Lake Superior SCCA ProRally - Leg One Report
21 October 2000
SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #9 - Lake Superior Leg One Results, Key Notes More Bad Luck for Lawler, Choiniere, Shrader, Burke shine Houghton, Michigan - Perfect weather and road conditions added considerable speed to several stages of this year's Lake Superior SCCA ProRally, an unfamiliar circumstance for many teams accustomed to the Upper Peninsula's often wet or otherwise adverse conditions. For teams with their Championships already in the bag, this made for a fun and refreshing change - smooth and fast yet challenging roads that several call the best in the nation. For the teams still fighting it out, particularly those in Groups 2 and 5 - it called for absolute concentration and determination - a tough work assignment as the temps dropped to near freezing, and the rapid fire rally schedule pulls them on into the early morning hours. Key Notes: ¨ At the end of last night's lengthy 10-stage Leg One activity, overall series points leader Paul Choiniere has a substantial, nearly 2 minute lead over Doug Shepard, who himself is nearly two minutes ahead of third place Garen Shrader. Don't expect these margins to be easily maintained - the entire leg two of the rally is held in the daylight, and all teams in the top 6 are podium contenders. ¨ Noel Lawler's hard luck season finished up this weekend with yet another DNF, this time caused by engine failure just after completing stage 2. At the time he was running a close 2nd overall to teammate Paul Choiniere, and he went out with style - the engine let go 3 miles from the finish of SS2, and Lawler still set fastest time on the stage - 11 minutes, 93 hundredths, to Choiniere's 11:98. ¨ In the overall standings, the big winners in this long night of rally include the relatively unknown team of Shane Mitchell/Paul Donnelly, who picked up an amazing 26 positions and now sit in ninth place overall. Also doing well despite some bad luck early on are Karl Scheible and Russ Hughes, who had a tire failure in SS3, and had to run all of SS4 on the right front rim. Thanks to the smooth stage roads, Scheible was able to get the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V back to service with minimal damage to the car, and rapidly worked his way up the leaderboard, finishing his night in 4th position overall. ¨ In the 'bad rally luck - but still running' column include Bryan Hourt, who had a minor electrical glitch part-way into SS1. Pulling over to the side of the stage road, he found the loose connection and repaired it in under 2 minutes, got back in the car, and promptly slid the car into the swamp he was unknowingly parked right next to. Those kind of 'scenic details' aren't generally listed in the route book - and on this clear and moonless night, there aren't many places in North America darker than Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Hourt finally got unstuck an agonizing 14 minutes later, but the delay has the unfortunate consequence of virtually ending his Group 5 title chase with Mark Utecht. ¨ Also in that column include Patrick Richard, who suffered two tire failures on SS2. As with most rallyists, Richard only carries one spare, so he placed that one up front, and continued on, only for the 2nd tire to go flat shortly thereafter. Richard, who drives a Subaru Impreza, did have a little luck - the flat occurred at a viewing area, and a rally fan volunteered his temporary spare from his own 2.5RS, easily one of the most common cars at most performance rally spectator areas. The really bad luck, however, came later - the delays cost Richard a whopping 13 minutes in road points. While this isn't too bad for Richard - he's already sewn up the Production GT Drivers and Manufacturers Championships, Ben Bradley, his co-driver is the big loser - now effectively written out of the PGT co-driver's championship points chase. ¨ Road Penalties in general are running rampant this year, with several front running teams earning points, with 14 teams picking up anywhere from a relatively inconsequential 1 minute to several being assessed 10 or more - enough to knock any entry from the leaderboard. ¨ Leg two of the lake Superior SCCA ProRally begins at 10:30 AM, following a 1-hour Parc Expose in downtown Calumet. Also featured in Saturday's leg is a special spectator stage, the long-time favorite tarmac hillclimb up Brockway Mountain the early afternoon, prior to the rally's finish in downtown Hancock.