Munising, Michigan -- Team YO! Rallysport suffered its first mechanical DNF in 9 events this past weekend at the Maine Forest ProRally, based out of Rumford Maine. The team began the weekend 101st on the road and had moved up to 69th by stage 5 on the second day. The brutal conditions of the roads took their toll on stage 6 when 2 miles before the end of the stage, they lost all gears and coasted to a stop.

"It turns out this was related to an incident we had at Cherokee Trails back in March," said team driver Jerry Brownell. "A repair weld to the unibody failed, leaving one corner of the engine cradle unattached. Two of the three motor mounts go to the transmission, and the shocks from the brutal road conditions cracked the transmission case. That drained out all of the fluid, and becuase our transmission is an automatic, lost all gears immediately. We couldn't even limp it out of the stage."

"It's a disappointing end to a good rally," continued Brownell, "but I feel a lot better going out while running hard than ending our weekend doing something stupid. Despite the failure, our car is really built to handle these roads." The car, a 1983 Chevy Citation X-11, was built by Light Performance Works back in 1988 and is a veteran of nearly 30 rallies across the U.S., Canada, and Jamaica. It is one of the most recognizable and unique cars in the ProRally series.

The team did come away with a 37th place finish (of 76 starters) in the Seven Islands ClubRally on Friday. An unexpected twist was a car fire that started a forest fire on the final stage on Friday. "We were pushing hard Friday night," says co-driver Jim Windsor, "We knew that we could run harder in the rougher Friday stages, and were hoping to advance. Since we were unable to run the last stage, we were assigned a provisional stage time which was probably 2 minutes slower than we could have run it."

Repairs to the car will take place quickly as the team prepares for the Ojibwe Forest ProRally based out of Bemidji, MN on August 17th and 18th. Team YO! is hoping for much better results on the familiar roads of northern Minnesota. "This will be our 4th trip to these woods," says Windsor. "We seem to do quite well there, and are looking for a good, strong finish in August."

The SCCA ProRally/ClubRally series is a "stage" or "performance" rally series that stretches across the nation. It is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America. This form of motorsport is experiencing incredible growth in the United States and is the 2nd most popular spectator sport in Europe. Competitors race flat out against the clock on a course typically made up of forest and logging roads closed to public use. The team is given a route book prior to the start, and the co-driver (or navigator) gives the driver critical instructions at speed. There is no practice and the pair has not even seen the road prior to competition.

To find out more about SCCA ProRally, visit the SCCA website at www.sccaprorally.org. To find out more about the Headwaters ClubRally, visit www.scca-lol.org/rally/headwaters. For information on the Maine Forest ProRally, visit http://maineforestrally.com. Visit the Team YO! Rallysport website at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/teamyo.

Information:
Team YO! Rallysport, 1567 Coit N.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Phone 616-361-2516
E-Mail: jerry@webstratum.com