Event website: www.rallyracingnews.com/Maine
20. So many stories - so little time. By now, you have seen the top 25 finishers after stage #7, and there are almost no competitors who are running trouble-free. Let's get right up to date:
--Noel Lawler, the leader after Friday night's stages, almost became the second top five DNF (after the Sprongls) with turbo problems and a dropped valve in the third cylinder. After initially retiring the car, the Libra team decided remove the piston and run the car on three cylinders to try to score some finishing points. Late word says Lawler/Bradley finished stage #8 - the 25- mile stage - with their 3-cylinder Hyundai Tiburon.
--First-place Choiniere/Becker' Hyundai Tiburon and third place McGeer/Williams Subaru Impreza are within 14 seconds of each other as both had good morning runs, but McGeer had a flat tire on stage six and rode it four miles to the end. With fourth place Garen Shrader/Michael Fennell more than two minutes behind the top three (partially because of a spin) in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4, it looks like a 2-car race to the overall win (if Noel cannot keep up with 3 cylinders).
--Karl Scheibel/Russ Hughes lead the Group N class and run fifth overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5, and says that there is no pressure for him to move up in the overall standings as the Group N championship is their goal. But, as the overall winners for the last two events, and the current points leaders, it would sure be nice to be in the top three and maintain a good lead over Choiniere/Becker.
--The Group 5 crowd is having its problems, with the class-leading car of Utecht/Corneliusen in their Dodge Omni turbo maintaining a one minute lead over the Honda Civic of Brian Hourt/Tom Tighe. Hourt is having fuel starvation problems, while Utecht has lost fourth gear and is running rough. Rick Davis/Marc Goldfarb's BMW M 318ti is third, 45 seconds behind. Ralph Kosmides/Ken Cassidy's Toyota Supra, which has a crushed exhaust last night, is running okay today, but is 10 seconds behind Davis.
--The Keith Townsend/Ian McEwan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4, which ran so well last night, hit a huge rock and took out the right rear suspension on stage #6, eliminating them form their top five position.
--Other class leaders include Brendan Cunningham/Paul McClean's Eagle Talon (Production GT), Jon Nichols/Mike Kock VW GTI (Group 2), and Dennis Chizma/Claire Chizma Porsche 911 (Production). In that Production class, Liz Campbell/Karen Houghton had been leading by a wide margin, but a rock cracked the fuel reservoir on stage #7, and although the car was towed it, it was time barred (in 30 minutes after the close of the stage).