SCCA ProRally - Ojibwe Forests - Final News and Notes
BEMIDJI, Minnesota After 7 successive attempts, Mark Higgins has finally
earned his first SCCA ProRally victory, and the second first place finish for
Hyundai in the 2002 season. Hyundai has an impressive tradition of strong
finishes here (sweeping all three podium positions in 2000 - a first for the
Korean manufacturer). Mitsubishi, despite a trying season in the Open class
did succeed brilliantly in the Group 2 class with its normally-aspirated US
market Lancer, locking up the manufacturers race in that category with two
events to spare over challenger Eric Burmeister and his Mazda Protégé.
Key Notes:
¨ It has been a long climb for Mark Higgins, but both he, and Hyundai made
a determined drive to the top of the podium in northern Minnesota tonight.
As reported earlier, this climb hasn't been an easy one through the season,
and even at this weekend's rally. At the final service, a turbo and a rear
brake caliper had to be replaced, adding some last minute tensions to the
teams overall victory mission.
¨ Lauchlin O'Sullivan became the first driver in the 2002 Championship to
clinch a Drivers and Manufacturers title simultaneously. Driving a very
steady rally, which he admitted was "the toughest kind to drive" O'Sullivan
kept good pace throughout, delivering a nearly two-minute victory window over
nearest challenger Robert Nielsen. In what could be defined at the most
consistent championship charge of the season, O'Sullivan had a bit of a rocky
start at Sno*Drift in January, with a completely new and un-tested car. At
Cherokee Trails, the "Evo 2" version of the two-wheel drive, normally
aspirated Lancer arrived, with more aggressive 4-wheel disc brakes. Here at
Ojibwe, the "Evo 3" version debuted, with the one item that Lauchlin has been
wishing for all season - better gear ratios. Through it all, the
O'Sullivan/Matt Chester team accepted both the car's limitations (horsepower
and gearing) and its virtues (reliability and durability) and never failed to
put the car on the Group 2 podium at every event, winning in-class at the
last four SCCA ProRallys.
¨ The international appeal of the SCCA ProRally Championship continues to
grow, with the first (possibly ever) Lithuanian team entering and finishing
at Ojibwe. Driving a Subaru Impreza, the team of Valdemaras Maciukevicius
and Arunas Salkauskas finished 26th overall and 2nd in the Production GT
category - an impressive finish immediately behind class leaders Bob
Henderson and John McArthur. The Bolivian team (also a first-time entry in
SCCA ProRally) of Marcelo Zuleta and Mirko Suarez didn't fare quite as well,
retiring halfway through Day Two with mechanical woes.
¨ Tim O'Neil and Martin Headland continue to chew away at Group N class
leaders Ralph Kosmides and Jimmy Brandt's points advantage, in a battle that
will very likely go right down to the season ending rally at Lake Superior.
While Seamus Burke won the class outright with a terrific ride in a hastily
rented Subaru (substituting for his trusty Mitsubishi Lancer that had
terminal engine problems that surfaced in pre-event testing), this was his
first Group N ride of the season, so he isn't a contender for the class
championship. With the championship returning to the west coast in three
weeks at Wild West, Kosmides "home" event, this already simmering hot class
championship battle will get positively boiling.
¨ Overall Championship Driver's standings: David Higgins 120, Mark Higgins
88, Mark Lovell 84, with the nearest next challengers tied at 41 points a
piece (Mark Nelson and Rhys Millen)
¨ The see-sawing manufacturer battle between Hyundai and Subaru tipped in
Hyundai's favor again with Mark Higgins strong first place finish, and Paul
Choiniere's fierce drive to 3rd, effectively shielding a very hard charging
Ramana Lagemann and Michael Kidd from 3rd place manufacturer points by a mere
8 seconds. Following Lovell's retirement, Lagemann lit the fuse, and gained
considerable time on the field, particularly on the two special spectator
stages at "The Ranch" near downtown Akeley.
Ojibwe Forests - SCCA ProRally Championship Round #8
17 August 2002
Final Results - (Official)
Start Finish Car # Seed Class Driver Country Co-Driver Country
Car Time
4 1 5 0 Open Mark Higgins UK Claire Mole UK 03 Hyundai
Tiburon 2:00 46
1 2 16 0 Open David Higgins UK Daniel Barritt UK 02 Subaru
Impreza WRX 2:02:01
3 3 6 0 Open Paul Choiniere USA Jeff Becker USA 03 Hyundai
Tiburon 2:04:50
6 4 2 1 Open Ramana Lagemann USA Michael Kidd UK 02 Subaru
Impreza WRX 2:04:58
7 5 25 0 GN Seamus Burke USA Rory Kennedy IRL 00 Subaru Impreza
WRX-STi 2:12:05
21 6 29 2 GN Tim O'Neil USA Martin Headland CAN 02 Subaru Impreza WRX
2:12:37
10 7 88 3 Open Doug Havir USA Scott Putnam USA 02 Subaru Impreza
WRX 2:14:40
20 8 31 2 GN Brendan Cunningham USA Paul McClean USA 97 Subaru
Impreza 2:18:53
14 9 22 1 GN Ralph Kosmides USA Jimmy Brandt USA 99 Subaru Impreza
WRX 2:20:31
22 10 78 3 Open Paul Dunn USA Ray Summers USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo IV 2:21:11
13 11 44 1 GN Henry Krolikowski USA Cindy Krolikowski USA 00 Subaru
Impreza WRX-STi 2:21:44
38 12 122 4 Open Dennis Martin USA Kim Demotte USA 97 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo IV 2:22:58
19 13 83 2 GN Mark Utecht USA Jeff Secor USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX
2:24:11
48 14 534 5 G5 Robert Olson USA Conrad Ketelsen USA 93 Porsche 911
2:25:52
43 15 432 5 GN Ron Nelson USA James Burtis USA 02 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo VII 2:26:55
34 16 90 3 G2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan USA Matt Chester USA 02 Mitsubishi
Lancer RMR 2:27:11
30 17 94 3 GN Craig Peeper USA Ian Bevan UK 02 Subaru Impreza WRX
2:27:22
16 18 48 1 Open Lon Petersen USA Ben Bradley USA 00 Subaru Impreza
RS 2.5 2:27:44
29 19 36 3 GN Mark Cox USA Jim Gill USA 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
VI 2:28:15
33 20 98 3 G2 Robert Nielsen USA Brenda Lewis USA 87 VW Golf GTi
2:29:17
32 21 207 3 G5 David Hintz USA Rick Hintz USA Mazda RX-7 turbo
2:29:29
37 22 77 4 PGT Bob Henderson USA John McArthur USA 02 Subaru Impreza
WRX 2:33:46
50 23 121 5 G2 Pablo Sanfransisco USA David Shindle USA 85 VW Golf
GTi 2:34:04
36 24 86 3 P Michael Halley USA David Weiman USA 99 VW New Beetle
2:34:20
41 25 504 5 Open Carl Redner USA Scott Carlborn USA 91 Mitsubishi
Eclipse GSX 2:36:13
44 26 612 5 PGT Valdemaras Maciukevicius LT Arunas Salkauskas LT
00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS 2:39:35
15 27 52 1 G5 Doug Shepherd USA Joe Andreini USA 01 Dodge Neon
SRT-4 2:50:32
58 28 215 5 P Jamie Thomas USA Tina Lengacher USA 95 Subaru Impreza
3:11:46
72 29 190 8 P Emilio Lezcano USA Paula Gibeault USA 03 Hyundai
Tiburon 3:23:29
Day One Leading Retirements - (Official)
Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make Stage
Retirement cause (unofficial)
3 Rhys Millen Garry Cowan Open 02 Mitsubishi SS1 Crash
42 Eric Burmeister Eric Adams G2 00 Mazda SS1 Axle, wheel failure
110 Mark Nelson Charles Bradley Open 00 Mitsubishi SS4 Crushed radiator
1 Mark Lovell Steve Turvey Open 02 Subaru SS7 Electrical - battery
12 John Lloyd Pauline Gullick Gr A 96 Subaru SS7 Slid off road into
ditch
Day Two Leading Retirements - (Unofficial)
Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make Stage
Retirement cause (unofficial)
136 Jason Rivas Ole Holter GN 02 Subaru SS12 Slid off road, roll-over
103 Wyeth Gubelman Therin Pace GN 02 Subaru SS12 High-center on berm
50 Steve Gingras Christian Edstrom Open 02 Subaru SS12 Ball
joint
32 Paul Eklund Scott Huhn Open 02 Subaru SS12 Transmission
72 John Hamilton Ken Sabo P 00 VW SS13 Off-road
The
