Prescott Forest ProRally
SCCA ProRally Championship
September 29-30, 2000
Results Nat/club
Press Notes
For immediate release 22 September, 2000
MEDIA ALERT
SCCA ProRally Championship Round #8 - Prescott Forest
DENVER, CO: Eighth round (of nine) for the 2000 season. This year's
Prescott Forest event features new roads that promise a less punishing and
faster ride for the drivers than in years past, but will still feature the
spectacular scenery in the high desert and mountains surrounding Prescott and
historic mining town of Jerome, AZ. This performance rally event is
sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America.
When & Where:
29-30 September 2000; Prescott, AZ; approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers)
northwest of Phoenix, Arizona
Headquarters Hotel - Friday/Saturday Press Room; Event and Media registration
Best Western - Prescottonian
1317 East Gurley Street
Prescott, AZ 86301
Hotel Main: 520.445.3096
Complete Event Schedule: (subject to change)
Friday, 29 September, 2000
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM Entrant and Media registration, Scrutineering - Prescottonian
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM Parc Expose - The Prescottonian *
4:30 PM Start of Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally Leg One - The Prescottonian
5:30 PM Press Room open - The Prescottonian
10:00 PM (apx.) First car arrival - Finish of Leg One - The Prescottonian
1:00 AM (apx) Press room closes
Saturday, 30 September, 2000
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Parc Expose - The Prescottonian *
8:00 AM Press Room open, Late Press Registration
9:00 AM Start of Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally Leg Two - The Prescottonian
4:00 PM (apx) First car arrival - Super Special - County Fairgrounds - Prescott *
10:00 PM First car arrival - Finish of Leg Two - The Prescottonian
Sunday, 01 October, 2000
9:00 AM Awards Breakfast - Prescottonian Hotel - credentialed Press & VIPs invited *
* Recommended time and location for media interviews.
Event Rank:
This rally is a full points SCCA ProRally Championship event. Drivers earn
points towards the national championship, and supporting manufacturers
(Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi) earn points towards overall and
class Manufacturers' Championships.
Press Credentials:
Event Press/Photo credentials will be available at registration on Friday.
Access to press-only photo areas, and to the post event awards breakfast will
require a press pass. Credentials are available only to members of the
working press. Identification and/or work assignment required.
Visuals, Interviews & Media information:
During the event, action photography will be possible from spectator and
select press-only viewing areas along the rally course. Drivers, co-drivers
and crew will be accessible throughout the event, including the Friday
afternoon and Saturday morning Parc Expose. Media relations will be able to
provide driver and co-driver interviews, event results and other information
via telephone and Email.
Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Marketing and Media Manager
Pre-event: 303.779.6622 (USA Country Code: 1)
direct inquiry Email: werace4u@aol.com
Press Room: 29-30 Sept only. Call the Hotel and ask for Press Room.
Time zone at event: Mountain Standard Time (GMT - 8 hour )
SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/
SCCA Prescott Forest ProRally: http://www.prescottforestrally.com
Selected entries (driver/co-driver):
1999 Overall Manufacturer, Driver and Co-Driver Champions
Noel Lawler & Charles Bradley;
SCCA Open Class 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. Newly rejuvenated
with his first win of the season at Wild West, Lawler and Bradley's repeat
driver and co-driver championship hopes are equally revived. Expect to see
an absolutely flat-out run to the front from these fierce competitors.
Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker;
SCCA Open Class 2000 Hyundai Tiburon -
Multi-time overall SCCA ProRally National Champions Choiniere and Becker come
to Prescott with four overall wins in the 2000 season under their belts, and
thanks to a strong second place finish last week, in first place for Overall
Drivers and Co-Drivers points. With the surprise finishing and non-finishing
order situation at Wild West, what could have been a 'cake-walk' weekend for
Choiniere is now an important one of the first magnitude for the team.
1999 Rim of the World overall winner Garen Shrader with 1998 overall
co-driver champion Michael Fennell; SCCA Open Class 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo IV. With Shrader's first podium in over a year (3rd overall at Wild West
last weekend), the energized team is headed to Prescott with high hopes.
Currently 4th in the Championship points, a top podium finish could put the
team in striking distance of the championship at the season-ending Lake
Superior event in October.
Group 5 duelers Bryan Hourt and Mark Utecht wil be at it again in
Prescott, with a few more variables thrown into the mix. Hourt will be with
a new, as yet un-named co-driver, and Utecht, following the total loss of his
Dodge Omni GLH turbo at Wild West, will reportedly be in the 1999 Group 5
championship winning Dodge Shadow turbo, borrowed for this event from its new
owners.
Additional news interest:
The Hyundai points generating steamroller gathered even more speed at
Wild West with a convincing 1-2 podium finish, and are now 20 points ahead of
chief rival Mitsubishi. Thanks to a solid 3rd place finish by Shrader and
Fennell, Mitsubishi is not out of the hunt, however. Subaru, while having
one of its best weekends of the season at Wild West, failed to generate the
much needed overall win it needed to be a contender for the Overall
Manufacturers Championship. The manufacturer did however, secure its
Production GT Manufacturers title thanks to Patrick Richards strong finish at
Wild West.
Karl Scheible and Russ Hughes, following their dismal weekend at Wild
West, which effectively removed them from contention for a dual SCCA Drivers's
Championship, has withdrawn their entry at Prescott. The Vermont Sports Car
based team will be at the Lake Superior SCCA ProRally event in late October,
in their bid for North American Rally Cup top honors.
For immediate release 28 September, 2000
Start Order & Late Breaking News:
SCCA ProRally Championship Round # 8 - Prescott Forest
Prescott, Arizona: With the 2000 season in its next to last and most
technically challenging event of the year, over 40 of the most hardy Sports
Car Club of America ProRally and ClubRally cars remaining in this grueling
season are ready to start the Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally. The Rally
starts tomorrow afternoon, Friday September 29 from the events hotel
headquarters in Prescott, AZ (about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix) at 4:30
PM. Immediately preceding the start will be a brief 30-minute Parc Expose.
An additional, one-hour Parc Expose is scheduled just prior to the Leg two
restart of the rally on Saturday morning, at 8:00 AM.
Selected late entries, news:
Many of the leading SCCA ProRally Championship teams are in attendance,
including the Hyundai Tiburons of Paul Choiniere and Noel Lawler, the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV of resurgent Garen Shrader/Michael Fennell team, and
a healthy pack of Subaru Imprezas, (7 of the 43 entrys) featuring Oregon's
Paul Eklund, Lee Shadbolt and California regulars Lon Peterson and Jonathan
Ryther. As at Wild West just two weeks ago, most of the series driver's
championships remain undecided, with good showings this weekend now critical
for many teams.
Also joining the field is Kyoichi "Tony" Takaori who has flown in from
Japan just for this event. Driving a 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III, his
co-driver is Phoenix resident and Prescott Forest veteran Ken Cassidy.
Cassidy was the co-driver for Ralph Kosmides' Group 5 Toyota Supra effort
throughout the 2000 season, until that team withdrew from the championship
after Round 6, Ojibwe Forest.
High on that "critical" list are the pair of Group 5 teams that had more
than their share of trials and tribulations at Wild West. Bryan Hourt's "new
school" supercharged Honda Civic had a rough Leg one at Wild West, and only
thanks to Mark Utecht's huge off and subsequent DNF at Wild West has remained
in the championship hunt. Utecht, now saddled with a slim 5 point lead over
Hourt, is renting the immaculately prepared Group 2 VW Golf Gti of David
White. While this car is significantly down on horsepower when compared to
Hourt's Honda, this car has run near the front before, and is a veteran of
the pounding trails here in Arizona.
The event is known for its technical, twisty high desert and mountain
trails in and around the spectacular Prescott Forest, and the historic mining
town of Jerome. One of the highest rallys in the world, most of the event is
run at 5000 or more feet above sea level. The trails are a combination of
extremely fine lung and air filter choking silt and large undercarriage
mangling rocks, making suspension setup a fine art.
Weather forecast: Much of Arizona has been under a brutal late summer
heat wave, with over 21 days this month posting highs over 100 degrees F.
Fortunately for the participants, the rally's high desert location should
keep daytime temps in the 80's. Rain is predicted for this evening - a real
rarity in Arizona, which should help keep the dust, at least on Friday's
stages, to a minimum.
Corrections: Previously reported in the Media Alert was Karl Scheible's
withdrawl from this event. The #61 Vermont Sports Car Mitsubishi was not
scheduled to be at Prescott. The withdrawn team was the #162 Subaru of
Patrick Richard/Ben Bradley. We regret the error. Both teams will be at the
season-ending Lake Superior event in two weeks.
Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Marketing and Media
Manager
direct inquiry Email: werace4u@aol.com
Time zone at-event: Arizona Time (GMT - 7 hours)
Press room phone: 520.445.3096 (hotel operator will transfer call)
Web sites:
ˇ SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/
ˇ SCCA Prescott Forest ProRally: http://www.prescottforestrally.com
Information regarding the start order list:
Car # = number on vehicle. Car # under 200 are ProRally entries. Car # over
200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants.
Class = Open - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications;
P (Production) - slowest; are cars very near to showroom stock configuration.
G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars;
G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars;
GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars.
Un-seeded cars are entered in the ClubRally support events only.
Start Order (subject to revision)
Pos Car# Seed Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 2 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
2 1 FIA Open Noel Lawler Charlie Bradley 00 Hyundai Tiburon
3 4 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 95 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
4 28 1 Gr 2 Bill Malik Amity Trowbridge 80 Volvo 240 turbo
5 53 2 Open Kyoichi Takaori Ken Cassidy 95 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III
6 160 2 Open Eric Eaton Kenny Almquist 99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
7 32 2 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 95 Subaru Impreza
8 95 2 Open Tony Chavez Eddie Cardenas 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
9 20 2 Open George Plsek Alex Gelsomino 90 Audi Quattro 90
10 148 2 Open Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
11 71 2 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt John Dillon 97 Honda Civic
12 83 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 VW Golf GTi
13 72 2 GT Roger Hull Sean Gallagher 92 Eagle Talon TSi
14 51 2 Gr 2 Jay Streets Bill Feyling 85 Toyota Corolla
15 35 2 Open Lee Shadbolt Robert Sherman 97 Subaru Impreza
16 73 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic
17 165 3 P Dennis Chizma David Weiman 73 Porsche 911
18 98 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf GTi
19 55 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beets 88 VW Golf GTi
20 117 3 Open Ken Stewart Doc Shrader 85 Chevrolet S-10
21 374 4 Gr 5 Leon Styles Larry Scott 84 Mazda RX-7
22 101 4 Gr 2 Mark Brown Ole Holter 87 Toyota Corolla FX-16
23 84 5 Gr 2 J.B. Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf GTi
24 149 6 Open Jonathan Ryther Nicholas Taylor 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
25 139 6 GT Janusz Jastrzebski Tom Zaremba 96 Subaru Impreza
26 68 3 Open Doug Robinson Sue Robinson 88 Mazda 323 GTX
27 214 3 Gr 5 Joe Noyes John Forespring 93 Toyota Supra
28 401 3 Gr 5 Jim Gillaspy Mick Kilpatrick 84 Dodge Colt turbo
29 311 3 Gr 2 Bradney Boli Gary Garman 86 Honda Accord LXi
30 322 3 Open Robert Pendergrass Jonathan Weigley 69 Chevrolet Blazer
31 378 3 Gr 2 Gary English Kengo Takahashi 81 Alfa-Romeo GTV6
32 303 2 P Paula Gibeault Chrissy Beavis 90 VW Jetta
33 325 3 Open Bruce Brown Pat Brown 95 Subaru Impreza
34 371 3 Gr 5 John Shults Don Shreyer 73 Mazda RX-3
35 367 3 Gr 2 Richard Byford Frances Olson 70 BMW 2002
36 364 6 Gr 2 Robert Sudhop Louis Panelli 96 Mitsubishi Eclipse
37 427 6 Open Drew Goldsmith Lee Sorensen 88 Toyota Celica All-Trac
38 396 6 GT Keith Roper Jack Evenson 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
39 388 6 Gr 5 Darren Pennington EJ Webb 90 VW Corrado
40 387 6 Gr 5 Brady Dohrmann Brandon Smith 86 Mazda RX-7
41 934 6 Gr 2 Raymond Johansen Keith Adams 81 VW Rabbit
42 324 6 Open Peter Workum John Rippel 79 Plymouth Fire Arrow
43 386 6 Gr 5 Chris Acker Peter Morris 98 Ford Mustang
For immediate release 29 September, 2000
SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #8 - Prescott Forest
Leg One Results, Key Notes
Hyundai has a new challenger in Subaru
Prescott, Arizona - Perfect weather seemed to indicate that this year's
Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally would be an ideal place for teams to make good
on their late season strategies. Several teams, who's championship plans
were scrambled by the Wild West event's surprise turnout, came to Prescott
seeking salvation - unfortunately for many, the first day of this challenging
event has ripped up even the best made plans, and have placed several teams
Championship hopes in jeopardy.
At the end of tonight's Leg One activity, overall series points leader
Paul Choiniere is sitting a comfortable one minute and twenty seconds ahead
of his nearest challenger - Californian Lon Peterson, whose Subaru Impreza
2.5 RS turbo is finally living up to its performance promise. Peterson, who
has had difficulty just finishing a rally all season, seems to finally have
all the bugs out of his turbocharged Subaru, and shot directly to the front
of the pack, gaining 9 positions during this evening's short four-stage Leg.
Overall, Subaru has turned into a true late-season bloomer, with nearly
1/5 of today's field consisting of the popular Impreza, and nearly all
running at the front. Looking very much as Mitsubishi did at this June's
Susquehannock Trail event, with 8 of their exotic Lancer Evos in attendance,
all the Imprezas that took the green at the start of today's rally are top 10
contenders, and several, including Eric Eaton's brand-new 2.5 RS and Paul
Eklund's turbocharged 95 model, are legitimate podium threats. This is a
massive change for the manufacturer, as well as for Mitsubishi, which has
seen its impressive field shrink to just one lone Evo carrying the
manufacturer's championship hopes through this weekend.
Close on Peterson's heels is series rising star Bryan Hourt, who's
supercharged Honda Civic has placed him in a career high 3rd overall
position. Locked in a tight battle for Group 5 honors, Hourt teamed up with
veteran co-driver John Dillon, who lost his season's ride in Mark Nelson's
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV when Nelson crashed out of the Wild West ProRally
two weeks ago. The new duo hit it off immediately, and tonight's combination
of two fast, flat-out and smooth stages and two highly technical stages
struck a perfect combination for Hourt, his Honda and Dillon.
Mark Utecht, doing his best to hold onto his slim lead in the Group 5
point's race, is doing well in his rented Group 2 VW Golf Gti, reclassed to
Group 5 for this event. Working in his favor is co-driver Brenda
Corneliusen, who spent the entire 1999 season in the co-driver's seat of a
virtually identically prepared VW Golf of Robert Nielsen. Keeping it a
family affair, the #98 Nielsen VW is now co-driven by Brenda's brother,
Brett.
Late season hard-chargers Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell had a tough
stage one, suffering a blowout about halfway through the stage and shattering
a rim. With a quick 10-minute service scheduled immediately after that
stage, the team pressed on through SS1 with the 3-wheeled Evo, but lost some
time regardless. Damage to the car was minimal, and the team feels confident
that Saturday's Leg two will be a good one for them.
Noel Lawler's brief run of good luck was precisely that - brief. After
setting a blistering pace in SS1, gaining nearly 25 seconds on teammate
Choiniere, the dashboard of Lawler's Tiburon caught on fire about halfway
through SS2, causing a hasty exit from the car mid-stage. The fire was
quickly extinguished, and Lawler and co-driver Charles Bradley finished the
stage, but the duo felt it unwise to continue, and parked the car. This
unfortunate turn of events effectively ends Lawler and Bradley's chances of a
repeat overall Driver's Championship.
Leg two of the Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally begins at 9:00 AM, following
a 1-hour Parc Expose in Prescott at the host hotel. Also featured in
tommorow's leg is a special spectator stage to be run at the Prescott Downs
fairgrounds in Downtown Prescott in the late afternoon.
Leg One Finish Order (unofficial) times are in hours:minutes:seconds
St Fin Car# Time Sd Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 1 2 35:34 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
10 2 304 36:14 2 Open Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS turbo
11 3 71 36:42 2 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt Jay Kowalik 97 Honda Civic
3 4 4 37:50 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 95 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
5 5 32 37:51 2 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 95 Subaru Impreza
7 6 160 38:14 2 Open Eric Eaton Kenneth Almquist 99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
12 7 83 38:15 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 Dodge Omni turbo
4 8 28 38:46 1 Gr 2 Bill Malik Amity Trowbridge 80 Volvo 240 turbo
14 9 51 39:06 3 Gr 2 Jay Streets Bill Feyling 85 Toyota Corolla
13 10 72 39:25 2 GT Roger Hull Sean Gallagher 92 Eagle Talon
16 11 73 39:38 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic
18 12 09 40:37 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf Gti
24 13 379 41:27 6 Open Jonathan Ryther Janice Damitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
20 14 117 42:00 3 Open Ken Stewart Doc Shrader 85 Chevrolet S-10
24 15 84 42:10 5 Gr 2 J.B. Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf Gti
18 16 165 42:43 3 P Dennis Chizma Claire Chizma 73 Porsche 911
19 17 55 43:56 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beels 87 VW Golf Gti
25 18 139 45:12 6 GT Janusz Jastrzebski Tom Zaremba 95 Subaru Impreza
21 19 374 46:41 4 Gr 5 Leon Styles Larry Scott 84 Mazda RX-7
8 20 95 53:23 2 Open Tony Chavez Eddie Cardenas 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
ClubRally Only Entries
St Fin Car# Time Sd Class Driver Co-driver Car
42 21 324 40:31 6 Gr 5 Peter Workum John Rippel 77 Plymouth Fire Arrow
28 22 401 41:50 3 Gr 5 Jim Gillaspy Mick Kilpatrick 84 Dodge Colt
27 23 303 41:50 2 Gr 2 Paula Gibeault Chrissy Beavis 90 VW Jetta
29 24 311 42:05 3 Gr 2 Brad Boli Gary Garman 86 Honda Accord
38 25 396 43:22 6 Open Keith Roper Jack Evenson 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
30 26 322 44:51 3 Open Bob Pendergrass Jon Weigley 69 Chevrolet Blazer
39 27 388 45:46 6 Gr 5 Darren Pennington EJ Webb 90 VW Corrado G60
33 28 325 47:35 3 Open Bruce Brown Pat Brown 93 Subaru Impreza
34 29 371 49:34 3 Gr 5 John Shults Don Shreyer 73 Mazda RX-3
43 30 386 49:35 6 Gr 5 Chris Acker Peter Morris 98 Ford Mustang
41 31 934 51:49 6 Gr 2 Raymond Johansen Kevin Adams 78 VW Rabbit
36 32 364 53:22 6 Gr 2 Robert Sudhop Louis Panelli 96 Mitsubishi Eclipse
31 33 378 1:02:05 3 Gr 2 Gary English Kengo Takahashi 86 Alfa-Romeo GTV6
*complete results will be posted on the Prescott Forest website:
http://www.prescottforestrally.com
notes:
Car #304 - Peterson; and #379 - Ryther will be re-numbered for Leg Two, with
ProRally numbers 148 and 149 respectively.
Leg One Retirements - unofficial
Car# Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Make Stage Retirement cause (unofficial)
35 Lee Shadbolt Bob Sherman Open 97 Subaru DNS Engine
1 Noel Lawler Charles Bradley Open 00 Hyundai SS2 Electrical Fire
53 Kyoichi Takaori Ken Cassidy Open 95 Mitsubishi SS2 Accident
20* George Plsek Alex Gelsomino Open 90 Audi SS3 Suspension
68* Doug Robinson Sue Robinson Open 88 Mazda SS4 Axle
367* Richard Byford Fran Olson Gr 2 70 BMW SS2 Unknown
427* Drew Goldsmith Lee Sorenson Open 88 Toyota SS2 Accident
387* Brady Dohrmann Brandon Smith Gr 5 86 Mazda SS4 Unknown
* indicates teams that have the option of re-starting Leg 2 as ClubRally entrants only.
For immediate release 30 September, 2000
SCCAŽ ProRallysm Championship - Round #8 - Prescott Forest
Choiniere/Becker Clinch Overall Drivers', Co-Drivers'
and Manufacturers' Championship
Prescott, Arizona: The penultimate round of the 2000 SCCA ProRally
Championship season became the ultimate round for 7-time SCCA Driver's
Champion Paul Choiniere and 4-time Overall Manufacturers Champion Hyundai.
Driving a smooth, steady and just quick enough pace over the course of the
two-day event, Choiniere, along with 6-time champion co-driver Jeff Becker
demonstrated true championship grit with a closely calculated finish just 23
seconds ahead of the Lon Peterson/Bill Gutzmann Subaru Impreza 2.5RS turbo.
Finishing third, driving a brilliant come-from-behind race was the Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo IV of Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell.
The Choiniere/Becker victory tonight caps off a tough season which saw
Hyundai's 4-year domination of the SCCA ProRally Championship seriously
challenged for the first time by a strong field of independently entered
Mitsubishis. Starting off the season with new 2000 model SCCA Open Class AWD
Tiburons, the team had more than its share of mechanical and electrical
gremlins and just plain tough racing luck. Finally hitting its customary
winning stride at Maine Forest, the Libra Racing prepared Hyundai Tiburons
have won every event in the championship since then, including a full sweep
of the podium at Ojibwe Forests.
Lon Peterson, faced with a string of mechanical DNF's, finally got the
ride he's been hoping for this weekend, and was in contention for the overall
win, twice swapping fastest stage times with Choiniere, and leading overall
at today's midpoint. Post event, Peterson was clear in spelling out the
team's intentions: "There's no doubt that this car can take an overall - it's
been a steep learning curve for us, but we have the right combination now of
motor, gearing and durability, and are ready for a terrific end-of-year show
at Lake Superior. We (Peterson, co-driver Bill Gutzmann and teammate
Jonathan Ryther) have spent this season intentionally getting the cars, and
ourselves, right for 2001."
Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell repeated their 3rd place podium at Wild
West here at Prescott, another strong showing for the team, particularly in
light of the puncture and subsequent repair and transit delay last night.
The duo made up a significant time deficit finishing the event less than 2
minutes behind Choiniere, setting two fastest stage times in the process.
Paul Eklund, who finally broke out of his DNF streak at Wild West two
weeks ago duplicated his 5th place overall finish again here at Prescott, and
is now ready to work his way up the ladder. Scott Huhn, Eklund's co-driver
noted "we've been really conservative the last couple events, because we knew
that making the finish was so important - now that we know we can finish
reliably, we are ready to turn the boost back up."
As at Wild West, the most dramatic story of the weekend was in Group 5.
The "Utecht and Hourt Show" has turned into quite the serial, and the
Prescott episode delivered the now expected overturn of fortunes in spades.
Bryan Hourt got off to an uncharacteristically quick start - with the
supercharged Honda delivering horsepower in the high altitudes that his
normally aspirated competition just couldn't deliver - and rapidly moved up
the leader board, finishing 4th overall, an all-time career high. Mark
Utecht, driving a rented VW Golf Gti, knew that he wouldn't be able to keep
up in the horsepower race - but also knew that this particular Gti was a
veteran of Prescott, and was capable of going fast enough to keep pressure on
Hourt. That strategy started to fade rapidly away in SS6, when Utecht ran
'just a little' wide and slid the car "gently" into a berm - but snapping the
driver's side rear axle clean off the car anyway. Returning to service with
a three-legged Golf wasn't in the plan - but the Guy Light managed service
crew, all veterans of rally racing in the high desert, had a full set of
spares ready, and swapped out the complete axle assembly and had Utecht back
on the road in less than 10 minutes. Confidence restored, Utecht continued
on, and managed to keep Hourt in sight for the rest of the day, finishing
just under 4 minutes behind the high-flying Honda.
With four consecutive 1st place finishes, the hotly contested and often
nearly tied 2000 overall Manufacturers Championship is now locked in for
Hyundai, with the unofficial overall standings now at: Hyundai 140,
Mitsubishi 112, Subaru 104, and Toyota 57.
The final round of the 2000 SCCA ProRally Championship will be in just
three weeks, on the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, at the Lake Superior
ProRally, October 20-21. While the Open, Overall and Production GT
championships are now decided, the hotly contested Group 2, Group 5 and
Production Class Championships remain wide open, as well as the coveted
Woodner Cup for overall 2WD Drivers.
Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally Finish Order (unofficial)
times are in hours:minutes:seconds
St Fin Car# Time Seed Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 1 2 1:30:47 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
10 2 148 1:31:11 2 Open Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS turbo
3 3 4 1:32:13 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 95 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
11 4 71 1:34:16 2 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt Jay Kowalik 97 Honda Civic
5 5 32 1:35:14 2 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 95 Subaru Impreza
13 6 72 1:37:32 2 GT Roger Hull Sean Gallagher 92 Eagle Talon
12 7 83 1:37:57 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 Dodge Omni turbo
4 8 28 1:38:28 1 Gr 2 Bill Malik Amity Trowbridge 80 Volvo 240 turbo
24 9 149 1:40:24 6 Open Jonathan Ryther Janice Damitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
18 10 09 1:44:10 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf Gti
18 11 165 1:45:33 3 P Dennis Chizma David Weiman 73 Porsche 911
20 12 117 1:46:23 3 Open Ken Stewart Doc Shrader 85 Chevrolet S-10
19 13 55 1:46:38 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beels 87 VW Golf Gti
8 14 95 1:51:49 2 Open Tony Chavez ` Eddie Cardenas 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
24 15 84 1:58:22 5 Gr 2 J.B. Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf Gti
25 16 139 2:06:55 6 GT Janusz Jastrzebski Tom Zaremba 95 Subaru Impreza
ClubRally #2 Only Entries
5 1 214 1:00:23 3 Gr 5 Joe Noyes John Forespring 93 Toyota Supra
1 2 324 1:02:36 6 Gr 5 Peter Workum John Rippel 77 Plymouth Fire Arrow
2 3 303 1:02:51 2 Gr 2 Paula Gibeault Chrissy Beavis 90 VW Jetta
3 4 311 1:03:07 3 Gr 2 Brad Boli Gary Garman 86 Honda Accord
6 5 396 1:04:40 6 Open Keith Roper Jack Evenson 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
4 6 401 1:05:58 3 Gr 5 Jim Gillaspy Mick Kilpatrick 84 Dodge Colt
8 7 388 1:06:39 6 Gr 5 Darren Pennington EJ Webb 90 VW Corrado G60
17 8 367 1:10:14 6 Gr 2 Richard Byford Fran Olson 70 BMW 2002
12 9 371 1:10:39 3 Gr 5 John Shults Don Shreyer 73 Mazda RX-3
10 10 325 1:13:18 3 Open Bruce Brown Pat Brown 93 Subaru Impreza
11 11 364 1:15:29 6 Gr 2 Robert Sudhop Louis Panelli 96 Mitsubishi Eclipse
13 12 368 1:18:44 6 Gr 5 Chris Acker Peter Morris 98 Ford Mustang
7 13 322 1:30:11 3 Open Bob Pendergrass Jon Weigley 69 Chevrolet Blazer
*complete results will be posted on the Prescott Forest website:
http://www.prescottforestrally.com
Retirements - unofficial
Car# Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Make Retirement cause (unofficial)
35 Lee Shadbolt Bob Sherman Open 97 Subaru DNS Engine
427 Drew Goldsmith Lee Sorenson Open 88 Toyota SS1 Accident
1 Noel Lawler Charles Bradley Open 00 Hyundai SS2 Interior electrical
53 Kyoichi Takaori Ken Cassidy Open 95 Mitsubishi SS2 Accident
20 George Plsek Alex Gelsomino Open 90 Audi SS3 Electrical
387 Brady Dohrmann Brandon Smith Gr 5 86 Mazda SS6 Engine management
73 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist Gr 2 97 Honda SS7 Roll-over
160 Eric Eaton Kenny Almquist Open 99 Subaru SS8 Puncture, Suspension failure
934 Raymond Johansen Kevin Adams Gr 2 78 VW SS8 Accident
51 Jay Streets Bill Feyling Gr2 85 Toyota SS8 Roll-over
378 Gary English Kengo Takahashi Gr 2 86 Alfa-Romeo SS9 Engine electrical
# # #
Results 2000
RRN Index