MEDIA ALERT - SCCA ProRally - Round 10 - Lake Superior

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For immediate release   14 October, 2001

MEDIA ALERT
SCCA ProRally Championship  Round #10 - Lake Superior

DENVER, CO:  Tenth and final round of the 2001 season.  This year's Lake 
Superior event is one of it's largest ever, with well over 80 entries, 
continuing the record breaking entry level trend set at most events in this 
year's season.  A fast, long event, with over 500 total miles in the route, 
this grand tour of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is a demanding test of 
endurance, with the fickle Lake Superior late fall weather nearly always 
playing a significant role in the events outcome.  This performance rally 
event is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and is presented by 
Hyundai and Subaru. 

When & Where:
19-20 October 2001; Houghton and Calumet, MI; approx. 180 miles northeast of 
Duluth, Minnesota.

Headquarters Hotel - Friday/Saturday Press Room; Event and Media registration 
Best Western - Franklin Square, 820 Shelden Ave, Houghton, MI  49931
Hotel Main:  906.487.1700

Complete Event Schedule: (subject to change)
Thursday, 18 October, 2001  
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM   Entrant & Media registration, 7th Floor Franklin Square 
Inn
1:00 PM - 4:30 PM   Scrutineering - ISD Auto Tech Center, Hancock - by appt. 
only
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM   Practice Stage - Houghton County Airport
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM   Worker Registration & Reception - 7th floor Franklin 
Square Inn
    
Friday, 19 October, 2001    
8:00 AM - 12:00 Noon    Entrant & Media registration - 7th Floor - Franklin 
Square Inn
8:00 AM - 12:00 Noon    Scrutineering - all entrants - ISD Auto Tech Center, 
Hancock
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM   Parc Expose - Sharon/Huron Center, Houghton
2:01PM  Start of Lake Superior SCCA ProRally Leg One - Sharon/Huron Ctr 
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM  Press operations at Kenton Service
1:00 AM Press Room open - Franklin Square Inn
2:00 AM (approximate)   First car arrival - Finish of Leg One - Houghton
3:00 AM (approximate)   Press room closes
    
Saturday, 20 October, 2001  
11:30AM - 12:15 AM  Parc Expose -  Sharon/Huron Center, Houghton
10:31 AM    Start of Lake Superior SCCA ProRally Leg Two - Sharon/Huron Ctr
6:00 PM (approximate)   First car arrival - Finish of Leg two - Houghton 
8:30 PM - 9:30 PM   Reception - Franklin Square Inn
10:00 PM    LSPR Event Awards Ceremony - 7th Floor - Franklin Square Inn
    
Sunday, 21 October, 2001    
9:00 AM - 11:00AM   SCCA ProRally Year-End Awards Brunch - 7th Floor - 
Franklin Square 

Press Credentials & Operations:
Event Press/Photo credentials will be available at registration on Thursday 
and Friday only.  Access to press-only photo areas will require a press pass. 
 Credentials are available only to members of the working press.  
Identification and/or work assignment required.  Press access to the Sunday 
Awards Brunch will be extremely limited.  Please inquire.  Due to the large 
scale of this event, press operations will be primarily at the service areas 
on Friday evening and Saturday.  Only limited information will be available 
at the Press Room during event operations.

Thursday Practice/Shakedown Stage:
Thursday's afternoon Practice Stage is open to registered members of the 
working press and VIP's directly related to the teams that are participating. 
 For members of the press that will be covering this stage only, and will not 
be in attendance for the Friday/Saturday event, Event Press Credentials are 
not required - however, a waiver and release signing will be required at the 
Press Stage.  Cars participating in this stage will be operating at rally 
speeds, therefore, there will not be rides available.  This is a "working" 
hot stage - not a press stage or spectator stage.  

Visuals, Interviews & Media information:
During the event, action photography will be possible from spectator and 
select press-only viewing areas along the rally course.  Drivers, co-drivers 
and crew will be accessible throughout the event, including the Friday 
afternoon and Saturday morning Parc Exposes.  Media relations will be able to 
provide driver and co-driver interviews, event results and other information 
via telephone and Email.  

Event Rank:
This rally is a full-points SCCA ProRally Championship event.  Drivers earn 
points towards the national championship, and supporting manufacturers 
(Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru and Mitsubishi) earn points towards overall and class 
Manufacturers' Championships.

Contact:    Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Director
                    Pre-event:  303.967.9660 (country Code: 1) - Mobile at 
event:  303.204.0375
                direct inquiry Email: kspitzner@scca.org
Press Room:  18-20 October only.  Call the Hotel and ask for Press Room. 
(room 625) 
                    Time zone at event: Eastern Time (GMT - 6 hours)
·   SCCA ProRally: www.sccaprorally.org/
·   SCCA Lake Superior ProRally: www.LSprorally.com/

Selected Entries, News:

Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker; SCCA Open Class 2000 Hyundai Tiburon - The 
reigning 2000 Driver and Co-Driver champions will be saying goodbye to their 
titles this year - but they wont be doing it quietly.  While the Overall 
Drivers Championship was decided at Prescott Forest, the Libra Racing duo is 
actually in a curious position of "helping" Subaru Rally Team USA this coming 
weekend.  To win the overall MFG Championship, Subaru must at least finish a 
car - or Hyundai must finish ahead of the leading Mitsubishi. 

Richard Tuthill - the independent from the UK that has won two of the four 
SCCA ProRally events entered this year in his privately funded Mitsubishi, 
will instead be adding to Mitsubishi's worries this weekend, piloting Noel 
Lawlers' Hyundai Tiburon.  Tuthill, in only his fifth event of the year, is 
in a position to not just share in the event's champagne, but also has a 
mathematical shot at 3rd place overall for the year.  Neither Choiniere nor 
Lawler, due to just plain hard luck, are in that position, so Tuthill has 
been brought in to help insure that a Hyundai is on the year-ending Podium.

Local favorites Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick return to LSPR with a 
steadily improving season behind them.  The bugs finally worked out of their 
uniquely engineered Knight Racing Subaru, (the three car team is the only one 
in the world to rally Subaru's with custom built manual valve body automatic 
transmissions) Gingras has had several top ten charges late this season, and 
will be one to watch as he competes on his home turf.

As was the case last year, the Group 2 Championship is down to the wire.  
Class leader David White is hoping that he has a strong enough margin coming 
off his win at Prescott Forest to be able to sit out this round and take the 
trophy - but should the 2nd place challenger, Jon Hamilton, wins the class 
this weekend, he could take the year-end trophy by a single point.  Eric 
Burmeister, who has 3rd place year-end points sewn-up going into this event, 
could be the big spoiler if he finishes his Mazda Protégé MP3 ahead of 
Hamilton's vintage Rabbit.

The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of 
America, Inc.  ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the 
SCCA.

The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Hyundai and Subaru