SCCA: Leg One News- Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally
1 October 2000
Prescott, Arizona - Perfect weather seemed to indicate that this year's Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally would be an ideal place for teams to make good on their late season strategies. Several teams, who's championship plans were scrambled by the Wild West event's surprise turnout, came to Prescott seeking salvation - unfortunately for many, the first day of this challenging event has ripped up even the best made plans, and have placed several teams Championship hopes in jeopardy. Key Notes: ¨ At the end of tonight's Leg One activity, overall series points leader Paul Choiniere is sitting a comfortable one minute and twenty seconds ahead of his nearest challenger - Californian Lon Peterson, whose Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS turbo is finally living up to its performance promise. Peterson, who has had difficulty just finishing a rally all season, seems to finally have all the bugs out of his turbocharged Subaru, and shot directly to the front of the pack, gaining 9 positions during this evening's short four-stage Leg. ¨ Overall, Subaru has turned into a true late-season bloomer, with nearly 1/5 of today's field consisting of the popular Impreza, and nearly all running at the front. Looking very much as Mitsubishi did at this June's Susquehannock Trail event, with 8 of their exotic Lancer Evos in attendance, all the Imprezas that took the green at the start of today's rally are top 10 contenders, and several, including Eric Eaton's brand-new 2.5 RS and Paul Eklund's turbocharged 95 model, are legitimate podium threats. This is a massive change for the manufacturer, as well as for Mitsubishi, which has seen its impressive field shrink to just one lone Evo carrying the manufacturer's championship hopes through this weekend. ¨ Close on Peterson's heels is series rising star Bryan Hourt, who's supercharged Honda Civic has placed him in a career high 3rd overall position. Locked in a tight battle for Group 5 honors, Hourt teamed up with veteran co-driver John Dillon, who lost his season's ride in Mark Nelson's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV when Nelson crashed out of the Wild West ProRally two weeks ago. The new duo hit it off immediately, and tonight's combination of two fast, flat-out and smooth stages and two highly technical stages struck a perfect combination for Hourt, his Honda and Dillon. ¨ Mark Utecht, doing his best to hold onto his slim lead in the Group 5 point's race, is doing well in his rented Group 2 VW Golf Gti, reclassed to Group 5 for this event. Working in his favor is co-driver Brenda Corneliusen, who spent the entire 1999 season in the co-driver's seat of a virtually identically prepared VW Golf of Robert Nielsen. Keeping it a family affair, the #98 Nielsen VW is now co-driven by Brenda's brother, Brett. ¨ Late season hard-chargers Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell had a tough stage one, suffering a blowout about halfway through the stage and shattering a rim. With a quick 10-minute service scheduled immediately after that stage, the team pressed on through SS1 with the 3-wheeled Evo, but lost some time regardless. Damage to the car was minimal, and the team feels confident that Saturday's Leg two will be a good one for them. ¨ Noel Lawler's brief run of good luck was precisely that - brief. After setting a blistering pace in SS1, gaining nearly 25 seconds on teammate Choiniere, the dashboard of Lawler's Tiburon caught on fire about halfway through SS2, causing a hasty exit from the car mid-stage. The fire was quickly extinguished, and Lawler and co-driver Charles Bradley finished the stage, but the duo felt it unwise to continue, and parked the car. This unfortunate turn of events effectively ends Lawler and Bradley's chances of a repeat overall Driver's Championship. ¨ Leg two of the Prescott Forest SCCA ProRally begins at 9:00 AM, following a 1-hour Parc Expose in Prescott at the host hotel. Also featured in tommorow's leg is a special spectator stage to be run at the Prescott Downs fairgrounds in Downtown Prescott in the late afternoon.