| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 2002 |
Contact: Paul Eklund 503-624-2139 E-mail: PaulEklund@aol.com Website: www.get-primitive.com |
The Dryad Quest and Shitepoke ClubRallies were held this weekend in Shelton, WA. The weather was perfect, the roads terrific, and competition hot. Almost 50 teams were entered in the gravel event. Carl Jardevall was again the man to beat in his Lancer EVO4. Also running hard was Leon Styles in the Audi 90 Quattro sporting 22lbs boost and great rally heritage. Paul Eklund lead the Subaru contingent along with Gary Cavett, Lee Shadbolt, Richard Buckner, Andy Sharples and Mika Lepisto. Nate Tennis (Saab 99) and Scott Fuller (VW GTi evo) would duke it out for Group 2 honors while Jay Streets and John Lane both in Volvo's would battle for Group 5. Mark Tabor in a Nissan went up against Jamie Thomas in a Subaru for the Production Class. PGT was a fight between Brian Scott in a Mazda 323GTX and Bob Trinder in a Subaru Impreza.
Day one's Dryad Quest featured the longest stage in SCCA Performance Rallying, a 28-mile extravaganza which set the tone early for the rest of the rally. Primitive's Eklund suffered a left-rear flat at just past the 2/3's mark (which meant over 8 miles left to the finish!) and was forced to change tires costing the team almost 4 minutes. The rim had split due to a hard rock hit and the Silverstone tyre finally gave up the ghost. Jardevall set top time at 28:38 which was over a minute faster than Styles' 29:59.
By day's end, Jardevall would charge to a serious victory, followed by Styles in the Audi, Cavett, Shadbolt and Buckner all in Impreza Turbos. Eklund finished 8th overall after leaving the road on a medium left, late in the rally, and sideswiping a large stump. (in other words -- he crashed). The impact left a crinkle down the entire right side of the car, sheered off the mirror, and bent an aluminum lower control arm. The team was able to back off the logs and motor to the finish. Repairs were effected overnight.
Day two saw cooler weather and hotter competition. Jardevall again jumped to a significant early lead followed by Eklund and Styles hot-on-his-heels. Cavett suffered early transmission failure. By the end of stage 3, Jardevall had a 1:51sec lead over Primitive's Eklund and Styles trailed Eklund by 15 seconds.
Stage 4 was a repeat of the 28-mile stage. Styles blew the motor in the Audi at the 13 mile mark and Jardevall suffered catastrophic electrical system failure at about mile 17. Apparently the main battery cable had rubbed against a metal power steering line until "the electricity leaked out" in one giant arc. Eklund finished the stage with the top time of a 29:34 after easing back just a tad. Whew.
The final stage was an exercise in caution as Primitive drove safely to the finish and won with a 1:35sec margin over Scott Fuller in the ex-Allister McCrae VW. Jay Streets was 3rd, John Lane 4th, and Carey Wright 5th overall. Shadbolt finished 6th overall (ps, his incredibly quick STi powered Impreza is for sale now that he has a new WRX sitting in the driveway (503) 624-6366).
The Northwest Region hosted a pizza party Saturday night and a burger feed on Sunday as part of the awards ceremony. Despite a few incidents like Todd Lengacher doing the stump endo with his Audi, and the fast pace car sliding into a little ditch on a tricky, downhill, off-camber left, most of the DNF's were caused by mechanical failures. Almost every team had a spin or two (or a quick trip through the daisies), but the roads were great, the course marked superbly, and the event ran on time. It should be noted that the total stage miles for both days was more than for any ProRally on the calendar this year, about 135 miles. See complete info and full results including stage times at www.nwr-scca.org.
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For More Information, please visit www.get-primitive.com or call 503-624-2139