SCCA ProRally - Start Order & Late News - Lake Superior
18 OCTOBER, 2001 START ORDER & LATE BREAKING NEWS SCCA ProRally Championship Round #10 - Lake Superior HOUGHTON, MI: Final round of the 2001 season. Yet another record-breaking entry list highlights the conclusion of the 2001 SCCA ProRally Championship season at America's "Oldest, Toughest, Meanest" rally. The event starts tomorrow afternoon from this mining and college town located in the center of the Keweenaw Peninsula - a long finger of land that juts into the largest, frigidly cold fresh-water lake in North America. The weather forecast is typical for this time of year in northern Michigan, and is one of that factors that ensures the "meanest" part of the rally's slogan - temperatures barely in the 40's with constant winds and a high-humidity induced wind chill factor ensuring rattling teeth from more than just the rough roads. Selected Entries and Additional News: · With many of the year-end championships already decided, this year's starting order has several driver swaps and guest appearances, including performance rally stars from Canada and the UK. Subaru Rally Team Canada drivers Tom McGeer and Patrick Richard have crossed the border to mix it up with their counterparts on the US team. Richard will be driving an Impreza in Group N trim, and is using this event as a primer for his Canadian Group N debut at Rally Charlevoix in two weeks. · The HANS device makes its first US Performance Rally appearance - Mark Utecht, the 2000 Woodner Cup recipient and current points leader in Production GT will be using this leading edge safety measure. "I have an arthritic condition of the spine which makes me more susceptible to the types of injuries that the HANS device is designed to reduce. I am hoping that others will see the benefits of using the HANS device and join me in using this new development in driver safety." · Hyundai's entire entry card reshuffled in the last 24 hours. Paul Choiniere was forced to withdraw at the last minute, due to business issues back in Vermont, bringing back Noel Lawler and Charles Bradley, who were slated to sit out this event, to substitute for the 2000 series Champions. At today's afternoon shakedown, Richard Tuthill, contracted by Hyundai to assist the team with development on their all-new 2002 Tiburon rally cars for next season, was forced to withdraw his car, sidelined by the nagging overheating problem that Choiniere toiled with for much of the season. Lawler and Bradley, who had just arrived in Houghton, discussed the situation with team boss and US rally legend John Buffum, and decided to hand the keys of their Tiburon over to Tuthill. "We will use this input to build the most competitive vehicles possible for next season," explains Buffum. "We are working hard to ensure we have the best vehicles, best drivers and best crew in ProRally competition in 2002." · 1999 British Group N champion David Higgins will drive a new 2002 Subaru Impreza built by AvSport of Tempe AZ, in his US rallying debut. Fresh from two tarmac rallys in Russia, including a victory at one in late September, the young Briton is the eyeing the rapidly expanding SCCA ProRally series as his next championship quest. Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Director Direct inquiry Email: sccaprorally@aol.com Press room: morning of 20 October only. Call the hotel 906.487.1700 and ask for Press Room (625) Press operations in the field at all other times. 303.204.0375 (mobile) Time zone at event: Eastern Time Information regarding the start order list: Car # = number on vehicle. Most Cars with numbers under 200 are Pro entries. Cars numbered over 200 are frequently ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first digit denoting their home division (2,3 = West coast, 5 = Central US, 8,9 East coast). Open - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P - Production - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock configuration. G5 - Group 5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - Group 2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars; PGT - Production GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars. SCCA Lake Superior ProRally - Top 50 Start Order (complete list at: www.LSprorally.com) Start Car # Class Seed Driver Co-Driver Car 1 14 Open 0 Mark Lovell Steve Turvey 02 Subaru WRX 2 115 Open 0 Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 3 13 Open 0 Richard Tuthill Nicky Beech 00 Hyundai Tiburon 4 2 Open 0 Karl Scheible Brian Maxwell 02 Subaru WRX 5 17 Open FIA Tom McGeer Mark Williams 02 Subaru WRX 6 16 Open 1 David Higgins Craig Thorley 02 Subaru WRX 7 107 Open 1 Tim Paterson Scott Ferguson 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 8 5 Open 1 Doug Shepherd Pete Gladysz 97 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 9 37 Open 1 Henry Joy Chris Griffin 96 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II 10 50 Open 1 Steve Gingras Bill Westrick 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 11 80 Open 1 Jon Kemp TBA 84 Audi 4000 quattro 12 33 Open 1 Rhys Millen Lauchlin O'Sullivan 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 13 8 Gr N 1 Patrick Richard Ben Bradley 02 Subaru WRX 14 44 Gr N 1 Henry Krolikowski Cynthia Krolikowski 00 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 15 110 Open 2 Mark Nelson Alex Gelsomino 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 16 904 Open 2 John Drislane TBA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 17 48 Open 2 Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS 18 83 PGT 2 Mark Utecht Brenda Lewis 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 19 502 PGT 2 Bryan Pepp Jerry Stang 92 Eagle Talon TSi 20 21 PGT 2 Chris Czyzio Eric Carlson 91Mitsubishi EclipseGSX 21 63 G5 2 Tad Ohtake Bob Martin 98 Ford Escort ZX2 22 82 G5 2 Mike Hurst Rob Bohn 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 23 49 Open 3 Jonathan Ryther Janice Danitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 24 565 Gr N 3 Russell Hodges Jimmy Brandt 95 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 25 76 PGT 3 Gail Truess Pam McGarvey 88 Mazda 323 GTX 26 992 PGT 3 Bruce Perry TBA 90 EagleTalon TSI 27 27 PGT 3 Greg Healey John MacLeod 97 Subaru Impreza 28 55 G5 3 Brian Vinson Richard Beels 97 Toyota Supra turbo 29 42 G2 3 Eric Burmeister Eric Adams 01 Mazda Protege' MP3 30 98 G2 3 Robert Nielsen Ed Wahl 87 Volkswagen Golf GTi 31 301 P 3 Tony Chavez Doug Robinson 87 Volkswagen Golf GTi 32 61 P 3 Michael Halley John Dillon 99 Volkswagen New Beetle 33 132 Open 4 Robert Burtis James Burtis 85Audi Quattro Coupe 34 519 PGT 4 Scott Harvey Jr Jeff Hribar 90 Eagle Talon TSi 35 512 PGT 4 Jouni Pohjolainen John Matikainen 90 Eagle Talon TSi 36 575 G5 4 Jeremy Butts Jon Vrzal 93 Ford Mustang 37 518 Open 5 Dennis Martin Chris Plante 91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 38 559 Open 5 John Rek Bob DuPree 95 Audi S-2 39 523 Open 5 Rodney Dean Nichole Dean 91 Eagle Talon 40 868 PGT 5 Jason Rivas Constantine Mantopoulos 41 533 G5 5 Don Jankowski Ken Nowak 01 Dodge Neon 42 72 G2 5 Jon Hamilton John Westhoven 81 Volkswagen Rabbit 43 69 G5 5 Charles Sherrill Bryan O'Neal 89 Honda CRX-Si 44 143 G2 5 Christopher Whiteman Michael Paulin 85 Volkswagen Golf GTi 45 84 G2 5 J.B. Niday Al Kintigh 86 Volkswagen Golf GTi 46 137 G2 5 Phil Smith Dallas Smith 68 MG B-GT 47 41 G2 5 Art Burmeister David Weiman 88 Volkswagen Golf GTi 48 94 P 5 Craig Peeper Ian Bevan 01 Ford Focus ZX3 49 133 P 5 Tom Young Jim LeBeau 95 Dodge Neon ACR 50 572 G2 6 James Robinson Jim Newton 96 Honda Civic This list is subject to change. Actual ceremonial start on Friday will be in reverse order The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Hyundai and Subaru, and is telecast nationwide on peevision