ProRally: Oregon Trail Day One Notes and Results

SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #2 - Oregon Trail
Day One Preliminary Results and Key Notes

With an unexpected but welcome break in the very soggy weather coming just in time for the start, a final tally of 52 cars began the SCCA Oregon Trail ProRally at 2:30 Pacific Time this afternoon.

Key Notes:

* The rally began at the Tillamook Air Museum, which is housed in a relic of a bygone era, a gargantuan blimp hangar from WWII. The grounds around the old airbase were converted into a special RallyCross stage, complete with several mud bath splashes for the plentiful spectators on hand, many of whom lined the course closely, then after a few showers of mud, from just a little further away. The 1.8 mile stage also featured at least three different surface conditions, including the aforementioned mud, Tarmac and Concrete. The same RallyCross is scheduled to be repeated as tomorrow's final stage.

* Among the spectators this weekend is Allesandro Ticozzi, who flew in from Italy to observe the US version of the sport. Ticozzi was Italy's 1997-98 Citroen Saxo Spec Car Rally Champion, and is considering entering several US events, perhaps as soon as Rim of the World next month.

* European and Asian road racing hot shoe Erik Comas is making his performance rally debut a successful one, effectively keeping his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV in the top 10 for much of the first days running.

* Retirements started before the rally even began, the first victim being Ron and Josh Sorem's 87 Subaru RX, with engine electrical problems. Lee Shadbolt failed to debut his new Group A Impreza, but not due to any problems with the car - Lee is very ill with the flu, and simply made the wise decision not to compete in a new and very quick car with less than perfect driver reflexes. Once the rally was underway, Special Stages 2 and 3 were particularly hard on the ClubRally entries, with a total of 15 retirements recorded by the end of SS4. Complete details below.

* 1999 Champion Noel Lawler was having a strong run in his brand new Tiburon until hitting a rock in SS5 causing his first puncture in over a year of competition. Continuing on to the finish, he hit another rock, bending the left front steering knuckle. Regardless, he finished the evenings driving only 18 seconds behind his teammate and overall leader, Paul Choinere.

* 1999 Production class champion Karl Scheible, who moved up to the new FIA Group N category in January, with a thrilling run at Sno*Drift (2nd overall), was having another good run up through stage 5, where, in a high speed section of the course, rolled his Evo V, ending his day. Bill Malik suffered a similar fate on the same stage.

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<pre> SCCA Oregon Trail ProRallysm Championship Round #2 April 15-16, 2000 Day One Preliminary (unofficial) Finishing Order (subject to revision prior to re-start tomorrow)

St Fin Car  Drivers Name     Co-Drivers Name    Class  Year Make        Model    OA elapsed time
2   1   2   Paul Choiniere   Jeff Becker        Open    00  Hyundai     Tiburon         1:23.40
1   2   1   Noel Lawler      Charles Bradley    Open    00  Hyundai     Tiburon         1:23.58
12  3   39  Carl Jardevall   Amity Trowbridge   G5      83  Volvo       740 turbo       1:29.37
4   4   5   Ralph Kosmides   Ken Cassidy        G5      96  Toyota      Supra Turbo     1:29.56
29  5   251 Kevin Pennington Janice Damitio     Open    84  Audi        4000 Quattro    1:30.30
10  6   162 Patrick Richard  Ian McCurdy        PGT     98  Subaru      Impreza 2.5 RS  1:30.34
9   7   366 Erik Comas       Julian Masters     FIA N   98  Mitsubishi  Lancer Evo IV   1:30.47
15  8   260 Eric Eaton       Kenny Almquist     Open    88  Mazda       323GTX          1:31.54
8   9   32  Paul Eklund      Scott Huhn         Open    95  Subaru      Impreza         1:32.09
5   10  89  Dave White       Jimmy Brandt       G2      88  VW          Golf Gti        1:32.44
33  11  245 Carey Wright     Alan Wright        G5      77  Dodge       Colt            1:33.00
21  12  351 Jay Streets      Bill Feyling       G2      85  Toyota      Corolla         1:34.47
7   13  20  George Plsek     Renn Phillips      Open    90  Audi        S2 quattro      1:35.27
20  14  283 Nate Tennis Nate Pettit             G2      79  SAAB        99              1:35.31
17  15  165 Dennis Chizma    Claire Chizma      P       79  Porsche     911             1:35.34
31  16  254 Jack Brodhead    Jim Jump           PGT     91  Eagle       Talon           1:36.40
37  17  206 Peter VanBogart  Matt VanBogart     G5      79  VW          Rabbit          1:36.49
25  18  222 Jon Tabor        Kevin Poirier      P       82  Nissan      Sentra SE-R     1:37.34
30  19  223 Greg Lingelbach  Steve Andrews      PGT     90  Eagle       Talon           1:37.55
19  20  110 Mark Nelson      John Dillon        FIA N   97  Mitsubishi  Lancer Evo IV   1:38.55
35  21  303 Paula Gibeault   Chrissy Beavis     P       92  VW          Jetta           1:39.20
32  22  232 Mark Tabor       Jennifer Dejardin  PGT     89  Mazda       323 GTX         1:40.53
23  23  250 Jeff Call        Brent Dille        G2      00  VW          Golf            1:41.52
24  24  62  Trevor Donison   Eric Schild        P       97  Chrysler    Neon ACR        1:42.15
40  25  271 Matt Tabor       Kristen Tabor      G2      86  Toyota      Corolla GTS     1:43.11
34  26  214 Joe Noyes        Ken Ruiz           G5      93  Toyota      Supra           1:44.27
16  27  98  Robert Nielsen   Brett Corneliusen  G2      87  VW          Golf GTI        1:46.25
22  28  84  J B Niday        Al Kintigh         G2      86  VW          Golf GTI        1:48.35
13  29  25  Gerry Valentini  Lee Sorenson       G5      82  Mazda       RX-7            1:49.28
18  30  132 Robert Burtis    James Burtis       Open    85  Audi        Quattro coupe   1:51.70

SCCA® Oregon Trail ProRallysm Championship Round #2 April 15-16, 2000 Day One Retirements

Car # Drivers Name Class Year Make stage Retirement cause (unofficial) 35 Lee Shadbolt FIA A 97 Subaru DNS Driver illness 261 Ron Sorem PGT 87 Subaru DNS Engine, electrical 208* Martyn Ford G5 81 Alfa SS1 Mechanical, undercarriage 201* Todd Hartman G2 86 VW SS2 Accident 48* Scott Fuller G2 85 VW SS2 Engine 97 Paul Dubinsky GT 92 Eagle SS2 Brakes, accident 275* Nat T-Stow G2 87 VW SS2 Engine 256* Neville Green G5 88 Merkur SS2 Mechanical 255* Andy Sharples Open 89 Subaru SS3 Brakes 274* Ian Drucker Open 89 Toyota SS3 Engine cooling 273* Bayard Osborne Open 88 Mazda SS3 Engine 269* Erik Fischer Open 84 Mitsubishi SS3 Accident 207* Dave Hintz G5 87 Mazda SS4 Accident 188 Andrew Havas G5 79 Mazda SS4 Accident 258* David Schrenk G5 86 SAAB SS4 Engine 299* Michael Leonard G2 79 SAAB SS4 Axle 28 Bill Malik G2 80 Volvo SS5 Accident 288* Gary Cavett Open 85 Subaru SS5 Stuck in ditch 205* Todd Lengacher Open 85 Audi SS5 Unknown 252* Robert Trinder Open 88 Toyota SS5 Unknown 242* R.Scott Koch G5 79 Datsun SS5 Accident 61 Karl Scheible FIA N 98 Mitsubishi SS6 Mechanical - hydraulic 198* John Lane Open 76 Volvo SS7 Suspension 2

*cars marked with * are allowed to restart rally on day two, (if mechanically able) but will not earn ProRally points.