
Forespring/Forespring Toyota Starlet GP2 138:33
As you can see, the standings and time differences are virtually
unchanged from the end of stage 7 to the end of stage 9, with all the
close races continuing to be close. The rally is running on time and
scheduled to end in the next hour, so we hope to have final results in
our next report. Also, we were promised a "real" time for the
Joy/Griffin entry.
# # #
Press Notes #6
Doo Wop III and IV PRO Rallies
Round #2 - 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally Series
March 19, 1995 - 9:00 PM EST
29. Peter Moodie's victory today might signal the beginning of the end for
the Group A class in U.S. PRO Rally. The SCCA rules for Group A
simply defer to the FIA rules, and the FIA has tried to slow down
Group A cars to their intended 300 horsepower by putting restrictors
on the turbos - in the Mazda 323GTR's case a 32 mm restrictor. Moodie
would rather run for the overall title anyway, and not have to follow
any of the other Group A regulations, so he has moved to Open. He
comes much closer to Merrill and Choiniere with 350 horsepower, and
showed that he can beat the top guys if he drives mistake-free. The
American Rally Association has Group A under scrutiny, with no entries
in the first two events and none on the early entry sheet for
Sunriser.
30. The best battle of the weekend among the other classes was the Group 2
tussle, where Mike Whitman's 200-plus horsepower outlasted the FWD of
Dave White's stock-engined GTI. With two stages to go, Whitman had
White by ten seconds, and Dave gave it his all, but Whitman has more
experience and a faster car, and picked up another second to make the
final margin 11 seconds.
31. National points after two events look like this:
Choiniere 12
Moodie 12
Merrill 9
Ottey 9
Brasil 7.2
Kreibich 7.2
Ohtake 6
Beard 6
Joy 4.8
Anderson 4.8
Whitman 3.6
Suddard 3.6
White 2.4
Brinkman 2.4
Trepetin 1.8
Kosmides 1.8
Lund 1.2
Nation .6
For Immediate Release Contact: Andy Schupack
JAMAICAN TEAM WINS FIRST-EVER U.S. RALLY; EDGES MERRILL TO SET
UP SEASON-LONG SHOWDOWNS WITH DEFENDING CHAMPION CHOINIERE
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- March 19 -- Jamaican driver Peter Moodie and his co-
driver Michael Fennell let it be known that defending champion Paul
Choiniere and challenger Carl Merrill will not have the front-runner spot
to themselves for the 1995 SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series.
Moodie/Fennell got off to an early lead in their 350 hp. Mazda 323GTR
and held off Merrill and co-driver John Bellefleur in the Ford Escort
Cosworth for the remainder of the Doo Wop PRO Rally here to score a
44-second win in round #2 of the series. Merrill, from Ogunquit, Maine,
couldn't use all of his 400-plus hp. during the event because of the slick
conditions on the wet forest roads southeast of Olympia.
Moodie, who moved from the Group A class to Open when the FIA legislated a
32mm restrictor plate this year for Group A, wants to run for the overall
championship after winning the Group A title in '94.
"With our car configured as an Open class car, we can compete with
Choiniere's Hyundai and Merrill's Escort Cosworth, and we showed this
weekend that we can win if we don't make mistakes," said Moodie, who had
four successive DNF's the first half of last year before storming back to
win his class championship. Moodie first came to the U.S. to race in
1975, when he rented a Super Vee ride from Bill Scott Racing. In Jamaica,
he has been both a champion rallyist and road racer.
Other class winners included Dale Beard/Richard Simmons, from Elma, Wash.,
in a Mazda 323GTX (fourth overall, winners in Production GT); and Mike
Whitman/Kevin Linville, from Farmington, NM, (sixth overall and first in
Group 2).
Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker, from Williston, Vermont, won Round #1 of the
SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series in their Hyundai Elantra last month in
Cheraw, South Carolina. As drivers could only score points in one of the
first two events, Merrill, Moodie, and Open class contender Henry Joy all
sat out South Carolina and went to this weekend's race in Olympia.
Choiniere did not go to Doo Wops. All four will face off at the first
full national rally of the year - the Sunriser 400 - April 7 - 8 in
Chillicothe, Ohio.
Joy, from Atlanta, Mich., was a disappointing fifth overall in his
Mitsubishi Eclipse, but hopes his new 360 hp, right-hand drive Mitsubishi
Lancer is ready for Ohio.
Perhaps the most disappointed of all was the only woman entry - Janice
Damitio of Montesano, Wash. - who was running as high as sixth overall
in her Production GT Toyota Celica GTS when she ran off the road into a
ditch at 100 mph late in the event. Although she and co-driver Barry Berg
were able to get the car back on the road, they lost more than 20 minutes
to the field and ended up 12th overall.
Actor Jason Priestley, who crashed during the first stage of a rally here
in February, had similar luck this weekend as a fuel pump gave way on
on their Toyota Celica Alltrac during stage #1, putting Priestley and co-
driver Kevin Caffery out of the event.
In a PRO Rally, each team consists of a driver and a co-driver (or
navigator), and the exact course is kept secret until just before the
event - different from World Rally, where practice is allowed. The cars
start at one-minute intervals and race against the clock over 6 - 15
stages which range in length from four to 25 miles. Most of the rallies
include night stages, making it necessary for competitors to adjust their
driving style. Speeds of more than 120 miles-per-hour could be reached on
long straight-aways, with the team achieving the fastest combined times
winning the event.
All these cars, plus additional national entries, will be back in the
Olympia/Shelton area April 21-22 for the Wild West PRO Rally - Round #4
and a traditional stop for the SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series.
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