| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | May 23, 1983 |
WOODNER TAKES FIRST NATIONAL PRORALLY, NOWICKI CLAIMS PRODUCTION
AUBURN, California -- Jon Woodner and Ginny Reese captured their first SCCA National PRO Rally of the season at the Forest Hill Divide PRO Rally. The win moved Woodner into second in the driver points standings and Reese into first place in the co-driver column. Driving their ex-Safari Peugeot 504 Coupe in the mountains around this small northern California community the pair fought a pitch duel with the Mazda RX-3 of Richard Kelsey and David Walsh all night.
Kelsey and Walsh were trailing by a mere half minute going into the final stage, but lost more than 20 minutes which dropped them out of contention. Second overall and winner in Production Class was the Plymouth Arrow of Steve Nowicki and Dave Poston which was a scant 15 seconds ahead of the Dodge Colt of Chris Senske and Rich Bowles. Nowicki's worries weren't over at the end of the rally, either. His Arrow was protested and had to be torn down to prove its legality after the rally.
Fourth went to the Washington state team of Steve Roberts and Don Gibson who finished who finished two minutes behind Senske's Colt in their Mazda RX-2. Second in Production Classs and fifth overall were Gary and Judi Gooch who just started rallying in their Dodge mini pick-up and now find themselves in Seed 3 as a result of this finish. Gary Eaton's Peugeot 505, Ken Nielsen's Toyota Corolla and John Crawford's Shelby Charger 2.2 rounded out the top five in Production.
The Forest Hill Divide was the first run as a co-efficient B event in the national serles. That means that the drivers got points for t1leir efforts, but the manufacturers did not. Consequently, many of the major teams stayed home including John Buffum and his Audi Quattro, Rod Millen and his Mazda RX-7, Gene Henderson and his AMC Eagle and Guy Light and his Olsmobile. In spite of that, a good field of 45 started the 220 mile, 17 stage event that ran all night in the mountains around Forest Hill.
The rally ran so late that the town of Forest Hill closed and event organizers had to arrange to have fuel trucked in from Auburn at the last minute. Several competitors did nut make it to the end as there were only 25 finishers. Dan Goodwin blew an engine on his Mazda GLC on the first stage as did Rich and Howard Watanabe with their Toyota. Bill Brooks was running in second place in his VW Rabbit GTI when the car lost an oil line on the rallycross stage and blew the engine on the next stage. Several cars rolled and at least five that went into the 18th stage never made it out.
Heat and dust made conditions unpleasant for nearly everyone, but many of the competitors agreed that the fantastic roads nearly made up for the discomfort and the grit. The next event on the schedule will be the Susquehannock Trail PRO Rally out of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania on June 11-12. It will be a co-efficient A event and all of the big guns are expected to be out in force.
SCCA CONTACTS: Tim Cline, 321 Saw Mill Road, Guilford, Connecticut 06437 (203)453-1742
T. Michael Moreland, 6750 South Emporia Street, Englewood, Colorado 80112 (303)770-1044
EVENT: Forest Hill Divide EVENT CONDUCTED BY: San Francisco Region, SCCA
LOCATION: Auburn, California LENGTH: 220 miles, 17 stages
DATE: May 21-22, 1983 WEATHER: Hot, dry
ENTRANTS: 45 FINISHERS: 25 TERRAIN: Forestand mountain roads
PROD.
FIN. CHAMP. CHAMP.
POS. DRIVER/CO-DRIVER/HOMETOWN CAR SCORE POINTS POINTS
1. Jon Woodner, Washington, D.C. Peugeot 504 92.95 20
Ginny Reese, Chelsea, Mich. Coupe 20
2.(1P) Steve Nowicki. New Berlin, Wis. Plymouth 99.30 15 20
Dave Poston, Costa Mesa, Calif. Arrow 15 20
3. Chris Senske, Kennewick, Wash. Dodge Colt 99.54 12
Rich Bowles, Aloha, Oreg. 12
4. Steve Roberts, Bellevue, Wash. Mazda RX-2 101.31 10
Don Gibson, Tacoma, Wash. 10
5.(2P) Gary Gooch, Union City, Calif. Dodge 102.25 8 15
Judi Gooch, Union City, Calif. Pick-Up 8 15
6.(3P) Gary Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Peugeot 505 102.63 6 12
Erick Hauge, Sacramento, Calif. 6 12
7. Kevin Gordham, Tacoma, Wash. Dodge Colt 102.83 4
Phil Bain, Tacoma, Wash. 4
8.(4P) Ken Nielsen, San Jose, Calif. Toyota Corolla 104.21 3 10
Bob Brandes, San Francisco, Calif. 3 10
9. Dan Holt, Santa Clara, Calif. Datsun 510 104.51 2
Dave White, San Rafael, Calif. 2
10. Don Ohnstad, Reno, Nev. Jeep Pick-Up 104.80 1
Debbie Ohnstad, Reno, Nev. 1
PRODUCTION CLASS WINNERS
1. Steve Nowicki. New Berlin, Wis. Plymouth 99.30 20
Dave Poston, Costa Mesa, Calif. Arrow 20
2. Gary Gooch, Union City, Calif. Dodge 102.25 15
Judi Gooch, Union City, Calif. Pick-Up 15
3. Gary Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Peugeot 505 102.63 12
Erick Hauge, Sacramento, Calif. 12
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER SIX EVENTS
DRIVER (Current Car) PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
1. John Buffum, Audi 95 1. Steve Nowicki, Plymouth 72
2. Jon Woodner, Peugeot 68 2. Gene Henderson, AMC 55
3. Rod Millen, Mazda 65 3. Gary Eaton, Peugeot 36
CO-DRIVER PRODUCTION CO-DRIVER
1. Ginny Reese 80 1. Jim Kloosterman 43
2. Doug Shepherd 60 2. Brian Berg 48
3. R. Dale Kraushaar 50 3. Bob Brandes 32
MANUFACTURER PRODUCTION MANUFACTURER
1. Audi 95 1. AMC 70
2. Mazda 80 2. Plymouth 60
3. Peugeot 48 3. Dodge 36