SCCA Lake Superior ProRally - Final Report
23 October 2000
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship - Round #9 - Lake Superior Choiniere/Becker Cruise to 5th Consecutive Overall Season Victory Houghton, Michigan: The final round of the 2000 SCCA ProRally Championship season came to a satisfying conclusion today for team Hyundai, as Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker cruised to their 5th consecutive overall win of the season, and Choiniere's eighth Overall Driver's and Becker's seventh Overall Co-Driver's Championship in the SCCA ProRally Series. In an emotional acceptance speech at the event's award's banquet last night, Jeff Becker dedicated the win to his wife Tess, who passed away late in the 1999 season, and who, said Becker continues to 'support and look over us.' Key Notes & Quotes: ¨ While the Choiniere/Becker victory tonight came relatively easy to the eight-time Champion, but there were some concerns. The roads used on the second leg featured the re-addition of a few classic stages from when the forerunner of this event was conceived over 20 years ago. Well known in their previous incarnations as rough on equipment and fast, but technical, Choiniere was relieved: "The roads today seemed so amazingly wide and fast that it is difficult to believe that these are the same roads that we use to run a few years ago." ¨ Karl Scheible and Russ Hughes overcame a multitude of problems from Leg one to crawl their way back up the leader board. Languishing in 22nd overall position at the end of day one, the team came back to finish fourth overall, "A career best - the most positions I've ever made up in one day of rallying" said the 2000 Group N Champion, adding, "the car was just perfect." ¨ Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell continued to demonstrate their ability to remain consistent regardless of pressure applied as they finished their third event in a row with a podium finish since the addition of Michael Fennell to the team as the co-driver. Said Shrader; "It was flat out or back off all day long. I just followed Michael's lead." ¨ Brian Hourt's misfortunes in the early going yesterday; when his car developed a minor electrical problem that lead to a slide into the swamp; gave his Group 5 competitor Mark Utecht a chance to back off his pace for the remainder of the event. Utecht played a wise game, conserving the car and solidifying his grasp on the 2000 Group 5 Championship and the coveted Woodner Cup for the top finishing two wheel drive driver. "Brian was a great competitor all year, it is a shame that we had to finish this way without a big battle." The pair came to Lake Superior tied in the points chase. ¨ In Group 2, Bob Neilsen, a long-time entrant who first started to contest this event in the late 1970's, used all of that experience to his advantage as he held off the other Group 2 teams in the closest battle this season for a National Championship. Bob spoke of the chances in the event, "Today, not only the cars are becoming fast and strong, but the drivers and teams are stepping up too." ¨ Doug Shepard's weekend long battle to fend off the other teams behind him while trying to catch Paul Choiniere summed up, "I was down by about two minutes, but if Paul wanted, it could have been four. He was just uncatchable." ¨ This concludes the 2000 season of the SCCA ProRally Championship. The 2001 season of the SCCA ProRally Championship kicks off in Michigan's Lower Peninsula on January 26-27, 2001, with the aptly named Sno*Drift event. As in 2000, Sno*Drift will be a full points Drivers and Manufacturers Championship event.