BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA -- The Hyundai Tiburon of Noel Lawler and Charles Bradley finished second at the Sports Car Club of America's Ojibwe Forests ProRally, to assist Hyundai to its first ever sweep of the top three positions in a major motorsports event. The 1999 SCCA ProPally champions were able to hold off all challenges except from team mates Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker, the rally winners in another Tiburon. A Hyundai Elantra driven by 11-time Pro Rally champion John Buffum, with Mark Williams co-driving, placed third. All three cars were built and maintained by Buffum's Libra Racing shop.

"We had a problem with turbo boost," said Lawler. "It wasn't too bad, but the car was down on power." Despite that, Lawler's stage times were competitive with his Hyundai team mates. He was able to turn fastest time on a couple of stages, but lost a bit of time on some of the longer stages through the Minnesota forests. In the end, Lawler was a minute and forty seconds (1:40) behind Choiniere, but two and a half minutes ahead of Buffum.

Finishing second solidified Lawler and Bradley in 3rd place in the championship points standings with a total of 51. Choiniere/Becker and Scheible/Hughes are now tied for the lead with 85 points each. Holding down fourth place with 39 points is Doug Shepherd, who will not be competing in the two upcoming western events.

Said Bradley, "Finishing second in the past two rallies has helped our morale considerably. We had a rough start to this season with three DNFs in the first four rallies. With only three events left this year, we need some wins to catch Choiniere and Scheible. Of course, some bad luck by either of those teams could easily put us in contention for the championship again."

Lawler and Bradley compete in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) ProRally series in a modified 2000 Hyundai Tiburon sponsored by Cargotec and Snap-On Tools, and prepared by Libra Racing (of South Burlington, Vermont). The next SCCA Pro Rally is the Wild West ProRally in Shelton, Washington, to be held September 15th and 16th, 2000. Lawler and Bradley were the winners of the 1999 Wild West ProRally on their way to the 1999 Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship.

Tim Winker
Phone: 218-348-8366
E-mail: tim@winktimber.com
Web: www.winktimber.com

Noel Lawler
Phone: 770-265-9204