Event website: www.rallyracingnews.com/Maine
21. From John Dillon on what happened to Mark Nelson/John Dillon Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV: We were on the third stage (Fri.) at around mile 2.75 when we suddenly came up on a huge exhaust system (from Mike White's Saab) in the middle of the road. We had no time to avoid it so we drove over it. It tore up the right front suspension, ripping the axle joints right out of the tranny and breaking a ball joint. My luggage had not arrived so my driving suit was missing. Fortunately Ralph Kosmides carries a spare suit so I borrowed his for the weekend. Thanks, Ralph! My travel delays have continued. Weather caused problems getting into Portland, and mechanical failure has cancelled my flight this afternoon so I'm staying the night at a hotel courtesy of NWA. Sigh.... I should have stayed in Rumford!
22. There were two protests filed at the end of the event, and both were upheld by the protest committee. The first, against the Noel Lawler/Charles Bradley Hyundai for checking in early to an MTC, a one minute penalty which did not affect the outcome of the results. The other, which did affect the results greatly, was filed against the Subaru team of second-place finishers Tom McGeer/Mark Williams for servicing in a control zone. This carried a ten-minute penalty, pushing McGeer back to 12th place and annoying most of the competitors for its nuisance value. McGeer has appealed the ruling to the national office's court of appeals, an action that takes a month or more to resolve.
23. More Dillon: We passed Lauchlin O'Sullivan/Paula Gibeault on stage 3 (Friday might). Their car was buried in a hole or ditch on the left side a mile or two into the stage. On the same stage at mile 2.75 we ran over an exhaust system that someone left behind--net result was the right front suspension components were ripped apart and we were done, stuck in the middle of the road.
24. Enough is too much. John Dillon, while posting useful press notes for our use, backslid a bit with the following note:
"One of the Production cars, I forget who, but a 900 number driven by an Irishman and with a female co-driver, rolled the car a couple of times. The car looked bad to me, but I heard they're looking for replacement glass."
25. The final street stage downtown - only a 35-second run - provided excite- ment for the more than 1,500 people in attendence including a Paul Choiniere bent rim after nicking the curb, Nick Robinson's assult on the Dunkin' Donuts drive-up booth, and Jay Street's bonsai backwards run across the timing line.
26. The Production class title was decided by the narrowest of margins, with the Ted Mendham/Lise Mendham Nissan Sentra SE-R edging the Dennis Chizma/Claire Chizma Porsche 911 by just nine seconds. The Chizmas, who lead most of the day after Liz Campbell/Karen Houghton VW GTI retired with leaking fuel, stopped to pull fellow Californian Jay Street out of the weeds on stage #9 and lost a minute to the field.