RALLY: Buffum and Smith Win Lake Superior ProRally
25 October 1999
HOUGHTON, Michigan — It was shades of old times this weekend, as
11-time champion John Buffum and navigator Lance Smith fought Mother
Nature and the rally long known as the oldest, meanest and toughest
event on the Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship. When it was all
over, they had taken their Hyundai Elantra to the overall win in the
Oct. 22-23 D&N Bank Lake Superior ProRally, the final event of the
1999 season.
LSPR, as the rally is known, is always a tough event, but this
weekend Mother Nature threw in rain, sleet and snow, as well as
powerful winds that built 15-foot waves on nearby Lake Superior. In
fact, the weather was so harsh that virtually every Weather Channel
bad-weather segment during the two-day event began by looking squarely
at this part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Buffum and Smith overcame the conditions and a formidable array of
challengers to take the overall win. In doing that, they finished a
bit less than two minutes ahead of 1995 winner Henry Joy and Chris
Griffin, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II. Jon Kemp and Rod Hendricksen
were third overall and in the Open Class in their Audi quattro S4.
In seventh overall were Group 5 winners Mike Hurst and Rob Bohn, in a
Mazda Rx-7. Interestingly, they gave credit for their win to unwanted
tires bought from the team they beat for the Group 5 win. However,
that duo, Henry and Cindy Krolikowski, had bigger matters on their
minds. Despite four wins this year, they had to wage a very difficult
come-from-behind battle to win the class championship in their Dodge
Shadow GT. They did it by finishing second.
Production GT winners Brian Pepp and Jerry Stang were able to
breathe a little easier once their prime competition was taken out by
an accident. After that they could concentrate more on Mother Nature's
challenges and the tough course itself. In the end, they brought their
Eagle Talon home three minutes ahead of second-place finishers Patrick
Richard and Claire Chizma, who were in a Subaru Impreza.
Group 2 winners Bryan Hourt and Pete Cardimen had their share of
drama both before and during the event. Prior to the start, they had
many anxious moments searching for a replacement driveshaft for their
Honda Civic after discovering that their brand-new spare was
mislabeled and incomplete. They couldn't find one, but another team
loaned them something they thought might work. It did, and they got
the class win. The victory was doubly important, because they had been
in a very tight points race. The win gave them the Group 2 driver and
co-driver championships, respectively.
The contest in the Production Class wasn't for the season
championship, which had been decided in a previous event. Rather, it
was a father-and-son battle. All the way through the rally, Evan Moen
and Tom Young (Plymouth Neon ACR), and Brain Vinson and Moen's father,
Ron (Volkswagen Golf GTi), traded fastest times. When it was all over,
they finished just 0.02 minutes apart – 1.2 seconds – with the younger
Moen and his co-driver getting the win. A navigation error opened the
apparent margin some at the finish, but it did nothing to diminish the
intensity of their battle.
— WRG —
LSPR-0002
102499
> D&N Bank Lake Superior ProRally
> Round 9 1999 Michelin SCCA ProRally Championship
> Houghton, Michigan
> October 22-23, 1999
>
> Official Results
> Hours
> OA Class Minutes
> Pos. Pos. Driver/Co-driver Car Seconds
> ----- --- ---- ----- ------------------ ------------------------------------
> 1 1 Open John Buffum Hyundai 1:48:19
> Lance Smith Elantra
> 2 2 Open Henry Joy Mitsubishi Lancer 1:50:06
> Chris Griffin Evo II
> 3 2 Open Jon Kemp Audi quattro 1:51:55
> Rod Hendricksen
> 4 4 Open Paul Choiniere Hyundai 1:54:09
> Jeff Becker
> 5 5 Open Karl Scheible Mitsubishi Lancer 1:55:19
> Gail McGuire Evo V
> 6 6 Open Steve Gingras Eagle Talon 1:57:51
> Bill Westrick
> 7 1 Group 5 Mike Hurst Mazda Rx-7 1:59:31
> Rob Bohn
> 8 1 PGT Brian Pepp Eagle Talon 2:01:33
> Jerry Stang
> 9 2 Group 5 Henry Krolikowski Dodge Shadow GT 2:02:09
> Cindy Krolikowski
> 10 1 Group 2 Bryan Hourt Honda Civic 2:03:43
> Pete Cardimen
> 11 2 PGT Patrick Richard Subara Impreza 2:04:33
> Claire Chizma
> 12 3 PGT Chris Czyzio Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:05:03
> Eric Carlson
> 13 2 Group 2 Bill Malik Volvo 240 2:05:34
> Christian Edstrom
> 14 3 Group 5 John Davbenmier Chevrolet S-10 2:07:37
> S. Rosen
> 15 4 Group 5 Jim Anderson Honda Prelude 2:07:49
> Mark Williams
> 16 3 Group 2 Bob Neilsen Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:09:27
> Brenda Corneliusen
> 17 4 Group 2 Eric Burmeister Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:11:37
> Mark Buskirk
> 18 7 Open Carl Kieranen Eagle Talon Tsi 2:12:08
> Jerry Bruso
> 19 1 Prod. Evan Moen Plymouth Neon ACR 2:12:31
> Tom Young
> 20 5 Group 5 Ralph Kosmides Toyota Supra Turbo 2:14:06
> Joe Noyes
> 21 5 Group 2 Doug Davenport Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:14:06
> Al Kintigh
> 22 8 Open John Rek Audi quattro 2:14:33
> Mariusz Malik
> 23 6 Group 2 Richard Pilczuk Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:15:43
> Brian Pilczuk
> 24 6 Group 5 Ted Grzelak Mazda Rx-7 2:16:00
> Chris Plante
> 25 9 Open Wojceich Hajduczyk Plymouth Laser 2:17:07
> Cezary Fidler
> 26 2 Prod. Brian Vinson Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:17:33
> Ronald Moen
> 27 2 Prod. Peter Malaszuk Daewoo Nubira 2:17:57
> Darek Szerejko
> 28 10 Open Miroslan Babinski Toyota Celica 2:18:34
> Dariusz Boesk
> 29 11 Open Arthur Wojcik Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:24:18
> Charles Cox
> 30 7 Group 5 Dan Rathgeber Ford Mustang 2:24:22
> Daniel Bodnar
> 31 8 Group 5 Colin McCleery Mercury Merkur 2:25:00
> Jimmy Brandt
> 32 7 Group 2 Phillip Smith MGB GT 2:25:24
> Pamela Smith
> 33 12 Open Paul Dubinsky Eagle Talon 2:26:46
> John Dillon
> 34 8 Group 2 Charles Sherrill Honda Civic CR-X 2:41:18
> Mark Rea
> 35 9 Group 2 Art Burmeister Volkswagen Golf GTi 2:41:31
> Randy Moore
> 36 4 PGT Janus Jastrzebski Subaru Impreza 2:57:21
> Marcin Korneluk
> Noel Lawler Hyundai Tiburon DNF
> Charlie Bradley
> Garen Shrader Mitsubishi Lancer DNF
> Floyd "Doc" Shrader Evo IV
> Mark Utecht Dodge Omni GLH Turbo DNF
> Diane Sargent
> Jim Warren Audi quattro DNF
> Chuck Binder
> Alex Erisoty Audi quattro DNF
> Ben Greisler
> Leslie Suddard Shelby Charger DNF
> Marc Goldfarb
> Gail Truess Mazda 323 GTX DNF
> Pattie Hughes
> Kendall Russell Dodge Shadow DNF
> Dave Weiman
> Rod Dean Plymouth Laser DNF
> Nichole Dean
> David Green Eagle Talon DNF
> Michael Wilkenson
> Brian Scott Eagle Talon DNF
> David Watts
> Biegalski Wiktor Mitsubishi Eclipse DNF
> Pesko Oariuszg
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> Wind River Group, Inc.
> 900 State Mill Road; Akron, Ohio 44319 USA; 330.644.7774; 330.645.2045 Fax
> windrivr@ix.netcom.com or windriv@aol.com
>