| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | March 8, 1982 |
SALEM, Missouri -- New Zealander Rod Millen said he had never had to work harder at a rally, but the results were worth it. On the 10th and final stage of the 250-mile PRO Rally "100 Acre Wood" Millen and co-driver R. Dale Kraushaar moved into the lead to win by a razor thin 15/100 of a minute. The Millen Mazda RX-7 experienced either fuel or ignition problems on one of the early stages and had lost nearly two minutes. John Woolf and Grant Whittaker then moved into the lead in their Peugeot 504 V-6 Coupe and stayed there until that final stage.
At the meal break halfway through the nine hour event, Woolf had opened a lead of about two minutes, but Millen started to chip away at it. In fact, after winning only one of the first four stages, Millen was fastest on all six of the last stages.
Third went to the husband/wife team of Wayne and Debra Baldwin in their turbocharged Volvo GLT. Debra said that it was Wayne's best drive in a long time and he agreed: "We spent last year getting the car built and sorting it out, and at this rally I felt like we were ready to really go. I just don't see how those other guys can go any faster." But they could.
And just when the U.S. rally community was beginning to wonder if an American would ever win again in a PRO Rally (the last time was over a year ago), up comes yet another Kiwi. Clive Smith was entered in the 100 Acre Wood in Dave Poston's Chevy Chevette (V-6). They had trouble early on with the car getting wet and stalling at a water crossing costing them nearly 10 minutes. By the mid-point of the rally, however, Smith came roaring hack and finished fourth overall in a comeback nearly as dramatic as Millen's.
The Production Class battle was as exciting as the Overall warfare with four Production Class cars finishing in the top ten, all within a minute and a half, after a full night of rallying. Erik Zenz and Steve Nowicki opened up a huge lead (two minutes) considering the competition--Gene Henderson in an AMC Eagle, Guy Light in a Oldsmobile Firenza, and Jon Davis in a Ford Escort, all with varying degrees of factory backing. But lo and behold, Sandy Liversidge and Linda Wilcox drove their Saab 99 on the highways all the way from Vermont to enter their first rally in the Production Class. When Zenz's Saab 99 broke a throttle cable on the very last stage, Liversidge moved past and claimed first in the class and fifth overall. Zenz dropped to second in the class and Henderson's Eagle was third. Bob Nielsen was fourth in a Plymouth Champ, with Light finishing fifth after losing several minutes early on with tire trouble. Davis finished way back with a host of ills, mostly sorting out things, in the new Ford.
One outstanding drive of the evening should be noted as Dave Nicholas and Marv Miller put their not-so-new Dodge Colt into sixth overall in what was Nicholas' best drive ever. Jon Woodner was also going extremely well, moving as high as second early on. But an off-road shunt on the seventh stage dropped them well off the leaderboard and bent the Datsun's rear axle, costing them even more time.
The next two events in the 14 rally championship series will both be held out of the Seattle area; the Nor'wester PRO Rally, April 10, 11 and the Olympus PRO Rally, April 17, 18.
EVENT: 100 Acre Wood EVENT CONDUCTED BY: St. Louis Region, SOCA
LOCATION: Salem Missouri LENGTH: 250 miles, 10 stages, 110 stage miles
DATE: March 6-7, 1982 WEATHER: Cold, clear
ENTRANTS: 48 FINISHERS: 31 TERRAIN: Forest, rolling hills
FIN. CHAMP. MFG.
POS. DRIVER/CO-DRIVER/HOMETOWN CAR SCORE POINTS POINTS
1. Rod Millen, Costa Mesa, CA Mazda RX-7 108.8O 20 20
R.Dale Kraushaar, Tigard, OR 20
2. John Woolf, Livonia, MI Peugeot 504 108.95 15 15
Grant Whittaker, Livonia, MI Coupe V-6 15
3. Wayne Baldwin, Waidwick, NJ Volvo GLT 114.54 12 12
Debra Baldwin, Waldwick, NJ 12
4. Clive Smith, Calgary, Alberta Chevrolet 122.96 10 10
Dave Poston, Costa Mesa, CA Chevette 10
5.(lP) Sandy Liversidge, Jericho, VT Saab 99 127.13 8 8
Linda Wilcox, Jericho, VT 8
6. Dave Nicholas, Mishawaka, IN Dodge Colt 127.21 6 6
Marv Miller, White Pidgeon, MI 6
7.(2P) Erik Zenz, West Allis, WI Saab 99 127.41 4
Steve Nowicki, West Berlin, WI 4
8. Bruno Kreibich, Ridgewood, NY Porsche 911 127.70 3
Jeff Becker, Great Neck, NY 3
9.(3P) Gene Henderson, Pinckney, MI AMC Eagle 127.76 2
Jim Kloosterman, Ypsilanti, MI 2
1O.(4P) Bob Nielsen, St. Paul, MN Plymouth 128.20 1
Brian Jacobson, White Bear Lake, MN Champ 1
PRODUCTION CLASS WINNERS
1. Sandy Liversidge, Jericho, VT Saab 99 127.13 20 20
Linda Wilcox, Jericho, VT 20
2. Erik Zenz, West Allis, WI Saab 99 127.41 15 15
Steve Nowicki, West Berlin, WI 15
3. Gene Henderson, Pinckney, MI AMC Eagle 127.76 12 12
Jim Kloosterman, Ypsilanti, MI 12
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER TWO EVENTS
DRIVER(Current Car) PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
1. Rod Millen, Mazda 40 1. Gene Henderson, AMC 32
2. Bruno Kreibich, Porsche 15 2. Sandy Liversidge, Saab 20
Jon Woodner, Datsun 15 3. Tom French, Saab 15
John Woolf, Peugeot 15 Erik Zenz, Saab 15
5. Wayne Baldwin, Volvo 12
CO-DRIVER PRODUCTION CO-DRIVER
1. R. Dale Kraushaar 40 1. Jim Kloosterman 32
2. Jerry Hinkle 15 2. Linda Wilcox 20
Grant Whittaker 15 3. Dave Fremder 15
4. Debra Baldwin 12 Steve Nowicki 15
Rich Schneider 12
MANUFACTURER PRODUCTION MANUFACTURER
1. Mazda 40 1. Saab 35
2. Datsun 15 2. AMC 32
Peugeot 15 3. Plymouth 10
4. Porsche 12
Volvo 12
Results 82
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