SCCA ProRally - Final News and Results - Susquehannock Trail
WELLSBORO, Pa. (June 8, 2003) - One is a good start. Two is special. Three is David Higgins. After starting sixth on Saturday morning, the U.K. native systematically made his way to the top spot and notched his third-consecutive 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship win for Mitsubishi Team Motorsports America at the Susquehannock Trail ProRally (STPR). Higgins and co-driver Daniel Barritt won the race by more than six minutes over second-place finishers Tim O'Neil, and Alex Gelsomino. In his first event of the 2003 Championship season, Paul Choiniere re-united with long-time co-driving partner Jeff Becker and finished nearly four minutes behind O'Neil in third. The podium appearances were firsts for both drivers this year. Visiting Canadian Group N Class Drivers Peter Thomson and championship regular Mark Utecht completed the top five. Key Notes & Quotes: "The car was fantastic," said Higgins, who also padded his John Woolf Cup (Drivers' Championship) standings lead with the win. "It ran well. We took care of the small electrical problem we had after the morning session and everything after that was A-1. "We had an excellent choice of equipment for each of the weather conditions, and even though it got a bit foggy at the end, we were able to get through it." Only 37 of the 64 cars that began the race made it through the slick, muddy roads of the Pennsylvania countryside to the finish. Not in that group, for the second time this season, were both Subaru Rally Team USA entries. Team Subaru came into the weekend determined to shrink the Manufacturers' Championship point separation between themselves and Team Mitsubishi, but that opportunity vanished early as both Mark Lovell and Ramana Lagemann suffered clutch failures and were forced to turn in a pair of DNFs. Higgins' teammate, Lauchlin O'Sullivan, was in prime condition to make it a Mitsubishi sweep of the weekend, but in Special Stage Six (SS6), his radiator broke, and with that, suffered the first Team Mitsubishi DNF of the year. Also felled by the course was Jonny Milner, who was vying for his first Group N class victory of the season after competing in the Open class at the first two events of the year. Milner, who hopped into second overall after O'Sullivan's mechanical failure, was in second place going into stage eight of the 10-stage rally. However, a suspension wishbone failed, finishing his evening and handing the Group N win to Thomson. In other classes, Eoin McGeough, along with co-driver Pauric Connolly, won the Production GT class in their Subaru Impreza WRX and finished tenth overall, the only PGT car in the top 20. Driving their Volkswagen Golf GTi, Chris Havas and co-driver Dave Kean captured the Group 5 win while finishing 11th overall and Eric Burmeister, along with Cindy Krolikowski, was solid all event long in winning Group 2 and earning much needed Manufacturer points for Mazda, finishing 16th overall. In the Production Class, Mike Halley's Volkswagen New Beetle was the last car standing out of three entries while he came in 36th. Round Four of the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship heads to the Rocky Mountains for the 81st "Run to the Clouds" at the Falken Tire Pike's Peak International Hill Climb, June 28. For more information for this event, visit www.scca.com or www.ppihc.com. Finish Start Car# Class Driver Nat Co-Driver Nat Car Total Time 1 6 1 Open David Higgins UK Daniel Barritt UK 03 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1:54:51 2 5 29 Open Tim O'Neil USA Alex Gelsomino USA 02 Ford Focus SVT 2:01:02 3 2 11 Open Paul Choiniere USA Jeff Becker USA 03 Hyundai Tiburon 2:04:59 4 21 857 GN Peter Thomson CAN Brian Maxwell CAN 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:12:29 5 11 83 GN Mark Utecht USA Jeff Secor USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:13:28 6 28 937 Open Patrick Farrell USA Bob Kelly USA 01 Subaru Impreza 2:14:06 7 10 45 GN Shane Mitchell USA Paul Donnelly USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:14:08 8 36 768 Open Celsus Donnelly USA Barry McCann USA 97 Mitsubishi Evo IV 2:14:42 9 25 136 GN Jason Rivas USA Marc Goldfarb USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:15:04 10 24 755 PGT Eoin McGeough USA Pauric Connolly USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:15:59 11 29 62 G5 Chris Havas USA Dave Kean USA 01 VW Golf GTi 2:16:27 12 40 565 GN Russell Hodges USA Mike Rossey USA 95 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:18:22 13 31 957 Open Malachy Crawford USA Mark McAllister USA 97 Mitsubishi Mirage 2:19:12 14 15 374 Open Leon Styles USA John Dillon USA 91 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:19:53 15 33 42 G2 Eric Burmeister USA Cindy Krolikowski USA 02 Mazda Protege 2:21:15 16 32 71 G2 Brian Hourt USA Eric Heitkamp USA 00 Acura Integra GS-R 2:21:28 17 34 130 Open Liam Egan USA Poinsios McKenna USA 00 Mitsubishi Evo VI 2:23:14 18 56 55 G5 Brian Vinson USA Richard Beels USA 03 Dodge Neon SXT 2:23:54 19 62 903 Open Christopher Sanborn USA Emmons Hathaway USA 96 Ford Escort 2:24:14 20 22 94 GN Craig Peeper USA Ian Bevan UK 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:25:33 21 45 96 G2 Brian Scott USA Ed Wahl USA 02 Ford Focus SVT 2:26:11 22 26 207 G5 Dave Hintz USA Rick Hintz USA 90 Mazda RX-7 Turbo 2:26:49 23 39 970 G2 John Rahill USA Vlad Hladky USA 85 VW Gti 2:28:26 24 57 907 GT Patrick Brennan USA Stephen Duffy USA 90 Eagle Talon 2:28:27 25 55 912 Open John Cassidy USA Dave Getchell USA 94 Subaru Impreza 2:28:46 26 37 81 PGT Valdemaras Maciukevicius USA Arunas Salkauskas USA 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 2:28:53 27 44 750 PGT Jim Larsen USA Doug Moore USA 88 BMW 325 ix 2:29:19 28 36 945 GN Brendan Kelly USA John McArthur USA 02 Subaru WRX 2:29:23 29 41 93 G5 Robert Olson USA Conrad Ketelsen USA 93 Porsche 911 2:29:40 30 35 91 GN Jonathan Bottoms USA Eric Dahlgren USA 02 Subaru WRX 2:31:14 31 53 931 PGT Donald Kennedy USA Keith Kennedy USA 96 Subaru Impreza 2:33:14 32 61 908 G5 Paul Kelbel USA William Sekela USA 92 Dodge Shadow 2:38:26 33 47 60 PGT Bruce Davis USA Lee Sorenson USA 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:42:54 34 64 854 Open Ann Jordan USA Alan Jordan USA 84 Audi 4000 2:43:43 35 65 133 G5 Tom Young USA Jim Lebeau USA 03 Dodge SRT-4 2:43:55 36 50 86 Prod. Mike Halley USA Bill Montgomery USA 99 VW New Beetle 2:45:28 37 48 887 G5 Mark Bowers USA James Bowers USA 87 Mitsubishi Starion 3:02:38 Leading ProRally Retirements - official Start Car# Class Driver Co-Driver Year Mfg Stage Reason 4 4 Open Mark Lovell Roger Freeman 04 Subaru SS3 Clutch 1 5 Open Ramana Lagemann Michael Orr 04 Subaru SS3 Clutch 9 6 Open Lauchlin O'Sullivan Christian Edstrom 03 Mitsubishi SS5 Radiator 3 25 Open Seamus Burke Frances Regan 01 Mitsubishi SS3 Clutch 17 977 Open Martin Donnelly Charles Bradley 97 Mitsubishi SS5 Undisclosed mechanical 30 173 Open Patrick Lilly Jason Gillespie 99 Mitsubishi SS5 Motor 16 116 Open Thomas Lawless Graig Shinnors 03 Mitsubishi SS5 Undisclosed mechanical 12 41 Open John Drislane Sean Moriarty 02 Subaru SS3 Mechanical 13 52 G5 Doug Shepherd Peter Gladysz 03 Dodge SS3 Off-road, rock 14 88 Open Doug Havir Scott Putnam 03 Subaru SS3 Suspension, off road The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of America, Inc. 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