STPR ProRally: Choiniere Wins 'Battle of North America'
9 June 1999
Volkswagen New Beetle Wins Production in Only Second Event
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania - Four events and four different winners;
the streak that began with the first event of this year's resurgent
Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship is still going strong. Paul
Choiniere and navigator Jeff Becker got their first win of the season
in their factory-backed Hyundai Tiburon; and they did it in the face
of strong competition that included the Canadian and Mexican national
champions, as well as their own teammates. In addition, the Volkswagen
New Beetle got its first-ever ProRally win in just its second outing.
The unofficial "Battle of North America" featured teammates
Choiniere/Becker and Noel Lawler/Charlie Bradley in factory Hyundai
Tiburons, Canadian champions Frank and Daniel Sprongl, in an Audi
quatro S2, plus Mexican champion Gabriel Marin-Ortiz and Mark
Williams, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V. Rim of the World winners
Garen and Doc Shrader completed the Open Class powerhouse with their
Lancer Evo IV.
The rally took place through the day and night of June 5-6, in
the lush mountains of north-central Pennsylvania surrounding the
picturesque own of Wellsboro. More than 105 teams sought the 80
available starting spots. Those who made it were rewarded with a
demanding and dusty rally, under clear skies, in high heat, on fast
and deceptively slick roads. Attrition ran high, as accidents and
mechanical difficulties relentlessly thinned the field. In the end,
only 41 cars made it to the finish.
The overall lead swapped places frequently among
Choiniere/Becker, Lawler/Bradley and Sprongl/Sprongl, until the
Sprongls misjudged a turn and crashed. By then, Choiniere was
first-on-the-road and running in clear air, free of the choking dust
everyone else experienced. Lawler could not narrow the gap in those
conditions, and came home second overall.
Production GT winners Cal Landau and Eric Marcus (Mitsubishi
Eclipse) charged to a remarkable fourth overall. However, they, too,
had a real battle on their hands for most of the rally, until
mechanical problems and the heavy dust began to take their toll on the
class. Gail Truess and Pattie Hughes were second in their Mazda
323GTX.
Group 5 winners Henry and Cindy Krolikowski (Dodge Shadow) made a
late-rally dash for the front an impressive fifth overall, just behind
Landau/Marcus. Along the way, they beat out defending class champions
Ralph Kosmides and Joe Noyes (Toyota Supra), who at times found the
dust so thick that they virtually had to stop.
Perhaps the most remarkable performance of the event was the
Production Class win by Karl Scheible and Gail McGuire. Driving the
first Volkswagen New Beetle in competition in the United States,
Scheible brought the car home an amazing 10th overall, nearly two
minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. That was the Honda Civic
of Jay Kowalik and Scott Embree, who had a similar lead over third
place. Their teammates, Bryan Hourt and Peter Cardimen, made it a
happy weekend for Team Honda R&D, as they brought their Civic in first
in Group 2. Gerald Sweet and Stuart Spark were second in a Saab 99
Ems.
The next round of the Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship will be
the Wild West ProRally, which will take place June 18-18 in the
forests surrounding Shelton, Washington.
- WRG -
PR-STPR-002
6799
Final Results
Susquehannock Trail ProRally
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
June 5-6, 1999
OA Car Cl. Score
Pos. # Driver/Co-Driver Vehicle Class Pos. (minutes)
1 3 Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker Hyundai Tiburon Open 1 149.23
2 2 Noel Lawler/Charlie Bradley Hyundai Tiburon Open 2 152.36
3 80 Jon Kemp/Rod Hendricksen Audi quattro Open 3 162.29
4 13 Cal Landau/Eric Marcus Mitsubishi Eclipse Prod GT 1 165.43
5 44 Henry Krolikowski/Cindy Krolikowski Dodge Shadow Group 5 1 166.77
6 7 Ralph Kosmides/Joe Noyes Toyota Supra Group 5 2 167.23
7 16 Gail Truess/Pattie Hughes Mazda 323 GTX Prod GT 2 167.26
8 111 Jim Anderson/Martin Dapot Honda Prelude VTEC Group 5 3 168.06
9 106 Gabriel Marin-Ortiz/Mark Williams Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Open 4 171.10
10 61 Karl Scheible/Gail McGuire Volkswagen New Beetle Prod 1 172.52
11 21 Chris Czyzio/Eric Carlson Mitsubishi Eclipse Prod GT 3 172.56
12 83 Mark Utecht/Diane Sargent Dodge Omni Turbo Group 5 4 172.74
13 71 Bryan Hourt/Peter Cardimen Honda Civic Group 2 1 173.59
14 67 Jay Kowalik/Scott Embree Honda Civic Prod 2 174.33
15 38 Lesley Suddard/Marc Goldfarb Dodge Charger Group 5 5 174.59
16 108 Gerald Sweet/Stuart Spark SAAB 99 EMS Group 2 2 174.91
17 76 Ted Mendham/Lise Mendham Nissan Sentra Prod 3 176.97
18 121 Mark Bowers/Duffy Bowers Mitsubishi Starion Group 5 6 177.18
19 81 Robert Bohn/Dave Bruce Mitsubishi Eclipse Prod GT 4 177.79
20 123 Vincente Frontinan/Peter Watt Volkswagen Corrado Group 5 7 178.01
21 115 Seamus Burke/Walden Robinson Mitsubishi Galant Prod GT 5 180.63
22 175 Alex Erisoty/Ben Greisler Audi 90 quattro Open 5 182.75
23 70 Kendall Russell/John Dillon Dodge Shadow Prod GT 6 186.65
24 109 James Frandsen/Todd Bourdette Audi 200 Prod GT 7 188.08
25 56 Douglas Davenport/Allan Kintigh Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 3 189.00
26 171 Gregory Trepetin/Sonia Trepetin Honda Prelude Group 5 8 189.34
27 199 Michael White/Michael Ronan SAAB Gli Group 2 4 189.69
28 42 Eric Burmeister/Mark Buskirk Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 5 190.56
29 65 Don Rathgeber/Jim Brandt Ford Mustang 5.0 Group 5 9 192.08
30 137 Phil Smith/Pam Smith MGB-GT Group 2 6 194.27
31 47 Ken Kovach/Mark Rinkel Ford Escort Group 2 7 197.68
32 60 John Rahill/Vladimir Hladky Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 8 198.78
33 112 Jens Larsen/Claire Chizma Mazda Rx-7 Group 5 10 200.33
34 187 John Shirley/Philip Barnes Triumph TR-7 V8 Group 5 11 201.86
35 97 Paul Dubinsky/Yvon Dubinsky Eagle Talon Prod GT 8 203.06
36 156 Donald Paulsen/Charles Paulsen Volvo 240 GT Prod 4 203.11
37 152 Wojciech Hajduczyk/Cezary Fidler Plymouth Laser Open 6 208.78
38 119 Peter Malaszuk/Darek Szerejko Daewoo Nubira Prod 5 208.80
39 132 William Tremmel/Peter Coleman Volkswagen Jetta GL Prod 6 209.92
40 130 Jim Kuhn/Jennifer Logel Audi quattro Open 7 212.42
41 126 Arthur Wojcik/Charles Cox Mitsubishi Galant Open 8 215.63
42 29 Dean Fry/Donald Kennedy Subaru Legacy Open 9 DNF
43 169 Carlos Arrieta,Jr/Dick Casey SAAB 900 Group 5 12 DNF
44 19 Rod Dean/Nichole Hunter Plymouth Laser Prod GT 9 DNF
45 22 Michael Curran/Nichole Hunter Eagle Talon Prod GT 10 DNF
46 79 Tom Ottey/Pamela McGarvey Mazda 323 GTX Prod GT 11 DNF
47 100 Donal Mulleady/John O'Reilly Mazda 323 GTX Prod GT 12 DNF
48 168 Celsus Donnelly/Kevin Mullan Eagle Talon Prod GT 13 DNF
49 36 Evan Moen/Thomas Young Plymouth Neon Prod 7 DNF
50 58 Roland McIvor/Brendan Bohan Nissan Sentra SE-R Prod 8 DNF
51 78 Scott Naturale/Patrick Munhall Volkswagen Golf GTi Prod 9 DNF
52 6 Steve Gingras/Bill Westrick Eagle Talon Open 10 DNF
53 11 Ivan Orisek/Olga Orisek Audi quattro Open 11 DNF
54 14 Garen Shrader/Doc Shrader Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV Open 12 DNF
55 43 Carlos Arrieta, Sr./Belen Arrieta Audi quattro Open 13 DNF
56 57 Arthur Odero-Jowi/Jim Hurley Mitsubishi Eclipse Open 14 DNF
57 64 Sylvester Stepniewski/Adam Pelc Audi 4000 quattro Open 15 DNF
58 99 Sakis Hadjiminas/Brian Maxwell Volkswagen Fox Kit Car Open 16 DNF
59 104 Martin Donnelly/Peter Cunningham Eagle Talon Open 17 DNF
60 116 Thomas Lawless/Declan Hegarty Mitsubishi Eclipse Open 18 DNF
61 141 Frank Sprongl/Daniel Sprongl Audi quattro S2 Open 19 DNF
62 159 Michael Zamikhovsky/Ron Norton Toyota Celica Open 20 DNF
63 162 Keith Townsend/Jennifer Cote Toyota Corolla Open 21 DNF
64 179 Demetrios Andreou/Constantin Mantoupolas Audi Coupe Open 22 DNF
65 114 Frank Cunningham/Nick Pessoa Volkswagen G60 Group 5 13 DNF
66 166 John Daubenmier/Stanley Rosen Chevrolet S-10 Group 5 14 DNF
67 10 Bill Malik/Christian Edstrom Volvo 240 Group 2 9 DNF
68 15 Brad Hawkins/John Dobbins Volkswagen Jetta Gli Group 2 10 DNF
69 66 Richard Pilczuk/Brian Pilczuk Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 11 DNF
70 69 Charles Sherrill/Mark Rea Honda Civic CRX Si Group 2 12 DNF
71 77 Robert Pao/Bob Barrall Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 13 DNF
72 118 Brenden Lawless/Garrett Meegan Volkswagen Scirocco Group 2 14 DNF
73 129 Scott Kreisler/John Bonasera Nissan 200SX Group 2 15 DNF
74 144 Charlie Langan/Hughie Langan Ford Escort Group 2 16 DNF
75 155 Padraig Purcell/Patrick McGrath Group 2 17 DNF
76 173 Patrick Lilly/Mark McAllister Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 18 DNF
77 180 Chris Havas/Eric Tremblay Volkswagen Golf GTi Group 2 19 DNF
78 909 Konstantin Roumiantsev/Elena Roumiantsev VW Golf GTi
Group 2 20 DNF