Portland, OR -- Driver Lee Shadbolt and co-driver Clarie Chizma took second place in the Production GT (PGT) class at the Doo Wops ProRally. Scored as a 60% points event and sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), it was the second event of the 1999 Michelin/SCCA ProRally Championship.

The Michelin/SCCA ProRally Championship is a rapidly growing race series which features street licensed cars and trucks that compete on closed sections of road. Road surfaces vary from paved to gravel and may include occassional mud, sand, or snow. The rally team does not pre-run the course, but depends entirely on a route book supplied by the event organizers. The co-driver's responsibility is to provide instructions to safely navigate the roads while the driver is to execute those instructions in the shortest possible time.

The event took place on forest roads near Olympia, Washington, and consisted of ten stages. The Hairpin Racing team improved their stage times throughout the event, but trailed the PGT team of Gail Truess and Patti Hughes from the beginning. Saturday, March 13, offered a considerable amount of rain with a series of stages involving hillclimbs on narrow gravel roads. Competition for that day ended before dark. The Hairpin Racing Subaru Impreza performed flawlessly and required no overnight repairs.

Sunday's competition involved four stages under clouded skies. Hundreds of spectators were present to catch a glimpse of the rally cars as they negotiated acute turns and fast blind crests. The event concluded with the Brooklyn Tavern stage which was a turn around stage where all of the 32 rally cars ran it in one direction and then repeated it in the opposite direction. This popular stage featured technically challenging corners along with straights where rally cars exceeded 100 mph. The event was won outright by the Open class team of Lauchlin O'Sullivan and Farina O'Sullivan in an Audi Quattro and Group 5 honors went to the team of Carl Jardevall and John Elkin who finished third overall in a Volvo 740.

Hairpin Racing plans to compete in four more Michelin/SCCA ProRally events and two events organized by the Canadian Association of Rallysport.

For further information on Hairpin Racing, please contact team manager Tamara Shadbolt at (503) 624-6366.