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Press Notes
2003 LSPR Preview
For Immediate Release
STARS COLLIDE FOR FINAL ROUND OF SCCA PRORALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
SCCA ProRally Championship Round 9: Lake Superior ProRally
TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 11, 2003) - Since he has already claimed the John Woolf
Cup, Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America’s David Higgins won’t be
punching the gas like usual this weekend at the Lake Superior ProRally,
Round Nine of the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship. Yeah, right.
Instead, the back-to-back overall driver’s champion will twist, turn and
accelerate his way around the upper-peninsula of Michigan, rallying
against a dream field consisting of multi-time champions (Tom McGeer and
Paul Choiniere), rally legends (John Buffum) and World Rally
Championship-experienced drivers (Pasi Hagström) in his quest for another
honor, the North American Rally Championship, an award he has never won.
However, Higgins’ battle against Subaru Rally Team Canada’s McGeer (a
six-time winner of the Canadian Rally Championship including this season)
for the NARC will not be the only one to watch at this year’s finale.
With $25,000 of contingency money awaiting the top Subaru of the FIA-Group
N class, point leader Mark Utecht will have to be nearly flawless if he
wants to lay claim to the championship and the check. Currently ahead
44-42, Utecht has never trailed in his 2003 quest for the FIA Group N
Championship and has led outright since event three, Susquehannock Trail.
Irish competitor Shane Mitchell has been on his heels all year and needs
some help if he wants to come away as champion. If Utecht finishes second
(which he has done five times in 2003), the only way Mitchell can win the
$25,000 Subaru contingency, and the point championship, is to win the
class competition outright, something he has done twice this year (Rim of
the World and Wild West).
The Woodner Cup, awarded to the top overall 2WD driver, is also up for
grabs heading into the season’s final weekend. Group 2 competitor
Christopher Whiteman is a scant one point ahead of both his Mopar Dodge
teammate, Group 5 competitor Doug Shepherd, and Mazda’s Eric Burmeister,
81-80. However, Burmeister leads Whiteman in the Group 2 standings,
106-103. Meanwhile, Shepherd has already wrapped up the Group 5 title over
his other Mopar Dodge teammate, Brian Vinson. He leads Vinson 90-65 coming
into Lake Superior.
Production GT will have to wait to the end of this weekend to name its
2003 champion also. Bruce Davis and Valdemaras Maciukevicius have
flip-flopped the top spot repeatedly during the course of this season, and
now Davis leads Maciukevicius, 91-90, meaning anything could happen during
the two-day event.
Mike Halley, in his 1999 Volkswagen New Beetle, only has to cross the
start ramp and earn one point to wrap up the Production class
championship. He leads Trevor Donison 67-45 currently, which means even if
Donison were to finish first in the class and Halley retired after the
start, the final standings would be 68-67.
After Saturday’s completion of LSPR, the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship
draws to a ceremonial close with a breakfast followed by the season’s
awards presentation Sunday morning (Oct. 19) at the Franklin Square Inn in
Houghton.
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Media Contact & Web Information:
Curtis Kitchen - SCCA, Inc. Public Relations Manager
Direct inquiry e-mail: ckitchen@scca.com Mobile: 785.633.7977
Time zone at-event: Eastern Daylight Time (GMT - 5 hours)
SCCA ProRally: www.scca.com
Lake Superior ProRally: http://www.lsprorally.com (full start order listed here)
The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of
America, Inc. ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the SCCA.
For immediate release
October 17, 2003
SCCA ProRally Championship Round 9: Lake Superior
Update 1
Maybe One for the Ages? Hagström, Higgins Battling Early
Houghton, Mich. - Only two stages of the Lake Superior ProRally had been
completed, but in the service area lined up beside the main street of
Kenton, Mich., Tim O’Neil’s brow was already furrowed deep in thought. He
had started first on the road for Round 9 of the SCCA championship, but it
soon became apparent that the gravelly upper-peninsula roads were giving
the driver and his Air Force Reserve Focus fits.
"It was hard telling what the corners were going to do," O’Neil said early
on before settling into eighth place after seven stages. "I didn’t have to
put up with the dust being first on the road, but some corners were slick,
some were grippy, and I didn’t know how to go after that. Alex and I are
really doing well with communication though, so maybe we’ll be able to
pick it up later."
Well ahead of O’Neil, Pasi Hagström, of Subaru Rally Team USA, and David
Higgins of Mitsubishi Motor Sports America each took very different paths
through the first seven stages, but at the end of those stages, both
drivers sat on top of the standings, tied with a time of 1:08.42.
Higgins started sluggishly and battled a failing center differential in
his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, falling 22 seconds behind Hagström who
posted the fastest stage times for the first three. After Mitsubishi’s
crew were able to replace the differential and make other minor
adjustments, Higgins blasted out of the service and posted the fastest
stage times for Special Stages four, five (where he chopped 17 seconds off
of Hagström’s lead) and six. His run gave him the overall lead briefly by
four seconds, but Hagström stormed through SS7 and pulled even with
Higgins.
"We had some more trouble with the center differential toward the last few
stages," said Higgins, referring to SS6 and SS7. "It’s something that they
fixed right now and we’ll see how it goes tonight. It should make for a
good rally tomorrow."
Hagström did not experience any major mechanical problems in his Subaru
Impreza WRX Sti through the majority of Friday’s action, only reporting
some minor braking problems after SS5.
"The brakes are working well again and I’m confident again," said
Hagström, who is looking for back-to-back wins after winning the Wild West
International Rally in September. "We’ll go out and run SS8 tonight and
see who gets to start first tomorrow."
Heading into Saturday, Hagström’s teammate, Ramana Lagemann, will be third
on the road after he was very solid Friday, sitting just 55 seconds behind
the leaders after SS7. Eight-time SCCA ProRally Champion Paul Choiniere is
1:49 behind Lagemann, while six-time Canadian Champion Tom McGeer filled
out the top five after SS7, just 18 seconds behind McGeer.
In Group N, Shane Mitchell and Mark Utecht continue to battle for the
championship, neither giving in on during the first eight stages. Utecht’s
Subaru Impreza WRX was shaky at first as the transmission repeatedly
slipped out of fourth gear and became stuck in neutral. After some
self-described "finger shifting," Utecht’s Subaru Impreza WRX responded
and he was able to regain 10 seconds on Mitchell. On the other hand,
Mitchell has reported no major problems and is 42 seconds ahead of Utecht.
Russell Hodges sits in a distant third with nine stages to go.
Eric Burmeister, who sits in first place for the Group 2 driver’s
championship, had a first day that wasn’t without drama. On SS3, the hood
on Burmeister’s Mazda Protégé flipped up, blocking his front view and
taking away his light bar. The 6’5" Burmeister finished the stage as he
and co-driver Cindy Krolikowski peered through the space between the car
and the bottom of the raised hood to finish the stage, but his early
27-second lead disappeared as Christopher Whiteman, who came into LSPR
three points behind Burmeister in Group 2, posted a 15:54 on SS3, almost
90 seconds faster than Burmeister’s 17:11. Burmeister dropped even more
time to Whiteman as he later rolled the car after slipping off a tight
right turn on SS5. However he and Krolikowski were unharmed and were able
to continue.
Group 5 driver Doug Shepherd is well on his way to claiming the class
championship in his Mopar Dodge SRT-4. His first seven stages were the
fastest in the class and no one, including second-place G5 driver Josh
Jacquot, was able to make up any time on the veteran Shepherd as he built
a lead of better than five minutes after seven stages.
In Production GT, Lithuanian Valdemaras Maciukevicius put together a
championship effort as he and point leader Bruce Davis battled Friday.
Davis’ Mitsubishi Eclipse experienced trouble with its turbo for most of
the early stages, widening the door for Maciukevicius’ title hopes.
Currently, Otis Dimiters leads the class but is not part of the points
race. If he can hold on, it would be the first U.S. championship for
Maciukevicius.
Mike Halley’s Volkswagen New Beetle only had to cross the start ramp in
order to win the Production class championship and it did just that. After
claiming the win, Halley spent most of the first day coasting, posting
respectable times, but not really pushing.
Stage eight will finish this evening and then day two, consisting of 37.34
stage miles, of the Lake Superior ProRally will commence at 11 a.m. after
a short, half-hour parc expose at the Quincy Mine Hoist outside of
Houghton, Mich.
A final recap of the Lake Superior ProRally will be posted with final
results as soon as they become available upon completion of the rally. The
scheduled end of LSPR is approximately 6:50 p.m.
Information regarding the class information:
Car # = number on vehicle. Car # under 200 are ProRally entries. Car #
over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants. Class = Open, FIA Gr
N - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P (Production) -
slowest; are cars very near to showroom stock configuration. G5 - two
wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars; PGT
- high horsepower production (stock) cars.
TOP 15 (7 OF 16 STAGES COMPLETE)
Current Pro/
Start Pos Car# Club Class Driver Country Co-Driver Country Car Time
3 1 1 P O David Higgins Isle of Man Daniel Barritt UK 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1:08.42
7 1 14 P O Pasi Hagström FIN Marko Taskinen FIN 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 1:08.42
6 3 5 P O Ramana Lagemann USA Michael Orr UK 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 1:09.37
2 4 11 P O Paul Choiniere USA John Bennie UK 2003 Hyundai Tiburon 1:11.26
9 5 17 P O Tom McGeer CAN Howard Davies UK 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:11.44
8 6 6 P O Lauchlin O’Sullivan USA Christian Edstrom USA 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1:12.01
4 7 85 P O John Buffum USA Stephen McAuley IRE 2003 Hyundai Tiburon 1:12.52
1 8 29 P O Tim O’Neil USA Alex Gelsomino USA 2002 Ford Focus SVT 1:14.33
12 9 45 P GN Shane Mitchell IRE Paul Donnelly IRE 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:15.11
13 10 88 P O Doug Havir USA Scott Putnam USA 2002 Subaru WRX Sti 1:15.24
14 11 83 P GN Mark Utecht USA Jeff Secor USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:16.03
17 12 52 P G5 Doug Shepherd USA Pete Gladysz USA 2004 Dodge SRT-4 1:17.57
37 13 54 P G5 Josh Jacquot USA Dave Coleman USA 2003 Dodge SRT-4 1:23.08
26 14 143 P G2 Chris Whiteman USA Mike Paulin USA 2003 Dodge Neon STX 1:23.45
33 15 535 P G2 Jake Himes USA Silas Himes USA 1992 Nissan Sentra SER 1:24.18
FIRST DAY RETIREMENTS Reason (SS)
5 DNF 25 P O Seamus Burke IRE Charles Bradley IRE 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Engine (2)
10 DNF 23 P GN Mark Nelson USA Mike Fennell JAM 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Rear susp. (5)
11 DNF 116 P O Tom Lawless IRE Jason Gillespie IRE 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (2)
15 DNF 30 P O George Plsek USA Jeff Burmeister USA 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Center diff.(2)
*22 DNF 91 P GN Jonathan Bottoms USA Eric Dahlgren USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX (2)
*34 DNF 69 P G2 Charles Sherrill USA Bryan O’Neal USA 1989 Honda CRX (1)
* = denotes position in ProRally field only (doesn’t consider club entries)
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LSPR 2003 Recap
For immediate release
October 18, 2003
SCCA ProRally Championship Round 9: Lake Superior
Lucky Number Seven for Higgins, Subaru Finishes Second, Third
Houghton, Mich. - There wasn’t much that Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports
America driver David Higgins hadn’t faced in earning six victories out of
the first eight SCCA ProRally Championship events. He had survived various
mechanical problems at times. He had skillfully maneuvered a multitude of
different road surfaces throughout the country and toiled through
inclement weather at every rally.
In fact, about the only thing that had managed to stop the British driver
from finishing an event in the 2003 Championship was the flu-induced upset
stomach of his co-driver, Daniel Barritt, which caused the team to retire
after Daniel couldn’t go any further than the first few stages at the Wild
West International Rally.
Aside from his teammate’s bout with sickness, Higgins had to face every
one of those other challenges at the 2003 Lake Superior ProRally and he
succeeded as he wrapped up an amazing year that saw the back-to-back
ProRally Overall Driver Champion win push his win total to seven. So when
he had to be towed to the finish by his his teammates, Lauchlin O’Sullivan
and Christian Edstrom, and then push his car across the line, Higgins
simply took it in stride.
"We were having some problems with the transmission and the rear and
center diffs," Higgins said. "We had problems, then Pasi (Hagström) had
his problem. It really seemed like no one wanted to win this rally."
Subaru Rally Team USA’s Ramana Lagemann ran perhaps his best rally of the
year with he and co-driver Michael Orr finishing second behind
Higgins/Barritt, matching his best finish in an event since finishing
second at the one-stage sprint at Pikes Peak. Lagemann grabbed the second
spot overall even though he was given the lowest ProRally entry time on
SS10 after he cut through the chicane in his 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti.
"My school boy error may have cost us the win here, but that’s rally,"
Lagemann said, who incurred a 1:15 penalty for the cut (he finished 1:03
behind Higgins). "We had expectations that faltered a bit this year, but
we did finish the season strong and that should get us ready for next
year."
Lagemann’s teammate, Pasi Hagström, finished third, giving Team Subaru two
spots on the podium, but it was bittersweet for the Finnish driver. His
cumulative stage times were cumulatively 1:17 faster than Higgins’, but
Hagström and co-driver Marko Taskinen were assessed three minutes and 48
seconds of road points after a mathematical mishap at the final main time
control Friday, Special Stage Eight, left the Finnish duo checking into
the time zone 19 minutes late.
"It was my fault," Taskinen said. "I wrote the wrong number in the wrong
spot and I take full responsibility for it."
While both were visibly disappointed with what had transpired, Hagström’s
smile remained.
"We would have liked to fight with Higgins like we did yesterday,"
Hagström said. "After the time error, it made us go down a bit
emotionally, but we had to keep on with the rally."
Eight time overall champion Paul Choiniere finished fourth in his 2003
Hyundai Tiburon with co-driver John Bennie and Lauchlin
O’Sullivan/Christian Edstrom wound up in fifth. With the finish,
O’Sullivan wrapped up second position in the Woolf Cup standings, while
Edstrom did the same in the Whitaker Cup ranks, meaning Team Mitsubishi
swept the top two spots in both the overall driver and co-driver
championships.
In FIA-Group N, Ireland’s Shane Mitchell forced Mark Utecht to push from
the start of day one as he jumped out to a large lead early, while
problems with Utecht’s transmission surfaced during the first eight
stages. Utecht, wanting to push early, make up part of the time deficit
and put pressure on Mitchell, rushed out 11th on the road going into SS9,
but his day and rally ended there when his 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX went
off course and rolled at least twice.
"We were going into a right three over crest," Utecht said, referring to
the stage note description of the road where he flipped. "I was carrying
too much speed into the turn and the car just kept going."
The incident was an expensive one for Utecht as Mitchell drove a solid
rally the rest of the way, finishing 10th overall and winning the $25,000
prize given to the top Subaru competitor in Group N. Utecht walked away
with the second Subaru contingency prize check worth $12,500.
In Group 5, there was no question who the best car belonged to this
weekend. Mopar Dodge’s Doug Shepherd stormed his way through the field,
staking a lead of almost seven minutes after day one and never looking
back as he claimed the win and the Group 5 championship in his SRT-4.
"We pulled it out this year," Shepherd said. "Group 5 looked abysmal at
the beginning of this year, but a bit of determination and some luck got
us some wins and those put us where we needed to be."
Josh Jacquot, who was also in a Dodge SRT-4, finished second behind
Shepherd in Group 5 for the event.
Mopar Dodge’s third entry and the only one in Group 2, Christopher
Whiteman, who came into LSPR three points behind his former Michigan Tech
roommate, Mazda’s Eric Burmeister, posted a time of 2:13:29 in his 2003
Dodge Neon STX and took advantage of the weekend that befell Burmeister.
Burmeister began the weekend in good form, opening up a 30-second lead in
his 2002 Mazda Protégé after the first two stages. But soon after, a
series of incidents, including the hood flying open on-course, an
off-course roll and getting high centered, effectively ended any chance to
catch Group 2 Champion Whiteman.
Mike Halley’s Volkswagen New Beetle only had to cross the start ramp in
order to win the Production class championship and it did just that. After
claiming the win, Halley spent most of the remaining event coasting,
posting respectable times, but not really pushing.
"This is a good one to get," Halley said. "You’re looking at a couple of
guys who hadn’t won anything in their 30 years of competition (referring
to co-driver Bill Montgomery and himself). That makes this one pretty
sweet."
In Production GT, Otis Dimiters claimed the event title in his 2000 Subaru
Impreza 2.5 RS, but it was Lithuanian Valdemaras Maciukevicius who capped
off his season with a championship effort as he and pre-event, class
point-leader Bruce Davis battled throughout Friday. Davis’ Mitsubishi
Eclipse experienced trouble with its turbo for most of the early stages,
widening the door for Maciukevicius’ title hopes. On Saturday, Davis’ ride
finally limped to the finish, about nine minutes behind Maciukevicius’
2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS, which allowed Maciukevicius to claim the
championship.
The SCCA ProRally Championship will next fire up after the new year when
the 2004 Championship heads to Atlanta, Mich., for Sno*Drift, Jan. 30-31.
Information regarding the class information:
Car # = number on vehicle. Car # under 200 are ProRally entries. Car #
over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants. Class = Open, FIA Gr
N - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P (Production) -
slowest; are cars very near to showroom stock configuration. G5 - two
wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars; PGT
- high horsepower production (stock) cars.
TOP 15 AND NON-FINISHERS (15 OF 15 STAGES COMPLETE)
Fin Pro/
Start Pos Car# Club Class Driver Country Co-Driver Country Car Time
3 1 1 P O David Higgins Isle of Man Daniel Barritt UK 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1:50:34
6 2 5 P O Ramana Lagemann USA Michael Orr UK 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 1:51:37
7 3 14 P O Pasi Hagström FIN Marko Taskinen FIN 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 1:53:05
2 4 11 P O Paul Choiniere USA John Bennie UK 2003 Hyundai Tiburon 1:53:25
8 5 6 P O Lauchlin O’Sullivan USA Christian Edstrom USA 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1:54:07
9 6 17 P O Tom McGeer CAN Howard Davies UK 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 1:55:27
4 7 85 P O John Buffum USA Stephen McAuley IRE 2003 Hyundai Tiburon 1:57:19
1 8 29 P O Tim O’Neil USA Alex Gelsomino USA 2002 Ford Focus SVT 1:58:36
13 9 88 P O Doug Havir USA Scott Putnam USA 2002 Subaru WRX Sti 2:00:30
12 10 45 P GN Shane Mitchell IRE Paul Donnelly IRE 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX 2:00:38
17 11 52 P G5 Doug Shepherd USA Pete Gladysz USA 2004 Dodge SRT-4 2:05:24
37 12 54 P G5 Josh Jacquot USA Dave Coleman USA 2003 Dodge SRT-4 2:12:07
29 13 774 P PGT Otis Dimiters USA Peter Monin USA 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS 2:13:15
26 14 143 P G2 Chris Whiteman USA Mike Paulin USA 2003 Dodge Neon STX 2:13:29
33 15 535 P G2 Jake Himes USA Silas Himes USA 1992 Nissan Sentra SER 2:14:09
SECOND DAY RETIREMENTS Reason (SS)
14 DNF 83 P GN Mark Utecht USA Jeff Secor USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Rolled (9)
34 DNF 71 P G5 Bryan Hourt USA Tom Tighe USA 2001 Acura Integra Mechanical (9)
FIRST DAY RETIREMENTS
5 DNF 25 P O Seamus Burke IRE Charles Bradley IRE 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Engine (2)
10 DNF 23 P GN Mark Nelson USA Mike Fennell JAM 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Rear suspen.(5)
11 DNF 116 P O Tom Lawless IRE Jason Gillespie IRE 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mechanical (2)
15 DNF 30 P O George Plsek USA Jeff Burmeister USA 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Center diff.(2)
21 DNF 771 P GN Matt Iorio USA Philip Ho USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Mechanical (6)
*22 DNF 91 P GN Jonathan Bottoms USA Eric Dahlgren USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Mechanical (2)
*34 DNF 69 P G2 Charles Sherrill USA Bryan O’Neal USA 1989 Honda CRX Mechanical (1)
* = denotes position in ProRally field only (doesn’t consider club entries)
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