SCCA ProRally - Day One News and Results - Wild West Rally
7 September 2002 DAY ONE NEWS: SCCA® ProRallysm Championship Round #9 - Wild West Lagemann Cooks, Havir Endovers, Millen Rises with a Bullet OLYMPIA, Washington The first day of competition at the penultimate round of the 2002 SCCA ProRally Championship season would have driven any betting man crazy, with several key players either taking themselves out or suffering setbacks early in the going. There was one team however, staying the course just as they have all season, avoided trouble, but remained competitively at the top of the competition. Key Notes: ¨ With one day to go, David Higgins, the season's winningest driver, the man that has been driving the works teams from Mitsubishi, Subaru and Hyundai mad, whilst giving every independent team someone to look up to, is just 12 hours away from securing his place in SCCA ProRally history. But he will have to outwit, outplay and outlast his challengers to do it. So far, he's doing pretty well in the "outlast" category, as Wild West roads have been gobbling up the competition: ¨ Brother Mark Higgins, fresh from his convincing win with substitute co-driver Claire Mole at Ojibwe Forests, suffered engine failure just 2 miles into SS2. Michael Gibson who is healing well from injuries sustained in a rally overseas last month, should be back with Mark for the season finale at Lake Superior. ¨ Defending champion Mark Lovell dropped several minutes in the final stage of the day due to transmission problems, but also did a masterful job of blocking Higgins with his dust ¨ Paul Choiniere suffered two punctures on a single stage, losing his rear bumper in the process. ¨ Ramana Lagemann, who early on benefited both from Choiniere's misfortune, (Choiniere's dust effectively slowing 2nd on the road Mark Lovell) as well as a loosened team-orders leash was leading the rally into SS4, when his engine let go as he neared the finish of the stage. Hot oil sprayed all over the even hotter engine, catching fire, and melting down much of the engine bay, using up his entire on-board fire systems reserves, as well as a few fire extinguishers from the teams parked nearby. Both Lagemann and faithful co-driver Michael Kidd are OK, and the car, while the innards are well done, looks hardly the worse for wear on the outside. ¨ Rising SCCA ProRally team of Doug Havir and Scott Putnam suffered a huge setback to their budding careers in SS3, ending their day without a scratch to either of them, but writing off their new Prodrive built Open Class Subaru WRX in a massive end-over roll. ¨ Rhys Millen, on the other hand, is having a superb run, and is at the front of the pack, nearly a minute and a half ahead of Championship points leader David Higgins. Back in his trusty Lancer Evo 6.5 (his new Evo VII still undergoing repairs from his big off at Ojibwe) ¨ Scott Trinder and Paul Westrick are getting the most (perhaps ever) out of the unique Knight Racing automatic-transmissioned Subaru Imprezas, gaining 13 positions in day one to finish 6th overall. Web sites: · SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org · Wild West official site: http://www.nwr-scca.org/rally/wildwest.html 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. Wild West - SCCA ProRally Championship Round #9 7 September 2002 Day One Results - (Unofficial) Start Finish Car # Seed Class Driver Country Co-Driver Country Car Time 5 1 3 1 Open Rhys Millen USA Garry Cowan NZ 02 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 1:16:46 4 2 16 0 Open David Higgins UK Daniel Barritt UK 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:17:23 1 3 6 0 Open Paul Choiniere USA Jeff Becker USA 03 Hyundai Tiburon 1:19:12 13 4 29 2 GN Tim O'Neil USA Martin Headland CAN 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:20:13 7 5 39 1 Open Carl Jardevall USA Amity Trowbridge USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 1:20:43 19 6 102 3 Open Scott Trinder CAN Paul Westwick CAN 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS 1:20:45 21 7 45 3 GN Shane Mitchell USA Paul Donnelly USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:20:53 8 8 107 1 Open Tim Paterson USA John Allen USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 1:21:18 9 9 32 1 Open Paul Eklund USA Scott Huhn USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:22:01 10 10 22 1 GN Ralph Kosmides USA Jimmy Brandt USA 99 Subaru Impreza WRX-Sti 1:23:15 17 11 374 3 Open Leon Styles USA John Dillon USA 90 Audi S2 quattro 1:23:15 18 12 78 3 Open Paul Dunn USA Ben Bradley USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 1:23:52 2 13 1 0 Open Mark Lovell UK Steve Turvey UK 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:24:15 14 14 217 2 Open Janice Damitio USA Chris Davis USA 91 Eagle Talon TSi 1:24:44 22 15 94 3 GN Craig Peeper USA Alex Gelsomino USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:25:33 38 16 306 5 GN Wolfgang Hoeck USA Julie Lin USA 02 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 1:25:36 41 17 255 5 PGT Andy Sharples USA Julie Sharples USA 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS 1:26:24 24 18 207 3 G5 Dave Hintz USA Rick Hintz USA 90 Mazda RX-7 Turbo 1:26:28 27 19 90 3 G2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan USA Matt Chester USA 02 Mitsubishi Lancer RMR 1:26:48 12 20 44 1 G5 Henry Krolikowski USA Cindy Krolikowski USA 02 Dodge Neon SRT-4 1:27:14 36 21 216 5 Open Richard Buckner USA Jason Grahn USA 93 Subaru Impreza 1:27:24 39 22 252 5 PGT Robert Trinder CAN Bill Westhead CAN 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 1:27:57 28 23 42 3 G2 Eric Burmeister USA Eric Adams USA 01 Mazda Protégé MP3 1:28:22 35 24 283 4 G2 Nate Tennis USA Leon Owens USA 73 SAAB 99 1:29:43 33 25 451 5 PGT Janusz Komorowski CAN Paul Nelson USA 92 Eagle Talon TSi 1:29:54 16 26 28 2 GN Bill Malik USA Dave Kean USA 01 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 1:31:07 43 27 220 5 PGT Bruce Davis USA Lee Sorenson USA 92 Eagle Talon TSi 1:31:38 48 28 72 5 Prod Jon Hamilton USA Ken Sabo USA 00 VW Golf TDI 1:33:27 51 29 215 5 P Jamie Thomas USA Bruce Weiman USA 95 Subaru Impreza 1:34:03 42 30 271 5 PGT Matt Tabor USA Monika Tabor USA 89 Mazda 323 GTX 1:35:04 46 31 225 5 G2 Mark Durley USA Allan McGuirl CAN 01 Ford Focus ZX3 1:36:54 56 32 276 7 G5 Brian Palidar USA Thomas Palidar USA 79 Mazda RX-7 1:37:28 62 33 218 8 Open Travis Rea USA Gary Rea USA 88 Mazda 323 GTX 1:39:07 52 34 232 5 P Mark Tabor USA Kevin Poirier USA 91 Nissan Sentra SE-R 1:41:01 58 35 239 7 G2 David Ellis USA Judd Gallagher USA 77 VW Rabbit 1:41:08 40 36 514 5 PGT Roland McIvor USA Bill Montgomery USA 95 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 1:44:29 61 37 222 7 P Bruce Tabor USA John Elkin USA 91 Nissan Sentra SE-R 1:44:45 60 38 231 7 P Kristen Tabor USA Janice Tabor USA 95 Geo Metro 1:49:31 20 39 103 3 GN Wyeth Gubelman USA Therin Pace USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:52:51 15 40 51 2 G5 Jay Streets USA Matt Gauger USA 93 Volvo 740 Turbo 2:07:23 Day One Leading Retirements - (Unofficial) Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Year Make Stage Retirement cause (unofficial) 5 Mark Higgins Claire Mole O 03 Hyundai SS2 Engine 2 Ramana Lagemann Michael Kidd O 02 Subaru SS4 Engine Fire 88 Doug Havir Scott Putnam O 02 Subaru SS3 Roll-Over 190 Garen Shrader Mario Lopez P 03 Hyundai SS2 Stuck in ditch - time barred