| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 3, 2000 |
Contact: Paul Eklund 503-699-0311 ext 134 or 503-624-2139 E-mail: PaulEklund@aol.com Website: www.get-primitive.com |
Prescott, AZ -- The desert performance rally ended with multi-time rally champion Paul Choiniere and co-driver Jeff Becker on top with the Hyundai Tiburon turbo, but the pair were chased closely by Lon Peterson and Bill Gutzman in an Impreza 2.5RS turbo. Lon drove aggressively and pushed the Hyundai team to the finish. Garen Schrader with Michael Fennell brought the Mitsubishi Lancer in for another great third place finish. Brian Hourt had the drive of his life and pushed the supercharged Honda Civic to fourth overall.
Primitive Racing's Paul Eklund and Scott Huhn drove a good race, keeping the Impreza USX in the center of the road and finishing in the fifth overall spot. The team suffered only a minor dust delay, a cracked rim, and a torn CV boot to slow them down. Car preparations by Royal Moore Subaru and the entire Primitive crew proved to be a critical success factor as many teams suffered from failures on the rugged roads. "I was born in Arizona," says driver Eklund, "and it was good to come back for a glorious visit and to do so well near my old stomping grounds." Eklund finished third in Stock Class in the inaugural Prescott Forest Rally in 1985 driving a stock Opel Manta. His roots in rallying go deep.
The team was already on the long road home to Portland, Oregon when they learned that they had been awarded the Carl Merrill Sportsmanship Award at the Sunday morning awards banquet. "The team is honored to receive such an award, and Karen, Justin, Dan and Brianne, along with Scott and all the "Primitives" that have worked so hard to get the team this far, should be very proud," stated Eklund in a long-winded fashion.
Eklund heads to Subaru Academy on Oct 4th to display the dusty USX and to learn more about the new 6-cylinder engine models and dynamic vehicle control.