Wild West ProRally Wrapup: Lawler Gets First Win of Year at Wild West ProRally
21 June 1999
SHELTON, Washington — Irish eyes definitely were smiling in this part of
Washington yesterday evening, as Noel Lawler took the overall win in the
Wild West ProRally, round five in the Michelin SCCA ProRally
Championship. Lawler and navigator Charlie Bradley have been close
before this year in their Hyundai Tiburon, but this time everything went
their way.
Lawler’s victory marked the fifth different winner in as many
events this season.
Team owner John Buffum made it a one-two finish for Libra Racing
and Hyundai, as he and navigator Mark Williams bought their Hyundai
Elantra home second overall. Paul Eklund and navigator John Allen
finished a very strong third in their Subaru Impreza. Hot on their heels
were Laughlin O’Sullivan and new navigator John Oxford. O’Sullivan won
the second round of the championship earlier this year in the same Audi
quattro.
Defending Group 5 champion Ralph Kosmides and co-driver Joe Noyes
finished fifth overall and well clear of the competition with their
Toyota Supra Turbo. However, the sailing was easy for them only toward
the end of the two-day event. Until late in the rally, they had strong
competition, which was slowed or knocked out of the event by the tough
roads. Gerry Valentini and Lee Sorenson brought their Mazda Rx-7 in
second in Group 5.
Only 23 seconds behind Kosmides and Noyes were Production GT
winners Gail Truess and Cindy Krolikowski, in a Mazda 323 GTX. It was
Truess’ second-consecutive class win in Washington, and kept her record
perfect in the state – two visits, two wins. Earlier in the year, she
and regular navigator Pattie Hughes took the PGT honors in the Doo Wop
ProRally. Second in PGT went to Rim of the World winners Lee Shadbolt
and Claire Chizma, in a Subaru Impreza. They finished eighth overall.
Group 2 winners Todd Hartmann and Shawn Callahan came in an
impressive ninth overall. They were in Hartmann’s Volkswagen Golf GTi,
which features a special six-speed
European transmission. They had strong competition throughout a large
protion of the rally. However, as was the case in Group 5, the rough and
twisty course ate away at their competition until Hartmann and Callahan
had a comfortable margin.
For the second rally in a row, the Production Class win went to the
Volkswagen New Beetle of Karl Scheible and Gail McGuire. That gave the
new-style Beetle wins in only its second and third ProRallies ever. Just
to add an extra touch of class to what ended up being an easy event for
their team, McGuire made sure that the car had fresh-cut flowers in the
driver’s-side bud vase that is standard on the street cars.
The next round of the Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship will be
the Maine Forest ProRally, which will take place in Rumford, Maine, the
weekend of July 30-31.
— WRG —
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Wind River Group, Inc.
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Wild West ProRally
Shelton, Washington
June 18-19,1999
Final Results
Pos. Class Driver/Co-driver Time Difference
Vehicle/Tires (Hours, minutes, seconds)
1 Open Noel Lawler/Charlie Bradley 2:36:29 0:00:00
Hyundai Tiburon/Michelin
2 Open John Buffum/Mark Williams 2:40:38 0:04:09
Hyundai Elantra/Michelin
3 Open Paul Eklund/John Allen 2:48:27 0:11:58
Subaru Impreza/Michelin
4 Open Lauchlin O'Sullivan/John Oxford 2:48:55 0:12:26
Audi 4000 quattro/Michelin
5 Gp5 Ralph Kosmides/Joe Noyes 2:50:55 0:14:26
Toyota Supra/Michelin
6 PGT Gail Truess/Cindy Krolikowski 2:51:18 0:14:49
Mazda 323 GTX/Michelin
7 Open George Plsek/Renn Phillips 2:52:13 0:15:44
Audi Coupe/Michelin
8 PGT Lee Shadbolt/Claire Chizma 2:53:15 0:16:46
Subaru Impreza/Michelin
9 Gr2 Todd Hartmann/Shawn Callahan 2:59:51 0:23:22
Volkswagen Golf GTi/Michelin
10 Open Tony Chavez/Ken Cassidy 3:00:15 0:23:46
Mitsubishi Galant VR-4/Michelin
11 Prod Karl Scheible/Gail McGuire 3:01:12 0:24:43
Volkwagen New Beetle/Michelin
12 Gr5 Gerry Valentini/Lee Sorenson 3:05:49 0:29:20
Mazda Rx-7/Michelin
13 PGT Kendall Russell/John Dillon 3:17:38 0:41:09
Dodge Shadow/Michelin
14 Gr2 Chad Dykes/Deborah Fuller 3:50:41 1:30:12
Toyota pickup/Michelin
15 Open Rob Hansen/Ed Hill 4:12:46 1:57:17
Mitsubishi/Michelin
16 Gr5 John Forespring/Tony Lemon DNF DNF
Ford Mustang/Michelin
17 Open Garen Shrader/Floyd 'Doc' Shrader DNF DNF
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV/Michelin
18 Gr5 John Lane/Scott Huhn DNF DNF
Volvo Turbo/Michelin
19 Gr5 Doug Schrenk/Rob Walden DNF DNF
SAAB/Michelin
20 Gr2 Bill Malik/Christian Edstrom DNF DNF
Volvo 240/Michelin