ProRally: Susquehannock Trail Final Results

SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #4 - Susquehannock Trail
Mitsubishi takes 2nd Consecutive Overall Win,
Rally Veteran makes comeback

The 24th consecutive SCCA Susquehannock Trail ProRally came to an exciting conclusion in the early and very chilly (35 degrees F, 1 Celsius) hours of Sunday morning, with the top 10 filled with both familiar and unfamiliar names. Paul Choiniere, the 7-time SCCA Overall Champion, maintaining a commanding lead throughout much of the event fell by the wayside as darkness fell, and Doug Shepard, absent from the Championship for several years, made a strong comeback with a remarkable second place finish. Karl Scheible and Jon Kemp swapped top places for the balance of the night, with Scheible's FIA Group N Lancer Evo V coming out on top and Kemp taking third.

Key Notes:

* The second leg re-seeding brought several surprises, with the most notable being from two New York City based Irish teams. Thomas Lawless started leg 2 in 6th position, after starting the rally earlier in the day in 24th. Besting that was Celsius Donnelly, who restarted in 8th, with an morning start in 36th.

* The #589 entry of Peter Cunningham, the current points leader in the GT category of the Speedvision Cup road racing championship, and PTG/BMW driver in the ALMS series, had the hood up, valve cover off, with TAD Motorsports technicians pulling bits of valve spring out of the head during the afternoon Parc Expose. Regardless, Cunningham was happy to be back in the rally hot seat "I'm having more fun than a barrel full of monkeys" said Peter as he watched the crew re-assemble his engine. While he was down to just three cylinders for the balance of the event, his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI - the first of its generation to be rallied in North America, still made enough power to keep Cunningham in the top 5, finishing 4th overall.

* Eric Comas continued his learning curve with trees, this time giving an oak a nudge with the left side of the car. (the right side was the recipient in SS4) even though the tap was not hard, Comas' Evo wound up high on a berm, putting all four tires in the air. Mechanically, the car was fine, but having to wait for a tug off the berm at the end of the stage caused the team to be time-barred from finishing.

* Paul Choinere and Jeff Becker were enjoying a nearly three-minute lead over Doug Shepard through SS8, began experiencing gear selector problems in SS9 and retired the car at the start of SS10 when he was unable to find any gear at all. This left the last remaining Hyundai, a third Tiburon on its maiden rally voyage, to carry the companies banner for Championship points. A production class Tiburon, the car was driven by Andy Bornhop, a motorsports editor for Road & Track magazine.

* Thomas Lawless' brilliant run lasted through SS10, when, running 5th overall, he drifted his Mitsubishi Eclipse over a tree stump and nearly removed the rear axle from the car, ending his evening.

* Peter Lahm, driving the #10 RallySport magazine 95 Lancer Evo IV, and maintaining a solid top 10 pace all day, rolled the car in SS9, coming to rest on its roof. Fans nearby got the car righted again, and the car could have continued on. Unfortunately, both tires on the side that rolled blew out, and Lahm carried only one spare, bringing to an end what could have been an excellent finish.

* Henry Krolikowski's first ProRally event with his Subaru WRX-Sti was an eye opener, both for him and fans alike, who saw the ex-ProDrive car for the first time in this country. Finishing a respectable 12th overall, and 2nd in Group N, the team chose to pace themselves from the beginning, learning the car's prodigious capabilities and, as any experienced finisher at STPR knows, keeping his speeds lower than some to ensure a finish.

* The strong finish by Mitsubishi, Hyundai's lucky entry of three cars instead of the usual two, and the growing field of Subarus brings the Manufacturer's Championship into a virtual 3-way tie heading to the season mid-point event at Maine Forest in July.

* Scheible's win now places him in a substantial overall lead in the Driver's Championship, with a 22 point advantage over Paul Choinere, and 29 points over Noel Lawler, the 1999 Series Champion.

Quote:

Karl Scheible: "Can you believe it! The Lancer ran perfectly all day, never missing a beat. We really didn't go into this event looking for an overall. With an 8-car Group N field, my focus was on being first there, but a shot at the overall really came into view by SS9. We drove like crazy, and the car kept delivering the goods.

SCCA Susquehannock Trail ProRally Championship Round #4 04 June, 2000 Unofficial Finishing Order st Fin Car Seed Class Driver Co-driver year Car Time (Hr:Mn.sec) 10 1 61 1 FIA-N Karl Scheible Russ Hughes 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V 2:16.35 5 2 52 1 Open Doug Shepherd Peter Gladysz 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:18.44 4 3 3 1 Open Jon Kemp Gail McGuire 84 Audi 4000 quattro 2:19.59 11 4 589 2 Open Peter Cunningham Jim Gill 99 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 2:19.97 36 5 168 4 PGT Celsius Donnelly Kevin Mitchell 90 Eagle Talon 2:21.65 12 6 5 1 Gr 5 Ralph Kosmides Ken Cassidy 96 Toyota Supra 2:22.32 15 7 71 2 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt Tom Tighe 97 Honda Civic 2:22.62 22 8 175 3 Open Alex Erisoty Ben Greisler 89 Audi 90 quattro 2:24.05 17 9 83 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 Dodge Omni turbo 2:24.61 16 10 63 2 Gr 5 Tad Ohtake Bob Martin 98 Ford Escort ZX2 2:24.81 39 11 73 4 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic 2:24.97 8 12 6 1 FIA-N Henry Krolikowski Cindy Krolikowski 95 Subaru WRXSTI 2:25.14 26 13 188 3 Gr 5 Andrew Havas Scott Slingerland 79 Mazda RX-7 2:28.04 19 14 108 2 Gr 2 Gerald Sweet Stuart Spark 78 Saab 99 EMS 2:28.67 21 15 64 3 Open Sylvester Stepniewski Adam Pelc 87 Audi 4000 quattro 2:29.84 51 16 185 5 Open Jon Bogert Daphne Bogert 88 Toyota Celica 2:30.61 49 17 60 5 Gr 2 John Rahill Vladimir Hladky 85 VW Golf GTI 2:31.12 59 18 992 6 PGT Bruce Perry Phillip Barnes 90 Eagle Talon 2:32.78 50 19 199 5 Gr 2 Michael White Michael Ronan 80 SAAB 99 GLI 2:33.02 43 20 55 4 P Brian Vinson Luke Stuart 88 VW Golf GTI 2:33.46 42 21 76 4 P Ted Mendham Lise Mendham 91 Nissan Sentra 2:33.68 76 22 967 6 P Andrew Bornhop Mark Williams 00 Hyundai Tiburon 2:34.36 38 23 98 4 Gr 2 Bob Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 86 VW Golf 2:34.49 47 24 97 5 PGT Paul Dubinsky Yvon Dubinsky 92 Eagle Talon 2:34.67 66 25 931 6 PGT Donald Kennedy Keith Kennedy 97 Subaru Impreza 2:36.20 23 26 29 3 Open Dean Fry Greg Usavage 90 Subaru Legacy 2:36.31 48 27 109 5 PGT James Frandsen Jeffrey Williams 87 Audi S2 quattro 2:37.07 41 28 987 4 Gr 2 Peter Reilly Phillip Assad 85 VW Golf 2:38.48 62 29 187 6 Gr 5 John Shirley Jim Hurley 79 Triumph TR7-V8 2:39.34 75 30 132 6 P William Tremmell Peter Coleman 86 VW Jetta Gli 2:39.47 56 31 137 5 Gr 2 Phillip Smith Pam Smith 67 MGB-GT 2:39.94 35 32 22 4 PGT Mike Curran Mike Kelly 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:40.10 40 33 65 4 Gr 5 Don Rathgeber Jim Brandt 87 Ford Mustang 2:40.50 13 34 20 2 Open George Plsek Renn Phillips 90 Audi Quattro 90 2:40.63 74 35 941 6 Gr 2 Daniel Cook Bill Rhodes 68 Datsun 510 2:43.79 52 36 70 5 PGT Kendall Russell Diane Sargent 94 Dodge Shadow 2:44.48 64 37 69 6 Gr 2 Charles Sherrill Mark Rea 89 Honda CRX 2:46.30 69 38 112 6 Gr 5 Jens Larsen Robert Barrall 88 Mazda RX7 2:51.54 63 39 186 6 Open Jerry Cuffe John O'Reilly 90 Audi 80 Quattro 2:53.04 61 40 902 6 PGT Marty Allen Peter Watt 88 Mazda 323 GTX 2:53.21 73 41 933 5 P Ksenia Prokofjeva Serguei Grichetchkine 90 VW Golf 3:03.30 54 42 173 5 Gr 2 Patrick Lilly Mark McAllister 91 VW Golf Gti 3:18.85

SCCA® Susquehannock Trail ProRally Championship Round #4 Leg One Retirements Car Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make stage Retirement cause (unofficial) 40 Bruno Kriebich Rod Hendricksen Open 83 Audi Trns>1 Oil pressure 1 Noel Lawler Charles Bradley Open 00 Hyundai SS2 Head gasket (overheating) 126 Arthur Wojcik Charles Cox Open 90 Mitsubishi SS2 Transfer case 129 Scott Kreisler John Bonasera Gr 2 86 Nissan SS2 Accident 84* JB Niday Al Kintigh Gr 2 86 VW SS2 Left front hub 115* Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham FIA-N 97 Mitsubishi SS3 Rear suspension 777 Scott Leonard David Weiman Open 92 Mitsubishi SS3 Engine Overheating 155* Padraig Purcell Patrick McGrath FIA-N 96 Vauxhall SS3 Oil Cooler 567 Steve Nowicki Scott Harvey Jr PGT 90 Eagle SS4 Accident 15 Brad Hawkins Adrian Whintle Gr 2 96 VW SS4 Engine 940 Niall Donnelly Tony Lumino Gr 5 92 Mitsubishi SS4 Transmission 152 Wojciech Hajduczyk Cezary Fidler Open 92 Plymouth SS4 Accident 988 Todd Bourdette Scott Adrienne Gr 5 86 Dodge SS4 Mechanical 167 David Green Michael Wilkerson Open 90 Eagle Trns>serv Head gasket (overheating) 151 Carlos Lopez Steve Rourke Open 90 Eagle Service Suspension damage from SS3

Leg Two Retirements Car Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make stage Retirement cause (unofficial) 973* Pablo Sanfrancisco Steven Reich Gr 2 85 VW SS5 Transmission 166 John Daubenmier Stanley Rosen Gr 5 88 Chevrolet Trns 5>6 Clutch 505* Jon Hamilton Josh Westhaven Gr 2 81 VW SS6 Axle 929* Declan Hegarty Kevin Mullen Gr 2 86 VW SS6 Engine 45 Erik Comas Julian Masters FIA-N 97 Mitsubishi SS7 Stuck on berm, Time-barred 4 Garen Shrader Doc Shrader Open 95 Mitsubishi SS7 Accident 123 Vicente Frontinan Nicholas Pessoa FIA-N 98 Mitsubishi SS7 Accident 43 Carlos Arrieta, Sr Dick Casey Open 84 Audi SS7 Mechanical (withdrawn at service after SS7) 11 Ivan Orisek Olga Orisek Open 84 Audi SS7 Alternator 937 Patrick Farrell James Farrell Open 91 Eagle SS8 Transmission 42 Eric Burmeister Mark Buskirk Gr 2 86 VW SS8 Intake manifold 944 Scott Williams Trisha Williams Gr 2 84 VW SS8 Time barred - mechanical 10 Pete Lahm Matt Chester Open 95 Mitsubishi SS9 Accident 2 Paul Choinere Jeff Becker Open 00 Hyundai SS9 Gear Selector 110 Mark Nelson John Dillon FIA-N 97 Mitsubishi SS9 Clutch 99 Sakis Hadjiminas Brian Maxwell Open 95 Subaru SS10 Accident 180 Chris Havas Eric Tremblay Gr 2 94 VW SS10 Accident 121 Mark Bowers Eric Adams Gr 5 87 Mitsubishi SS10 Accident 78 Scott Naturale Patrick Munhall P 88 VW SS10 Mechanical 565 Russell Hodges Jeff Secor FIA-N 95 Subaru SS10 Suspension 116 Thomas Lawless Brendan Lawless Open 91 Mitsubishi SS10 Rear axle 932 Dmitri Kishkarev Elena Roumaintseva P 90 VW SS11 transmission