Event website: www.rallyracingnews.com/Maine
(compiled with the help of Kurt Spitzner - SCCA)
1. As you have already seen from the posted entry list, 108 cars took the starting flag in downtown Rumford to run the three racing stages scheduled for Friday evening. In order to accommodate the large number of cars entered, the field will transit through stage #1 in order to avoid a traffic jam at the end of what would have been a very crowded turn-around area between #1 and #2. The field will then run stages #2 - #4 tonight, and then six stages on Saturday.
2. This is arguably the largest ProRally field in recent history, with entries more than 100 cars limited to a few old POR or Sunriser events. Because Mead paper owns the forest, and they allow the organizer to set the limit wherever they want, this large field is possible. Other rallies which run on state or Federal government property usually have entry limits.
3. The third place overall P-Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV of Pete Lahm and Matt Chester is not at Maine Forest event. The team was unable to obtain the needed parts to repair the car in time for this event after their shunt in STPR. The team will be back at full chat for Ojibwe in August. While away from the event this weekend, P-Sport, promoter for Rallysport Magazine in the U.S., has launched its website at www.p-sport.com. The site will support U.S. subscriptions to Rallysport Magazine and purchases of KC High Intensity Discharge rally lights and Prodrive Competition Seats
4. The Patrick Richard/Ben Bradley Production GT Subaru Impreza, leading both the Canadian and U.S. Rally series in PGT, is the first DNF of the rally, losing its transmission this morning at the press stage. Richard, who is also fifth overall in the points, had the Laughlin O'Sullivan team tow him across the start line so the Vancouver resident could pick up his two starting points - points that might be important at the end of the year. The team is also running for ClubRally points, and anticipates either a new transmission or parts to arrive tonight in order to take the starting flag for tomorrow's club event.
5. All four Championship manufacturers (Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi) are represented, featuring the hugely successful Hyundai Tiburons and Elantras, 6 Mitsubishi Lancers, and the debut of several new Subaru Imprezas, in both FIA Group N and SCCA specification categories. For those of you who have not kept up with such things, only those manufacturers who have signed up (and paid for) the privilege of participating in the championship are eligible to win.
6. Garen and Floyd "Doc" Shrader's Flash Market sponsored Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV has a new co-driver - Mike Fennell of Jamaica. No stranger to Performance Rally, Fennell was the 1998 Overall Co-Driver Champion with - fellow Jamaican David Summerbell, also in a Lancer Evo. Garen's father "Doc" will be assuming the role of team manager, as the team prepares to make the leap to a full-time national championship effort in 2001. Adding Fennell to the team is "the final key" says Garen, who credits his father with "really helping with the steep learning curve to run with the series leaders."
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SCCA ProRally
Maine Forest Rally, Rumford, Maine
Press Notes - Page Two
July 28, 2000 - 6:00 PM EST
Event website: www.rallyracingnews.com/Maine
7. One of the more unusual entries is that of Heikki Salmen, an FIA World Rally driver from Finland, who is flying in his FIA Gr A Mercedes C200 just for this event. A 25-year veteran of the sport, Salmen is making his US performance rally debut this weekend. Also adding to the international flavor of the event is the late addition of a Russian entry. The Prokofjeva/ Grichetchkine team (last on the road - the 108th starter - late entry not listed on the entry list), driving a VW Golf equipped with Russian rally tires, will be running for Production class honors.
8. Current Canadian performance rally points leader Tom McGeer is making his first SCCA ProRally start of the season, in his championship leading Subaru Impreza WRX. Along for the ride is US rally veteran Mark Williams, who also serves as his co-driver north of the border.
10. The weather, which is always a factor in performance rally, has been exceptionally wet, but the rally weather has turned sunny and hot as the event was flagged off. 80 degrees F and 90 percent humidity was the order of the day at the start, with even high temps predicted for tomorrow. With the large field (translated: long wait times at the start of stages, especially for the leaders), plenty of fluids, driver suits half off around the waist, and even AC with some of the Production cars will be usual behavior on transits and at starts. As far as the cars go, everyone will be watching their water temp gauges.
11. Entrants for this event came from 27 states and the District of Colombia, 3 provinces of Canada, and several overseas countries, making this field one of the most nationally diverse fields ever.
12. Karl Scheibel, currently leading the SCCA ProRally series with his two straight wins at Rim of the World and STPR, is the first to admit that he is not the fastest driver, and his car is not the fastest car on the circuit, but he does boast that he is always around at the finish when other break. With five national points events left, and only 22 points separating him from Paul Choiniere's Hyundai Tiburon, Scheibel knows he will have to keep finishing in the top three to secure a Championship in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV.
13. Although we won't have scores from the first three stages until later in the evening, we have word from the field that the #180 VW Golf of Chris Havas/Eric Tremblay is off the road and out of the event. We'll provide details when we get them.
14. The Bruno Kreibich/Rod Hendricksen 1983 Audi Quattro - looking just as sharp as it did 10 years ago when Bruno and Jeff Becker ran here for the Open class championship at the very first Maine Forest Rally - is the only car with almost 100 years of rally experience inside the car. Now we won't divulge the age of either Rod or Bruno, but suffice it to say they were around when the series started in 1972.