PRESCOTT RALLY COMPLETES PACIFIC DIVISION FOR 2009 PRESCOTT, AZ — Round 3 of the United States Rally Championship's Pacific Division. The Prescott Rally, the final qualifying round prior to the season finale at International Rally New York, was run on October 2nd and 3rd in the high deserts of Central Arizona. A compressed two-day schedule allowed teams to participate in a multiple pass recce session Friday morning, register and inspect competing vehicles Friday afternoon, complete the competition stages Friday night and Saturday with awards and prize giving Saturday night. Daniel O'Brien and Brendan McCabe made the trek from New York to pick up additional points towards the USRC AWD season championship and to size up Keith Jackson and Marra Estep, their closest rivals. The rally began with Jackson setting fast stage time by almost 20 seconds. O'Brien countered on stage two and took the overall lead by less than three seconds. Stage three marked the end of the battle as Jackson collected a tree, allowing O'Brien to cruise through the rest of the weekend to victory. Production AWD was a battle between Will Hudson and Brian Szykowny and Shawn and Jennifer Hudspeth. The two teams traded the lead back and forth with the Hudspeth's coming out on top. The husband and wife team have secured their spot in New York with a strong third place overall at Prescott. Open 2WD was an unexpected runaway for Odi and Amy Bakchis, running as high as second overall until troubles on stage 5 ended their rally. This allowed Tim and Dick Moser to take over the lead and finish an incredible second overall in the older Golf. In Production 2WD, John Black and Katianna Pihakari's Ranger pushed Alex Rademacher and John Stewart's Subaru until a big off on stage six. Alex and John cruised in for the win with Jason Wong and Yjiro Otsuki in second in their Neon. This year's event featured 101 stage miles over the two day format with activities based at Tim's Subaru and the Prescottonian Hotel in Prescott, Arizona. Sponsors for the event include Scott Roofing of Phoenix, Tim's Subaru of Prescott along with the Subaru Western Region, The Prescottonian Hotel, and Whiskey Row Screen Printing. Timing and Scoring are provided by the California Rally Series. The series now moves to New York for the final round with six Pacific Division qualifiers eligible for a part of the $12,000 tow subsidy. The Pacific Division qualifiers are: All-Wheel-Drive Championship and All-Wheel-Drive Production Cup:
Two-Wheel-Drive Championship and Two-Wheel-Drive Production Cup:
Additional event information is available at www.prescottrally.com. Additional Championship information is at www.usrallychampionship.com.
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