Hoquiam, Washington -- The Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) ClubRally National Championship starts Saturday, March 3 in the historic Washington seaport of Hoquiam. The top three finishers in each of five competition classes from the SCCA’s eight regions were invited to participate in the Championship.

ClubRally features street legal cars, with safety and performance modifications, racing one at a time over closed sections of rural roads. Competitors race against the clock, usually at one-minute intervals. The racing is done on unpaved forest roads that have been closed to normal traffic.

Thirteen cars are set to start in the race for the five class championships. First on the road will be Tacoma’s Eric Eaton and Kenny Almquist, from Graham, WA, in a 1999 open class Subaru Impreza. Eaton and Almquist, the 2000 Doo Wop Rally Series champions will be challenged in the open class by Shelton, WA’s Kevin Pennington and Janice Damitio in an Audi Quattro.

A Montesano, WA housewife, Damitio will be looking to accomplish an unusual “double.” She won the National crown in 1995 and 1996 as a driver. Now she’s after a co-driving title to match.

The Production GT class features a four-car north/south battle, with Roger Hull from Prescott, AZ and Sean Gallagher, from Santa Ana, CA listed as the favorites in their Mitsubishi Eclipse. Another Arizona team features Peoria’s Keith Roper and Prescott’s Mike Taylor in a Mitsubishi Galant. The Eagle Talon of Greg Lingelbach, Fairview, OR and Steve Andrews, Battle Ground, WA, and the Mazda 323 of Mark Tabor, Bend, OR and Kevin Poirier, Rainier, OR will represent the north.

The brothers Hintz, Dave and Rick, lead the chase for the Group Five title. Olympia, WA’s Dave and Santa Ana, CA’s Rick pilot a Mazda RX-7 turbo. They’ll be challenged by Seattle’s Joe Noyes and Dr. Dave White from Benicia, CA in a Toyota Supra.

Group two features a four-car battle, headed by San Francisco’s Jay Streets and Bill Feyling from Pacifica, CA in a Toyota Corolla. Nate Tennis and Nate Pettit from Carnation, WA bring their Saab to the party, while Nat Stow, Duvall, WA, and Aaron Montgomery, Redmond, WA will drive a Volkswagen Golf. Another Corolla will be piloted by Matt Tabor, West Linn, OR, and Catherine Roso, Portland, OR.

Rally newcomers Andy Jacobs and Scott Morgan, from Bellevue, WA, snared enough points to qualify their Honda Civic, and they’ll be the only entry in the Production class.

The ClubRally Championship is run concurrently with the Doo Wop Rally Series. 39 cars will challenge the Doo Wop’s rocks and rolls.

On Saturday, the teams will start from Hoquiam and tackle three new stages in the Quinault Indian Nation on Washington’s scenic coastline. On Sunday, the scene shifts to Montesano for two stages in the City’s Forest above Lake Sylvia, then it’s on to four stages in the hills of Southwest Washington.

Sunday's stages three and six are run over the famous road to the Brooklyn Tavern, seven miles of gravel that make one of the world's great rally roads. This road flows through the timber between the two historic Washington logging towns of Oakville and Brooklyn. There are many great viewing areas as the cars race up and down hills and along the ridge tops.

Last year, Carl Jardevall and Amity Trowbridge made the fifth fastest run in Doo Wop history and the Nordic Motors Volvo 740 turbo became the first two-wheel drive vehicle to break the seven minute barrier on the Oakville-Brooklyn Road, averaging 61 mph. Jardevall and Trowbridge are back, along with lots of competition.

Spectator information is available online at the Northwest Rally Website http://www.nwr-scca.org/rally/info.html (look for the Doo Wop link) and in person at the Westwood Inn, 910 Simpson Ave in Hoquiam.

The rally starts Saturday at 10AM at the Westwood Inn, and Sunday at 9AM at the Montesano Park and Ride lot, near Highway 12.