SCCA Maine Forest ProRally Leg One Results and Key Notes
30 July 2000
SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #5 - Maine Forest Leg One Results, Key Notes Hyundai, Subaru and Mitsubishi 1,2,3, more of each in Top Ten Rumford, Maine; -- At 3:00 PM Eastern Time this the largest field to ever start an SCCA ProRally Championship event began the 12th running of the SCCA Maine Forest ProRally. The start time was 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled, to accommodate the huge field. Key Notes & Quotes: ¨ At the Friday morning Press Stage, actor and road racer Perry King gave his 2000 Hyundai Tiburon its first test, and came away with big smiles. "I need to forget everything I know about road racing" commented King, "and remind myself that when I feel things that aren't familiar, to know that the car will pull me through." While this is King's first performance rally, the actor does have considerable track experience, holding SCCA and CART licenses since the mid 80's. ¨ Patrick Richard, perhaps earning the title of 'the hardest working man in Performance Rally" - running full rally schedules in both the US and Canada, got off to a bad start here in Maine - losing the transmission on his Subaru Impreza during the morning's press stage. A new transmission was found, but the team couldn't get it installed in time for the start, so Richard got a tow across the start line by Lauchlin O'Sullivan to earn his 2 starting points. Getting O'Sullivan to offer the tow was a bit of payback - Richard stopped on-stage during April's Rim of the World event to offer a high-centered O'Sullivan a tow. Lauchlin accepted, but the time it took to get the car off the berm cost Patrick a class win at that event. ¨ Noel Lawler, the defending 1999 Champion is finally having a good day, holding a slight edge over Canadian points leader Tom McGeer. Pleased with the Cargotec/Snap-on Tools Hyundai's performance, Noel admitted to finding a few rocks, but that it wasn't slowing him down: "It's been a long time, but we're up on the field, and it feels very good." McGeer's strong 2nd place finish puts Subaru in its highest position of the season, and with 2 additional Subarus in the top10, its strongest manufacturer showing of the year. ¨ The addition of Michael Fennell to the co-driver's seat on the Shrader's Flash Market Mitsubishi Lancer team is already paying dividends, with Garen Shrader holding a comfortable 5th place. "Like many of us, we hit a rock and bent a rim, but we really are keeping it a little conservative to make sure we are there at the end" noted Garen; It's really starting to come together, and we're finding that rhythm." ¨ Special Stage 3 was, unquestionably, the roughest stage yet seen in 2000 season, with nearly every top team at the service having to check alignments, replace bent control arms and rims, and deal with more punctures after this single stage than has been seen all season. ¨ With the top 10 teams all within a 2 minute spread, and the next 15 cars less than a minute and a half behind, the competition is fierce, and the stage is set for a long and brutal day of competition tomorrow. ¨ Leg two of the Maine Forest ProRally begins at 8:30 AM, and concludes with the now traditional fan favorite "Downtown Street Stage" in the center of the Rumford business district at dusk tomorrow evening.