SCCA ProRally - Final News and Notes - Oregon Trail
21 April, 2002
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship - Round 3 - Oregon Trail
Day Two Results and News
David Higgins Captures Top Podium
HILLSBORO, Oregon The second day of rally action in the high country of
western Oregon saw another round of intense performance rallying, culminating
with a satisfying victory for the young driver and his new to SCCA ProRally
co-driver Chris Patterson. Rhys Millen finally earned a podium spot he has
been yearning to visit again since last November, and Mark Higgins placed
Hyundai back on the podium with another determined drive. Keeping all the
works teams honest were Carl Jardevall with Amity Trowbridge, local
competitors that know the roads well, finishing just 59 seconds behind the
3rd place Hyundai.
Key Notes & Quotes:
¨ Rhys Millen equaled his best finish of the 2001 season with a solid 2nd
place finish, just 40 seconds behind Higgin's WRX. Pushing his Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 6.5 - a car he admits has "been through hell" - as hard as he
dared, Millen won three stages outright over David Higgins, and kept solid
pace on the balance. At the evening prize giving ceremonies Rhys thanked his
crew for overcoming a lot of developmental problems since Round 2, and also
congratulated his co-driver Garry Cowan for his patience as he came to grips
with the stage notes, and urged all in attendance to stick with the notes -
calling it "the future of the sport."
¨ For a second event in a row, Hyundai's Mark Higgins and Michael Gibson
have shown absolute resolve in the face of adversity, coming back from a
transmission failure that put him several minutes behind in SS4 and SS5.
While similar transmission problems sidelined Paul Choiniere, the crew was
able to get the 8-time champion's car operational again overnight, and the
event Organizer's allowed Choiniere to run the balance of the event as the
course opening car. This gave the Libra Racing team and driver some much
needed seat time with the all-new cars, and gave rally fans a chance to see
and hear these state of the art rally cars up close and at speed.
¨ After three rounds, with both good and bad luck impacting all three
Overall Championship works teams, as well as the leading Independents, the
points race heading to the Championship's most brutal event, the legendary
Rim of the World in the Angeles National Forest encompassing Palmdale,
California is still tight, with the Higgins brothers beginning to establish a
more secure hold on the lead and 2nd place. Unofficial standings for the
overall Driver's Championship are: David Higgins: 45, Mark Higgins: 38 and
Mark Lovell: 32. Rhys Millen's strong finish makes him the big gainer of the
weekend, displacing Subaru's Lagemann for 4th place in the standings, with 24
points.
¨ The Overall Manufacturer's Championship has been thrown a totally
unexpected curve, with the retirement of both works Subarus and Millen's
strong podium showing at Oregon. Unofficial standings after three rounds
are: Hyundai 40, Mitsubishi 29 and Subaru 27. Mitsubishi will be adding a
third car to their team at Rim, with Rhys debuting the teams all new Evo VII,
and Rhys' father, rally legend Rod Millen, returning to the SCCA ProRally
Championship at Round #4 in two weeks.
¨ The Two-wheel-drive Manufacturer's Championship likewise is being
overturned, with Mitsubishi taking over the lead from an absent Mazda, 40 to
32. Mazda will be back in the hunt with an upgraded MP3 Protégé at Rim of
the World.
Oregon Trail - SCCA ProRally Championship - Round 3
21 April, 2002
Complete Leg Two Finish Order (official)
times are in hours: minutes: seconds
Start Finish Car# Time Seed Class Driver Name Co-Driver Car
2 1 16 2:06:38 FIA Open David Higgins Chris Patterson 02 Subaru WRX
8 2 3 2:07:22 1 Open Rhys Millen Garry Cowan 01 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo 6.5
3 3 5 2:09:02 0 Open Mark Higgins Michael Gibson 03 Hyundai
Tiburon
7 4 39 2:10:01 1 Open Carl Jardevall Amity Trowbridge 97
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
9 5 110 2:16:51 1 Open Mark Nelson Charles Bradley 00 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 6
13 6 275 2:17:36 2 Open Nat T-Stow John Elkin 02 Subaru WRX
10 7 34 2:17:47 1 Open Peter Lahm Michael Fennell 97 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo IV
12 8 22 2:19:19 1 N Ralph Kosmides Jimmy Brandt 99 Subaru Impreza
WRX-STi
33 9 124 2:20:13 3 N Peter Workum Allesandro Gelsomino 02 Subaru
WRX
18 10 103 2:22:25 4 N Wyeth Gubelmann Therin Pace 02 Subaru WRX
30 11 88 2:24:53 4 N Doug Havir Scott Putnam 02 Subaru WRX
34 12 266 2:25:44 4 G2 Scott Fuller Jeff Call 96 VW Golf GTi
17 13 891 2:26:24 3 Open Randy Zimmer David Shindle 96 Subaru
Impreza
24 14 90 2:26:31 2 G2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan Matt Chester 02 Mitsubishi
Lancer RMR
22 15 207 2:27:30 3 G5 David Hintz Rick Hintz 87 Mazda RX-7 turbo
38 16 432 2:27:43 5 N Ron Nelson Rick Burtis 02 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
VII
36 17 268 2:27:47 5 Open Dave LaTourette Paul Beatty 00 VW New Beetle
11 18 32 2:28:00 1 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 02 Subaru WRX
23 19 530 2:29:10 3 G5 Al Kaumeheiwa Craig Sobczak 02 Dodge Neon SRT
39 20 94 2:29:31 5 N Craig Peeper Ian Bevan 02 Subaru WRX
61 21 320 2:30:06 6 P Josh Jacquot Dave Coleman 03 Hyundai
Tiburon
25 22 201 2:31:38 3 G2 Todd Hartmann Shawn Callahan 96 VW Golf GTi
26 23 79 2:32:37 3 P Jeff Field Dave Weiman 02 Toyota Celica GTS
69 24 868 2:33:03 8 Open Gerald Coffey Paul Donnelly 97 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo IV
45 25 77 2:36:34 3 PGT Bob Henderson John McArthur 02 Subaru WRX
44 26 220 2:40:53 5 PGT Bruce Davis Claire Chizma 91 Eagle Talon TSi
62 27 215 2:45:38 7 P Jamie Thomas John Reed 93 Subaru Impreza 1.8
ProRally Retirements - official 20-21 April, 2002
Start Car# Seed Class Driver Co-Driver Year Mfg Stage
Reason
8 107 1 Open Tim Paterson John Allen 97 Mitsubishi SS1 Rear
differential carrier
54 377 6 PGT Sean McKenna Neil Kelley 91 Eagle SS1 Undisclosed
mechanical
15 51 2 G5 Jay Streets Janice Damitio 83 Volvo SS1 Engine (oil
pressure)
32 136 4 GN Jason Rivas Ole Holter 02 Subaru SS2 Turbo
2 1 0 Open Mark Lovell Nicholas Beech 02 Subaru SS2 Driveshaft
4 6 0 Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 03 Hyundai SS3 Transmission
20 210 3 G5 John Lane Ray Damitio 83 Volvo SS5 Accident - tree
21 245 3 Open Cary Wright Dave Kean 87 Mazda SS10 Off-road
11 2 1 Open Ramana Lagemann Michael Kidd 02 Subaru SS11
Transmission
27 374 4 Open Leon Styles John Dillon 92 Audi SS11 Engine
National Media Contact & Web Sites:
· Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Director
The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Hyundai, Mitsubishi and
Subaru, and is televised in North America on SpeedChannel. Time and date
listing information available at www.speedtv.com
