ProRally: Oregon Trail Start Order and Late News

A field of 52 cars from across the US and Canada have converged on the coastal hamlet of Tillamook, Oregon for round #2 of the SCCA ProRally Championship. All four Championship manufacturers (Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi) are represented, with all but one debuting cars new to the series. The two-day performance rally, held primarily on gravel logging trails along the northwestern shoreline of Oregon, starts Saturday.

Selected late entries, news (driver/co-driver):

1999 Production Class Driver Champion Karl Scheilble & co-driver Russ Hughes; FIA Group N Class 1998 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V

After an exciting debut run at Sno*Drift in January, where Karl nearly captured the overall win Karl was going to sit out this event and run Rim of the World in May. However, with Mitsubishi's entry last week into the SCCA ProRally Manufacturers Championship, the Vermont Sports Car team is here to make up manufacturer points it couldn't earn in January.

2000 Alcan Winter Rally overall winner Paul Eklund & co-driver Scott Huhn; SCCA Open Class 1995 Subaru Impreza

Paul crashed hard at the finish of last months Doowop ClubRally in Washington, and had to replace the entire front clip of his Impreza. Re-assembly of the car was completed last night, so there will be no time to test this very fast car prior to the start.

* In addition to the new car debuts, tire selection will be one of the weekend's top stories. While Michelin remains the tire brand of choice with many entrants, the Oregon Trail entry list has a broad variety of rally tire brands in use - the largest array seen at any ProRally in years. Among the top brands are Pirelli, which carried 1999 overall driver champion Noel Lawler to victory, with 5 entries, and Malaysian upstart Silverstone, in its second season in the US, with 11 entries, the company's largest single ProRally turnout ever. With every stage in the rally completely new and un-driven by any rally team, this weekend is seen as a genuine litmus test for the brand.

* The rally starts at the Tillamook Blimp Hangar - a World War II era structure of enormous dimensions - and a well-known landmark in this area. The start features two special treats for the fans - a one and a half hour "Parc Expose" - with all the drivers and cars in attendance for autographs, interviews and photos. At the 2:30 start, each car will negotiate a special RallyCross stage on the hangar grounds - giving everyone a chance to see the cars in action up close. The rally ends on Sunday at the hangar as well - with the final RallyCross stage also on the Hangar grounds.

* Comprehensive spectator information is now available on the Oregon Trail Rally website.

* Weather: Conditions in the Tillamook area are predicted to be seasonably cool, with daytime temperatures in the mid 50's (11 C), dropping to the 40's at night (7 C). Probability of precipitation is about 60%, with the potential for nighttime snow flurries in the higher elevations.

* Time zone at-event: Pacific Daylight Time (GMT - 8 hours)

* Websites: SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/ SCCA Oregon Trail ProRally: http://www.oregonrally.com/ortrail/index.html

Information regarding this list:

Start order in which cars will leave at the start of the event

Car # number on vehicle.

* Cars numbered under 200 are ProRally entries.

* Cars over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, or rookie Pro entries.

* Class Open, FIA group A & group N - are fastest cars with considerable modifications

P & PGT are regular production cars very near to showroom stock configuration.

G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive lower HP cars

SCCA® Oregon Trail ProRally Championship Round #2 April 15-16, 2000

Tentative Start Order (seeded draw, subject to revision prior to start)

Start Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make Model Driver Hometown

<pre> 1 1 Noel Lawler Charles Bradley Open 00 Hyundai Tiburon Atlanta, GA 2 2 Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker Open 00 Hyundai Tiburon Shelburne, VT 3 61 Karl Scheible Russ Hughes FIA N 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Spencerport, NY 4 5 Ralph Kosmides Ken Cassidy G5 96 Toyota Supra Turbo Newport Beach, CA 5 89 Dave White Jimmy Brandt G2 88 VW Golf Gti Benicia, CA 6 28 Bill Malik Christian Edstrom G2 80 Volvo 240 Burbank, CA 7 20 George Plsek Renn Phillips Open 90 Audi S2 quattro Del Mar, CA 8 32 Paul Eklund Scott Huhn Open 95 Subaru Impreza Tigard, OR 9 35 Lee Shadbolt Bob Sherman FIA A 97 Subaru Impreza Tigard, OR 10 366 Erik Comas Julian Masters FIA N 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV Santa Barbara, CA 11 162 Patrick Richard Ian McCurdy PGT 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS Vancouver, BC 12 198 John Lane Ray Damitio Open 76 Volvo 262 turbo Issaquah, WA 13 188 Andrew Havas Eric Tremblay G5 79 Mazda RX-7 Chapel Hill, NC 14 39 Carl Jardevall Amity Trowbridge G5 83 Volvo 740 turbo Half Moon Bay, CA 15 25 Gerry Valentini Lee Sorenson G5 82 Mazda RX-7 Sacramento, CA 16 201 Todd Hartmann Shawn Callahan G2 86 VW Golf Gti Seattle, WA 17 260 Eric Eaton Kenny Almquist Open 88 Mazda 323GTX Tacoma, WA 18 98 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen G2 87 VW Golf GTI St. Paul, MN 19 48 Scott Fuller Ole Holter G2 85 VW Golf Gti Veneta, OR 20 165 Dennis Chizma Claire Chizma P 79 Porsche 911 Seattle, WA 21 97 Paul Dubinsky TBA PGT 92 Eagle Talon Fort Mill, SC 22 132 Robert Burtis James Burtis Open 85 Audi Quattro Indian Hills, CO 23 110 Mark Nelson John Dillon FIA N 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV Incline Village, NV 24 283 Nate Tennis Nate Pettit G2 79 SAAB 99 Carnation, WA 25 351 Jay Streets Bill Feyling G2 85 Toyota Corolla San Francisco, CA 26 84 J B Niday Al Kintigh G2 86 VW Golf GTI Richfield, MN 27 TBA Nat Stow Aaron Montgomery G2 87 VW Golf Gti Duvall, WA 28 250 Jeff Call Brent Dille G2 00 VW Golf Redmond, WA 29 62 Trevor Donison Eric Schild P 97 Chrysler Neon ACR Vancouver, WA 30 222 Jon Tabor Kevin Poirier P 82 Nissan Sentra SE-R West Linn, OR 31 207 Dave Hintz Doug Chase G5 87 Mazda RX-7 Olympia, WA 32 272 Robert Reaves Tammy Reaves G5 72 Mazda RX-3 North Bend, WA 33 205 Todd Lengacher Tina Lengacher Open 85 Audi 4000 quattro Beaverton, OR 34 252 Robert Trinder Andy White Open 88 Toyota Celica Vancouver, BC 35 251 Kevin Pennington Janice Damitio Open 84 Audi 4000 Quattro Shelton, WA 36 223 Greg Linelbach Steve Andrews PGT 90 Eagle Talon Portland, OR 37 254 Jack Brodhead Jim Jump PGT 91 Eagle Talon Elma, WA 38 232 Mark Tabor Jennifer Dejardin PGT 89 Mazda 323 GTX West Linn, OR 39 245 Carey Wright Alan Wright G5 77 Dodge Colt Snoqualmie, WA 40 258 David Schrenk Chad Little G5 86 SAAB 900 Lynnwood, WA 41 214 Joe Noyes Ken Ruiz G5 93 Toyota Supra Seattle, WA 42 TBA Martyn Ford Don Swier G5 81 Alfa Romeo GTV-6 Corbett, OR 43 299 Michael Leonard Leon Owens G2 79 SAAB 99 Bothell, WA 44 303 Paula Gibeault Chrissy Beavis P 92 VW Jetta Ridgecrest, CA 45 288 Gary Cavett Mika Lepisto Open 85 Subaru RX Warrenton, OR 46 TBA Ian Drucker Gary Bockman Open 89 Toyota Corolla AWD Beaverton, OR 47 261 Ron Sorem Josh Sorem PGT 87 Subaru RX Coupe Renton, WA 48 206 Peter VanBogart Matt VanBogart G5 79 VW Rabbit Snoqualmie, WA 49 242 R. Scott Koch TBA G5 79 Datsun 210 Seattle, WA 50 269 Erik Fischer Brad Kohut G5 84 Mitsubishi Starion Havre, MT 51 271 Matt Tabor TBA G2 86 Toyota Corolla GTS West Linn, OR