RALLY: St. Louis Region report on CRNC event

Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick Overall Winners of the Sports Car Club of America's 2003 ClubRally National Championship.

Salem, MO -- Steve Gingras of Elk River, MN, and Bill Westrick of Royal Oak, MI, teamed up to win the overall and Open Class of the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) 2003 ClubRally National Championships (CRNC) headquartered in Salem, MO this past weekend in a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX. Their margin of victory was 46 seconds over Piotr Wiktorczyk of Chicago, IL and Mark McAllister of Woodside, NY also in a 2002 Subaru WRX. This was ClubRally's "World Series of Performance Rallying", which is the original extreme sport.

The team of Dennis Martin of Green Bay, WI, and Alan Perry of Bainbridge Island, WA, were overall winners in both individual events comprising the CRNC, Trespassers Wil on Friday and the 100 Acre Wood on Saturday. However, they were ineligible to run for the CRNC in their Open Class car, a 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV. They completed the six special stages (29 plus miles) of Trespassers Wil in a time of 33 minutes and 26 seconds, 23 seconds faster than the Gingras/Westrick team. Saturday's 100 Acre Wood saw Martin/Bainbridge complete seven special stages (67 plus miles) in 1 hour, 2 minutes, and 37 seconds, or 13 seconds quicker than Wiktorczyk and McAllister. These were the first two overall rally wins of their careers and the first two events they ran together as a team. Martin's normal co-driver was the event chairman, Kim DeMotte.

Third overall in the CRNC and first in the Production GT Class were Todd Moberly of Pueblo West, CO, and his father, Ray, of Colorado Springs, CO in a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX, posting class wins in both events. They beat another 2002 Subaru WRX driven by Patrick Moro of Dublin, OH, and Mark Adkins of Hilliard, OH by 3 minutes and 6 seconds.

Fourth overall in the CRNC and first in the Group 5 Class were Mike Hurst of Indianapolis, IN, and Rob Bohn of Noblesville, IN, sweeping both days' events in a 1993 Ford Mustang. This was their third consecutive Group 5 CRNC win. They had an impressive 8 minute and 33 seconds class win over Doug Jenkins of St. Louis, MO and Brian Schwantner of Cedar Hill, MO in their 1972 Chevrolet Corvette.

Finishing sixth overall in the CRNC and first in Group 2 were Brian Scott of Cave Creek, AZ and David Hackett of Reno, NV. They finished third on Friday and with a rollover suffered by Friday winners Steve Perret of Bellingham, WA and Kathryn Hansen of Friday Harbor, WA in Saturday's 100 Acre Wood were able to vault into the CRNC win. Perret and Hansen were in a 1990 Honda Civic and neither were injured, but were unable to continue due to the damage the car suffered. Scott/Hackett beat the Soddy Daisy, TN team of Randy Bailey and Will Perry in a 2002 Ford Focus SVT.

The husband and wife team of Jim and Kaari Cox, of Hamel, MN won the Production Class championship and both individual events in a 1989 Chevrolet S10 pickup. They won by the narrowest of margins, defeating Wojtek Okula of Stamford, CT and Adam Pelc in a 2003 Misubishi Lancer LS by a scant 10 seconds.

-slr-