Lake Oswego, OREGON -- The Wild West ProRally was held in Shelton, WA this weekend with almost 70 cars starting the 150 mile long event. Seamus Burke in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO finished on the podium for the 8th consecutive time this season with a 2nd overall! A huge feat and worthy of additional praise in light of mounting factory efforts on both sides of the ocean. Ramana Lagemann showed his continuing improvement by finishing 3rd overall in his Group N Subaru Impreza. He posted an incredible time on Stage 3 and won the 8 mile stage outright. The winner was the ever-pleasant Richard Tuttle driving an very purpose-built Lancer EVO. Tuttle came from behind on day two and was aided by both Choiniere's Hyundai and Lovell's Subaru retirements due to mechanical failures on the rough roads.

Karl Scheible drove a steady rally in the Group N Subaru WRX and finished fourth. His car only suffering some scuffs and dents from an apparent spin. New-comer Nat Stow finished 5th overall in a PGT WRX only one second ahead of Primitive Racing's Paul Eklund in the Subaru Impreza. The two had an incredibly tight battle for the entire race with only 15 seconds ever separating the two NorthWest region cars. Eklund started day two in the lead, but Stow steadily reeled him in with a strong run, gaining a few seconds each stage.

The roads were indeed suberb, with changing conditions and lengths making the rally incredibly diverse. On one long straight, top rally cars were clocked by radar at a reported 133 MPH! Primitive Racing's spedometer on the USX registered 120MPH but the radar gun reported 121MPH on that same stretch.

The Silverstone tires run by Primitive held up well for the event and were the same exact tires run for all of day 2 at the Ojibwe Forest Rally. "We even ran the first part of the second day at Wild West on the same tires we ran at Ojibwe," said team captain Eklund, "including the 28 mile long stage on those same tires before putting on some fresh tires for the rest of Wild West--no flats whatsoever this season on our Silverstones tires on our DMS suspension with 3 top finishes."

The team celebrated the 3rd consecutive top ten finish at Wild West (3rd in 1999 and 5th in 2000) with a splash of champgne and big smiles. They took 3rd in Open Class and some needed driver's championship points.

Driver Eklund, now leaves for one month in Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,300 feet) and get some needed rest. The team will skip their beloved Prescott Forest Rally (Paul is an Arizona native) and may attend the season finale in Michigan if sponsorship negotiations materialize.

The team is preparing a 2002 WRX for Group N or Open competion, but will keep the USX as a backup car or leave it on the East Coast to be able to attend those events which the travel budget has forced them to miss in the past.

For more information on the team, check www.get-primitive.com or visit: http://www.writerguy.com/primitive/cv/resume.htm

Primitive's Proud Sponsors:
Royal Moore Subaru: www.royalmoore.com
T-Scandia Motors: www.t-scandiamotors.com
Drummond Motor Sports (DMS) www.dmshocks.com
R&R Racefab of Aloha, OR
Pantera Specialists of Santa Barbara, CA
Schneider's Race Cams of San Diego, CA
Taylor Made Labels of Lake Oswego, OR

Or simply email: PaulEklund@aol.com

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