SCCA ProRally - SnoDrift Day One News & Results
24 January 2003
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship - Round 1 - Sno*Drift
Seamus Burke Kicks Season Opener into High Gear
Atlanta and Lewiston, Michigan The 30th consecutive full season of SCCA
ProRally Championship competition slipped and slid to life with nearly 70
rally cars today in these neighboring Elk hunting and snowmobiling hamlets in
the northern reaches of Michigan's lower peninsula.
Seamus Burke and Charles Bradley, the two Atlanta, Georgia based Irishmen
quietly moved their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI through the impressive field of
premier independent and works backed entries with good pace and careful
driving, finishing the first day of rallying just 15 seconds ahead of the
Prodrive prepared Subaru piloted by a very determined Mark Lovell and Nicky
Beech.
Key Notes:
¨ With Snow gently falling over much of northern Michigan, the Sno*Drift
Rally, after several years of what could be construed as false advertising
finally delivered on its namesake promise. While not more than 8 inches
deep, the fresh accumulations of snow served to both cover and lubricate the
hard ice covered roads of rural Montmorency County. Unlike last year's
devious combination of mud, gravel, water and ice, the roads this year, while
overall much slicker, at least gave teams a consistent surface to drive on,
and made tire selection a bit less of a compromise than in years past.
¨ Tapio Laukkanen's first taste of American winter rallying included a
brief meeting with a tree, bending a rear suspension control arm, but not
enough to slow him down - winning SS3 and matching fastest time on SS4 with
David Higgins. With Day two's stages being generally more open, and
Laukkanen becoming more comfortable with studless tire rallying, expect a
charge to the front from this highly experienced duo from Finland.
¨ David Higgins' debut of his all-new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is doing
very well, with two special stage fastest times, finishing Day One in 3rd
place overall. Teammate Lauchlin O'Sullivan isn't far behind, with both cars
finishing.
¨ Tim O'Neil's Open Class debut with the Air Force Reserve Ford Focus came
to an abrupt 'carrier landing' halt on stage 5 - the 2002 Group N
Championship runner-up sliding into problems on the solid ice covered roads.
At the time, O'Neil was running as high as 3rd place overall.
¨ Mark Utecht and co-driver Jeff Secor, are off to an excellent start in
Group N, leading the class with a 29 second margin over a determined Shane
Mitchell, occupying 8th and 9th places overall.
¨ Scott Harvey Jr, with co-driver Kent Gardham, earned the hard-charger
award for Day One, gaining 24 positions over 6 stages. The duo benefited from
a smart tire choice and used a lot of patience to finish the night with a
comfortable lead in the GT class with a minute and a half margin over the
Lithuanian team of Valdemaras Maciukevicius and Arunas Salkauskas.
¨ In Group 2, Mazda Protégé pilot Eric Burmeister made a last minute car
change, with engine electrical woes sidelining the Mazda, Eric borrowed his
father's VW Golf to enable him to earn as many drivers championship points as
possible. Matt Johnson, who has run so well both here last year and at
several other ProRallys in 02, suffered multiple contacts with the scenery on
SS2, and has retired with steering and suspension problems. Christopher
Whiteman, debuting his Dodge Neon SXT, holds onto 2nd place in class.
¨ The Rally restarts tomorrow, at 8:01 AM in downtown Atlanta for 10 stages
of rally action, with the first cars scheduled to finish in the early evening
in nearby Hillman. Light snow is forecast to fall all night and throughout
the day tomorrow, with 3-5 inch accumulations expected. Temperatures are not
expected to get above15 degrees, making this the coldest, and snowiest SCCA
ProRally in many years.
Sno*Drift SCCA ProRally Championship Round #1
24 January, 2003
Day One Top 30 Finish Order (unofficial,without road points)
times are in hours:minutes:seconds
Start Finish Car# Time Class Driver Name Co-Driver Car
3 1 115 38:41 Open Seamus Burke Charles Bradley 00 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 6
2 2 4 38:56 Open Mark Lovell Nicky Beech 02 Subaru WRX
1 3 16 39:02 Open David Higgins Daniel Barritt 03 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evolution
6 4 5 39:13 Open Ramana Lagemann Michael Orr 02 Subaru WRX
4 5 16 39:31 Open Tapio Laukkanen Ilkka Riipinen 00 Subaru Impreza
5 6 15 40:21 Open Jonny Milner Duncan McMath 02 Subaru WRX
8 7 1 40:43 Open Lauchlin O'Sullivan Mark Williams 03 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evolution
11 8 83 41:28 N Mark Utecht Jeff Secor 02 Subaru WRX
9 9 45 42:01 N Shane Mitchell Paul Donnelly 02 Subaru WRX
16 10 50 42:58 Open Stephen Gingras Scott Putnam 02 Subaru WRX
17 11 122 43:15 Open Dennis Martin Kim Demotte 97 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo IV
14 12 103 43:32 N Wyeth Gubleman Therin Pace 02 Subaru WRX
12 13 44 43:35 N Henry Krolikowski Al Kaumeheiwa 00 Subaru Impreza
WRX-STi
18 14 36 44:13 N Mark Cox Jim Gill 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
39 15 519 44:22 GT Scott Harvey Jr Kent Gardam 90 Eagle Talon TSi
13 16 78 45:00 Open Paul Dunn Ray Summers 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
IV
23 17 544 45:20 Open Daniel Malott Matt Malott 90 Eagle Talon TSi
19 18 53 45:31 G5 Don Jankowski Peter Gladysz 02 Dodge Neon SRT-4
40 19 81 46:01 GT V.Maciukevicius A.Salkauskas 00 Subaru Impreza
2.5RS
28 20 916 46:02 GT Jonathan Bottoms Eric Dahlgren 99 Subaru Impreza
2.5RS
20 21 524 46:14 G2 Eric Burmeister Ole Holter 88 VW Golf GTi
22 22 527 46:15 Open Chris Gilligan Joe Petersen 92 Mitsubishi
Eclipse GSX
24 23 565 46:19 N Russell Hodges Mike Rossey 95 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi
25 24 532 46:41 GT David LaFavor Robert LaFavor 90 Eagle Talon TSi
21 25 76 46:50 Open Gail Truess Pam McGarvey 88 Mazda 323 GTX
27 26 143 47:08 G2 Christopher Whiteman Michael Paulin 03 Dodge Neon
SXT
26 27 93 47:53 G5 Robert Olson Conrad Ketelsen 93 Porsche 911
41 28 55 47:59 G5 Brian Vinson Richard Beels 03 Dodge Neon SRT-4
42 29 558 49:07 P James Cox Kaari Cox 89 Chevrolet S-10
32 30 589 49:15 Open Michael Cienkosz Yurek Cienkosz 90 Mitsubishi
Eclipse GSX
complete results will be posted on the SnoDrift website:
http://www.sno-drift.org
Day One Retirements (unofficial)
Start Car# Class Driver Co-Driver Year Mfg Stage Reason
15 46 G2 Matthew Johnson Carl Fisher 86 VW SS2 Steering
10 80 Open Jon Kemp Rod Hendricksen 84 Audi SS5 Rear suspension
35 84 Open JB Niday Al Kintigh 97 Subaru SS1 Tree
7 29 Open Tim O'Neil Alex Gelsomino 03 Ford SS Off-road, time
barred
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.
