Contact: Bill Westhead Tel: 604.707.3305 E-mail: biwes@portal.ca Paul Westwick Tel: 604.682.3296 Organization: WCRA Rally Pacific Motorsports www.rallybc.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: September 25, 2000

CACHE CREEK, BC -- The team of Zbigniew Szewczyk and Piotr Krol of Calgary, Alberta celebrated their first ever overall victory in a performance rally at the Nokian Tyres Pacific Forest Rally in the Arrowstone Hills east of Cache Creek last Saturday.

Despite some mechanical problems, including substantial oil consumption and losing turbo boost, Szewczyk kept his Toyota Celica All-Trac going right to the end of the challenging course. Championship leaders Janusz Komorowski and Tomasz Karzynski led the rally for the first two stages, but slid off the road in the third stage, flattening a tire and losing valuable time. Later, ignition problems with their Mazda 323 GTX forced them to retire during the second service break.

Faulty ignition systems also plagued two other teams: Peter Hill and Barry Gurnsey lost ten minutes in the first stage, but managed to make a road-side repair; and the Toyota Celica All-Trac of Paul Westwick and Andrew Dobric suffered from deteriorating ignition throughout the day, yet still managed to finish.

Given all the mechanical problems encountered by the complex four wheel drive turbo cars, the simpler two wheel drive cars pushed well up the leader board. Martin Wilson and Bill Westhead of Vancouver, BC set the fastest times on four of the last five stages, in bringing their 1980 Canadian Championship winning Toyota Corolla home to a commanding second place, only 36 seconds out of first place.

This sort of event wouldn't be possible without the support of its corporate sponsors, Nokian Tyres, Specialty Subaru and Wilkinson's Automobilia. All of the teams, officials, volunteers and out-of-town spectators appreciated the warm welcome in Cache Creek, especially from the Desert Motel and the Wander Inn.

Next, the Western Canadian Rally Championship concludes with the Kananaskis Rally, November 25, in Bragg Creek, Alberta.

 Pos Driver/Co-driver                   Hometowns              Car                Time
  1  Zbigniew Szewczyk/Piotr Krol       Calgary AB             Toyota Celica AT   1:42:22
  2  Martin Wilson/Bill Westhead        Vancouver BC           Toyota Corolla     1:42:58 
  3  Mark Ward/Ken Kwong                Delta BC               Datsun PL510       1:46:14 
  4  Paul Westwick/Andrew Dobric        Vancouver/N. Vancouver Toyota Celica AT   1:47:09
  5  Maciej Ogrocki/Mike Nicols         Calgary AB             Honda Civic        1:47:28 
  6  Fred Wiedemann/Shelley Donaldson   Surrey BC              Suzuki Swift       1:52:24
  7  Peter Hill/Barry Gurnsey           Calgary AB             Toyota Corolla     1:56:51
  8  Christian Chia/Shim Ching          Vancouver BC           Toyota Corolla GTS 2:03:39
 DNF Janusz Komorowski/Tomasz Karzynski Calgary AB             Mazda 323 GTX      Ignition
 DNF Piotr Kadlubowski/Penny Zuk        Calgary AB             Eagle Talon TSi    Radiator
 DNF Bud Stanley/Matt Southcott         Maple Ridge/           Toyota MR2         Roll-over
                                        Port Coquitlam

Detailed Results including stage times: www.rallybc.com/html/pfr_results.html

Sponsored by:
Nokian Tyres www.nokiantyres.com
Specialty Subaru www.specialtysubaru.com
Wilkinson's Automobilia www.wilkinsonsauto.com

Overall Drivers' Championship Positions:

 1 Janusz Komorowski 111 points
 2 Zbigniew Szewczyk  88 points 
 3 Paul Westwick      78 points 
 4 Maciej Ogrocki     75 points