Minneapolis, Minnesota -- A reasonable finish was the primary objective of CPD Racing's Doug Havir and Scott Putnam at the Sports Car Club of America Cherokee Trails International Rally, held in the Cherokee National Forest near Chattanooga, Tennessee. The team reached that target by finishing the rally in their Prodrive prepared Subaru WRX, only the second SCCA ProRally they have entered.

"We agreed at the outset that we needed to finish," said driver Doug Havir. "We stuck to our plan, drove conservatively and finished, though a bit down in the overall standings. And unlike Sno*Drift, we did not damage the car."

"This was the first time we had used pace notes," said co-driver Scott Putnam. "We decided to take our time and learn how to use the notes, and to make certain we were among the finishers."

Most SCCA rallies use only a route book and do not allow teams to see the course prior to the event, but the Cherokee Trails Rally was also sanctioned by the FIA, so a pre-event reconnaissance was allowed so teams could make more complete notes on the rally roads and their hazards.

Subaru Rally Team USA, whose cars are also built and maintained by Prodrive, finished third and fourth overall at Cherokee Trails, with 2001 National Champion Mark Lovell and Steve Turvey taking third, and Ramana Lagemann and Mike Kidd finishing fourth. The overall victory went to independent Subaru team of David Higgins and Calvin Cooledge in a car entered by AVSport. Polish National Champion Janusz Kulig and Jaroslaw Baran were runners-up, only one second behind the winners.

The Havir/Putnam Subaru ended up 28th overall out of the 39 cars that finished the rally. There were 72 cars that started the ProRally. They were also 11th in the Open Class, the largest class in the field with over 30 entries.

CPD Racing is having a new Subaru WRX built by Prodrive in England, the firm that builds the World Rally Championship cars for Subaru. Havir and Putnam expect it to be ready for the Oregon Trails ProRally in April. For Cherokee Trails, CPD Racing used the WRX that Ramana Lagemann drove at this year's Sno*Drift ProRally. # # #

 
CPD Racing
Driver:		Doug Havir, Golden Valley, MN
Co-driver:	Scott Putnam, Richfield, MN

Sponsors:	Bloomington Subaru, Subaru.net

2002 	ProRally Results		Open	Overall
01/26	Sno*Drift ProRally		DNF	DNF
	Atlanta, MI

03/17	Cherokee Trails ProRally	11th	28th
	Chattanooga, TN

2001 	ClubRally Results		PGT	Overall
08/17	10,000 Lakes ClubRally		4th	14th
	Bemidji, MN (Co-driver: Al Kintigh)

08/18	Paul Bunyan ClubRally		3rd	7th
	Bemidji, MN (Co-driver: Al Kintigh)

09/07	Sou'Wester ClubRally		6th	25th
	Shelton, WA

09/08	Olympus ClubRally		3rd	5th
	Shelton, WA

10/19	Ottawa ClubRally		3rd	7th
	Houghton, MI

10/20	Keweenaw ClubRally		1st	2nd
	Houghton, MI

Important web sites for further information:
www.sccaprorally.org
www.subaru.net
www.subarurally.net
www.specialstage.com