Sno*Drift Website * Entry List * Results ProRally w/Leg Times * ClubRally Results
MEDIA ALERT SCCA ProRally Championship Round 1 -- Sno*Drift ProRally First round (of ten) for the 2001 season.B A record-breaking field of over 60 SCCA and FIA Performance Rally cars from across North America will race on demanding snow-and ice-covered roads at the northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.B This televised event is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). When & Where: January 26-27, 2001; Atlanta, MI; approximately 100 miles(160km) north of Saginaw, MI Time zone at event: Eastern Standard Time (same as New York) Headquarters Hotel & Saturday Press Room: A-Win-Sands Motel; 11610B M33 North; Atlanta, MI 49709B 517.785.2337(switchboard) Event and Media registration (Friday): Atlanta Senior Center -- 2/10ths of a mile north of A-Win-Sands Motel on Hwy. M33 Schedule: Friday, 26 January, 2001 12:00 noon - 10:00 PM Registration -- all parties -- Atlanta Senior Center 12:00 noon - 9:30 PM Scrutineering Atlanta -location TBA 2:30 PM Media rendezvous for press stage, Atlanta Senior Center - Credentials must be issued/reserved prior to this time 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Press stage (location confidential) Saturday, 27 January, 2001 8:15 - 9:00 AM ParcExpose Montmorency County Tribune 9:01 AM First car starts Sno*Drift ProRally Montmorency County Tribune 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Dinner Break 9:30 PM First car finishes Sno*Drift ProRally, Atlanta Senior Center 10:30 PM Awards ceremony Atlanta Senior Center Format: All events in the SCCA ProRally Championship consist of flat-out racing, in any weather, on challenging forest, mountain or desert roads.B SCCA Performance Rally events follow a format similar to that used around the globe.B However, most events do not allow for on-course practice (recces) or pacenotes.B Competitors generally see the course for the first time as they race it. At-speed competition takes place only on special stages using demanding back roads closed by local authorities for the event. Transits connect the special stage sections together and are driven at posted speeds, with teams fully subject to all traffic laws. SCCA Performance Rally vehicles are production-based cars and trucks from manufacturers around the world. They compete both for the overall victory and wins within a class structure that groups together vehicles with similar performance capabilities. Each vehicle carries a driver and a co-driver/navigator. Using a detailed route book and a specially designed rally computer, the co-driver keeps the team on-course and advises the driver of any hazards ahead.B This role is as critical as the driver's skill, since the team is traveling at full racing speeds over roads they have not seen, in any type of weather. Selected entries (driver/co-driver): 8-time Overall Driver Champions Paul Choiniere & seven-time co-driver Champion Jeff Becker; Open Class Hyundai Tiburon 1999 SCCA ProRally Overall Driver/Co-Driver champions Noel Lawler and Charles Bradley; Open Class Hyundai Tiburon 1999 Production Class and 2000 FIA Group N Driver Champion Karl Scheible with Brian Maxwell; FIA Group N Subaru Impreza WRX. 2000 Group 5 Driver and Co-Driver Champions Mark Utecht and Brenda Corneliusen-Lewis - PGT Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 1999 Production GT Driver Champion Gail Truess with Pattie Hughes-Mayer; PGT Mazda 323GTX 1999 SCCA Group 5 Champions and 2000 FIA Group N runnerups Henry and Cindy Krolikowski; FIA Group N 95 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi. Additional news interest: Very strong Open and FIA Class fields, 3 Libra Racing Hyundais, Mitsubishi Lancer Evos, plus four privately entered FIA group N Subaru Impreza WRXs. The SCCA Sno*Drift ProRally competition is held in one day, and uses the Atlanta, MI headquarters for all services, making this one of the easiest press coverage events of the season. Event Rank: Sno*Drift is a full-points round for Driver & Manufacturer Championships in the SCCA ProRally Series. Interviews: Drivers, co-drivers and crew will be accessible throughout the event, including the Friday press stage and at the Parc Expose prior to the start of the Saturday's activity. The service area is open to credentialed press at all times of the event. Visuals: Prior to the event, action photography and video will be obtainable for members of the registered press at the press stage.B During the event, action photography and video will be possible from special viewing areas set up along the rally course, as well as other sites.B A Press/VIP van will be available (weather permitting) for transport to and from these sites for those without transport of their own. Media car rides: Media will be given the opportunity to experience the intense excitement of ProRally cars at speed during the press stage. Media information: Media relations will be able to provide driver and co-driver interviews, event results and other information via telephone, fax and Email. National Media Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA Pro Rally Championship 303.779.6622;B 303.694.3654 Fax (USA Country Code: 1)B mobile: 303.204.0375 Email: werace4u@aol.com Regional Media Contact: Corinne Young Sno*Drift Public Relations 734.525.4890 email: PR@sno-drift.org pager: 313.990.2885 Web sites: SCCAProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/ SCCASno*Drift ProRally: http://www.sno-drift.org SCCA ProRally Championship Round 1 - Sno*Drift Atlanta, Michigan: The season opening round of the 2001 SCCA ProRally Championship starts tomorrow morning with record setting field of performance rally cars from the US, Canada and abroad. The Rally starts at 9:00 AM Saturday morning, immediately following a Parc Expose of all the rally cars at the Montmorency County Tribune building. Selected late entries, news Tomorrows event is the largest in the history of the Sno*Drift SCCA ProRally, with 60 entrants on the start list. Along-side the Championship dominating Hyundais of Paul Choiniere & Noel Lawler are seven Mitsubishi Lancer Evos including Open Class podium contenders Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell, and a world-class Subaru Imprezas, featuring four UK built WRX-Sti. The season is starting with plenty of intrigue and last-minute preparations, and more than its share of bad kharma for Team Hyundai. To offset the onslaught of Mitsubishi's and Subaru's, Libra Racing boss John Buffum had planned to run 3 Hyundais at Sno*Drift. Last week, new team member Doug Shepard's Elantra was withdrawn with engine management woes. Yesterday, after a short, and completely successful test session, the brand-new motor in Noel Lawlers Tiburon locked up. Still listed on this morning's start-order, the team is hopeful that this is just a temporary deep-freeze glitch, and they will be able to get Noel back in top shape for tomorrow's start. After months of Internet rally newsgroup speculation,its official - Prodrive is here. Announced this morning, Vermont SportsCar owner Lance Smith confirmed his company has forged an alliance with the world-renowned Prodrive Ltd, constructors of FIA World Rally Championship Subaru automobiles. Fielding two Subaru Imprezas, the cars will be entered in all 10 SCCA ProRally Championship events this season. Entered in two classes, 2000 SCCA ProRally Group N champion Karl Scheible will be at the helm of the Prodrive Gr N specification car, and former British national Rally Champion Mark Lovell will be piloting the teams SCCA Open class entry. Brian Maxwell, of Toronto, Canada will co-drive with Scheible, and Steve Turvey, also from the UK, will co-drive with his long-time rally partner Lovell. Further confirming Prodrive's serious attack on the championship, the team's support truck was shipped in from the UK, and there will be no less than 17 Prodrive crew members on hand to handle any service situation. The Saturday afternoon and evening schedule has been revised slightly from the media alert sent last week. The dinner break is now set at 1:30 - 4:30 (1/2 hour earlier) and the first car finish time is now set at 9:11 (approx 20 min earlier). See the event website listed below for complete details. Weather forecast: The aptly-named Sno*Drift The forecast for the event is classic northern Michigan: bone-chilling, high-humidity, well below freezing temperatures, coupled with light breezes and nearly constant snow flurries throughout the day and night will keep crews shivering and drivers on their toes. Without any significant snowfall in over three weeks, most of the roads are hard packed snow and ice. Press Room Reminder: The Press Room is scheduled to be open continuously from 10:00 AM - 8:30 PM on Saturday. Due to the relative brevity of the event, we will not be posting our usual Leg One results. The next release you receive will be the final results, posted via our regular e-mail distribution. Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Marketing and Media Manager Direct inquiry Email: werace4u@aol.com Time zone at-event: Eastern Time (GMT -5 hours) Press room phone: 517.785.2337 (hotel operator will transfer call to room) Information regarding the start order list: Car# = number on vehicle. Most Cars with numbers under 200 are Pro entries. Cars numbered over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first digit denoting their home division (2,3 = West coast, 5 = Central US, 8,9 Eastcoast). Class = Open - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P(Production) - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock configuration. G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars; GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars. Pro seed only shown for clarity. Cars with no seed listed are entered in the ClubRally support events only. Sno*Drift SCCA ProRally Championship Round #1 27 January, 2001 Start Order (subject to revision) Car# Start Seed Class Driver Co-Driver Car 4 1 0 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 3 2 0 Open Noel Lawler Charles Bradley 2000 Hyundai Tiburon 2 4 0 N Karl Scheible Brian Maxwell 2000 Subaru WRX STi 6 5 1 Open Peter Lahm Matt Chester 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 5 6 1 Open Doug Shepherd Pete Gladysz 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 14 7 1 N Mark Lovell Steve Turvey 2000 Subaru WRX STi 115 8 1 Open Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 44 9 1 N Henry Krolikowski Cindy Krolikowski 1995 Subaru WRX-STi 71 10 1 G5 Bryan Hourt Drew Ritchie 1999 Honda Civic 116 11 2 G2 Thomas Lawless Brendan Lawless 1993 Honda Civic 160 12 2 Open Eric Eaton Kenny Almquist 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 107 13 3 Open Tim Paterson Scott Ferguson 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 76 14 1 GT Gail Truess Pattie Hughes-Mayer 1988 Mazda 323 GTX 83 15 2 GT Mark Utecht Brenda Lewis 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 21 16 2 GT Chris Czyzio Eric Carlson 1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 82 17 2 G5 Mike Hurst Rob Bohn 1988 Pontiac Sunbird turbo 63 18 2 G5 Tad Ohtake Bob Martin 1997 Ford Escort ZX-2 43 19 3 Open Kurosh Jahromi Tony Lumino 1993 Ford Escort Cosworth 64 20 3 Open Sylv. Stepniewski Adam Pelc 1987 Audi 4000 quattro 551 21 3 Open Mark Sarnecki Rick Hansen 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 928 22 3 Open Dean Fry Greg Usavage 1990 Subaru Legacy 565 23 3 N Russ Hodges Jimmy Brandt 1995 Subaru WRX-STi 971 24 3 GT Brendan Cunningham Paul McClean 1990 Eagle Talon 992 25 3 GT Bruce Perry Phil Barnes 1990 Eagle Talon TSi AWD 950 26 4 GT Shane Mitchell Paul Donnelly 1992 Eagle Talon 55 27 3 G5 Brian Vinson Richard Beels 1997 Toyota Supra turbo 151 28 4 Open Carlos Lopez John Atsma 1990 Eagle Talon 185 29 4 Open Jon Bogert Daphne Bogert 1988 Toyota Celica 589 30 4 Open Alec Ellsworth Steve Kaczkowski 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 42 31 4 G2 Eric Burmeister Mark Buskirk 1986 VW Golf GTi 559 32 5 Open John Rek Bob DuPree 1995 Audi S-2 173 33 5 N Patrick Lilly Eoin McGeough 1995 Subaru Impreza 555 34 5 G5 Colin McCleery Jeff Secor 1991 VW GTI 15 35 5 G2 Brad Hawkins Adrian Wintle 1996 VW Golf GTI 41 36 5 G2 Art Burmeister Randy Moore 1988 VW Golf GTi 84 37 5 G2 J B Niday Allan Kintigh 1987 VW Golf GTi 505 38 5 G2 Jon Hamilton Josh Westhaven 1981 VW Rabbit 540 39 5 P Scott Carlborn Dale Dewald 1992 Jeep Comanche 942 40 5 P William Tremmel Peter Coleman 1986 VW Jetta GTI 904 41 6 N John Drislane Declan Heagerty 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 594 42 6 G5 Wiktor Biegalski TBA 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse 553 43 6 G5 Jerry Brownell Jim Windsor 1983 Chevrolet Citation X-11 526 44 6 P Ken Kovach Dave Bruce 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 539 45 6 P Ryan Brooks Shanti Traskowski 1995 Acura Integra 518 46 6 Open Dennis Martin Chris Plante 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse 502 47 6 Open Paul Dunn Rebecca Dunn 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 583 48 6 Open Michael Reeves Donald Reeves 1991 Toyota Celica All-Trac 930 49 6 G2 Greg Gilfeather Don DeRose 1974 Porsche 914 811 50 6 G2 Matthew Johnson Eric Adams 1988 VW Golf GTI 533 51 6 P Tom Young Jim LeBeau 1995 Dodge Neon ACR Start Order ClubRally Support Event (subject to revision) 527 52 Open Chris Gilligan Joe Petersen 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 519 53 GT Scott Harvey Jr JeffHribar 1990 Eagle Talon 544 54 Open Daniel Malott Matt Malott 1990 Eagle Talon TSi AWD 548 55 G5 John Zoerner John Shepski 1985 Dodge Omni GLHT 578 56 G5 Anthony Grinnell Kim Young 1991 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ 546 57 G2 Phil Schmidt Steve Irwin 1987 Toyota MR2 569 58 Open Mike Purczycki Marc Searight 1982 Jeep Scrambler 976 59 G2 Russell Rosendale Robin Winter 1987 VW Golf 558 60 P Jim Cox Kaarii Louise Cox 1989 Chevrolet S-10 For further information, please visit these Web sites: SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/ SCCA Sno*Drift ProRally: http://www.sno-drift.org For Immediate Release January 27, 2001 SCCA ProRally Championship - Round 1 - Sno*Drift Ice-Ace Choiniere takes Hyundai to Top Podium Finish Atlanta, Michigan, Driving a brilliant race with an "absolutely perfect" setup on his Hyundai Tiburon, eight-time SCCA ProRally Overall Driver Champion Paul Choiniere with seven-time Co-Driver Champion Jeff Becker skated away from the field, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of US rallying newcomer Mark Lovell and his Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRX. Seamus Burke and Frank Cunningham, in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV, were in the hunt from stage one, and finished a mere 30 seconds behind Lovell. A steady snow fell through much of the night and morning, coating the thickly frozen roads with 2 inches of white powder, presenting drivers with the slickest conditions imaginable, or so they thought. The sun came out mid-afternoon, and briefly turned much of the powder into water, lubricating a surface that was difficult to stand on, much less drive. As night fell, the roads actually improved somewhat, with the hardening ice providing more traction than the drivers had experienced all day. Noel Lawler and Charles Bradley's bad luck continued into the start of a second season, but at least this time misery had company; with the 1999 Overall Driver and Co-Driver Champions being joined by Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell, who lost their engine at the pre-event press stage. This was Shrader's career first-on-the-road start. Mark Lovell: "I still haven't stopped shaking" exclaimed the former British National Rally Champion, "this is the hardest driving combination that I've ever encountered: driving blind, on ice, with no studs - an amazing event, I've got a lot of respect for the drivers here." Seamus Burke: "A good start - we're planning on running at least seven championship rounds this year, and we're have our new Evo VI at Chattanooga in March." Brian Vinson, debuting his ex-Ralph Kosmides G5 championship winning Toyota Supra turbo; had a short day, earning the first time-bar of the event. The 2000 season's Production class champion moved up a bunch in horsepower this year, but is now also driving possibly the most challenging vehicle to manage in the snow in the series. Fortunately, damage to the car is apparently nil. Mark Utecht and Brenda Corneliusen-Lewis, reigning Group 5 Champions debuted their new Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX in fine style, finishing 6th overall and 1st in Production GT, with a generous 2 plus minute lead over the Gail Truess/Pattie Hughes-Mayer Mazda 323 GTX. The team is the second in a row to win the SCCA Overall 2WD (Woodner Cup) Championship and switch to all-wheel-drive. Henry and Cindy Krolikowski were the trendsetters in 2000, importing the first Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRX's into the country. The Krolikowskis had their best finish to date since making the switch last June, coming home a very respectable 5th overall, and 2nd in Group N. This good showing was despite a harrowing double 360 spin and brief off road/lakeside excursion mid-event that left the couple shaken, clearly stirred, and the WRX just slightly narrower in the middle. Tad Ohtake, a Ford engineer that enjoys a good rally every now and again proved that the time off hasn't slowed him down a bit. Driving a supercharged Ford Escort ZX2, Ohtake rounded out the Top 10 overall, and was also the top finishing 2WD entry, taking Group 5 honors. In Group 2, Michigan resident Eric Burmeister enjoyed a rare-in-rally competition, 10-minute window over a hard-charging Matthew Johnson, a North Carolina native with considerably less cold-weather experience. How hard was Johnson charging? Making his SCCA ProRally debut, seed 6 Johnson started 50th on the road, and finished 19th, the most places gained by any competitor this weekend. Hyundai jumps to an early lead in the Manufacturers Championship with Round 1 overall points at: Hyundai 20, Subaru 15, and Mitsubishi 12. After this traditional early season start, the SCCA ProRally Championship will take a brief hiatus, resuming the action in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Cherokee Trails Rally 15-17 March. An internationally listed FIA event, this new addition to the SCCA ProRally schedule will also feature SCCA ProRally and SCCA ClubRally action, over three days in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee. complete results will be posted on the Sno*Drift website: <http://www.sno-drift.org> royalty free/public domain photography of this event is available at www.rallysport.net/sd01 <http://www.rallysport.net/sd01> The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of America, Inc. ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the SCCA.