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USRC: USAC summary on Rally New York USA

LAWLESS, QUINN WIN RALLY NEW YORK USA BY THREE SECONDS INDIANAPOLIS -- Irishmen Tom Lawless and Graham Quinn edged Irishman Seamus Burke and American Chrissie Beavis on the last special stage of Saturday's Rally New York USA (opening round of the ...

LAWLESS, QUINN WIN RALLY NEW YORK USA BY THREE SECONDS

INDIANAPOLIS -- Irishmen Tom Lawless and Graham Quinn edged Irishman Seamus Burke and American Chrissie Beavis on the last special stage of Saturday's Rally New York USA (opening round of the U.S. Rally Championship), to win the two-day tour through the Catskill Mountain region by a total of three seconds. Their Mitsubishi Lancer Evos were first and second in the Open class (for cars with four-wheel-drive and turbos).

The pair of Lawless and Quinn trailed Burke and Beavis for 15 of the 16 special stages before claiming the lead in the final special stage, taking the race in one hour, 29 minutes and 58 seconds.

Lawless and Quinn made a poor tire choice on the morning of the first day, picking treads more suitable for dry pavement than that in the rain, which was starting to fall. This left them 29 seconds behind early leaders of Burke and Beavis when they reached the service stop at the end of the second special stage. From there, the two teams traded fastest times, with Lawless generally a little quicker and gradually closing the gap between them.

The competition between the leaders was complicated by the presence of chicanes, made of plastic barrels and cones, on some of the fastest roads to control the speeds. Each marker nudged out of position resulted in a 10-second penalty. Lawless entered the 16th and final special stage eight seconds behind, and set a time one second faster. However, he nudged one marker, and Burke moved two. Under the rules, that gave Lawless an 11-second win on the special stage, enough to give him the three-second win when they reached the finish line.

American David Anton and British navigator Robbie Durant, driving a Subaru WRX STI, placed third overall and were the highest finishers in the Group N (production) class.

Mark Lawrence from the U.K. and Robert Maciejski from Poland, in a Volkswagen Golf, took the category for two-wheel-drive cars by 16 seconds from Americans Eric Burmeister and Dave Shindle in a Mazda 3. They placed eighth and ninth overall.

Each day of the rally was also counted as a round of the Eastern States Rally Championship, which included some of the national competitors and many East Coast regulars. Lawless and Quinn won both days comfortably, since Burke and Beavis had not entered these events. Second on each day went to the team of America's Jeremy Drislane and Carl Williamson from the United Kingdom, whose times would have put them third in the national event if they had entered it.

A total of 49 cars were entered between the national and Eastern events.

- USAC -

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