SCCA

ProRally: Lake Superior ProRally Saturday Notes

45.) Good morning, and welcome to the second day of the D&N Bank Lake Superior ProRally. The cars currently are in Parc Expose at the D&N Bank branch in Calumet, about 15 miles from Houghton, further out the Keweenaw Peninsula. They will ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 6:07 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

45.) Good morning, and welcome to the second day of the D&N Bank Lake Superior ProRally. The cars currently are in Parc Expose at the D&N Bank branch in Calumet, about 15 miles from Houghton, further out the Keweenaw Peninsula. They will spend the day out there, running eight stages. According to the schedule, the first car should finish the event shortly before 5:00 p.m. this afternoon, across the river in Hancock at the D&N Bank's headquarters. 46.) The day's activities will include running the well-known Brockway Mountain stage twice (in the same direction both times). This fast, all-tarmac stage runs along a ridgeline near Copper Harbor, and offers spectacular views, as well as hairpins and a series of big undulations where anyone who is going fast will bottom-out. In the wet, windy -– possibly snowy conditions –- it could be very tricky. 47.) Mother Nature's bad-hair day from yesterday hasn't ended; and the Weather Channel is still starting most of its bad-weather segments by pointing right to this part of the world. The forecast is for continued very high winds (gusting to 40+ mph), rain or snow showers and temperatures in the lower 30s. 48.) Lesley Suddard and Marc Goldfarb stopped by the press room this morning to confirm that they are out of the rally. After suffering through sporadic ignition problems all day yesterday, they finally lost the turbo on their Group 5 Shelby Charger. The car then ran so poorly that their service crew decided to needle them a bit on the drive back by trying to pass the rally car with the service vehicle. Once back in Houghton, at about 2:00 a.m., they began searching for a turbo. Mark Utecht (Group 5 Omni GLH Turbo) offered one, but it was not compatible with the Charger. So Suddard and Goldfarb will be spectating today. 49.) ClubRally entry 544, the Eagle Talon of Dan and Matthew Malott, has been withdrawn due to shock failure and a lack of suitable spares. Rather than risk damaging the car due to ill handling, they have withdrawn. Another factor is that Malott has to drive the car to work on Monday. 50.) ClubRally entry 505, the Volkswagen Golf GTi of Jon Hamilton and Josh Westhoven, is out with control-arm failure. They encountered some slush in a downhill right-hander, went off and broke the control arm. They have been unsuccessful in finding a replacement. 51.) Here is today's restart order: Buffum/Smith, 71.71; Joy/Griffin, 74.31; Choiniere/Becker, 75.39; Scheible/McGuire, 77.76; Hurst/Bohn, 79.42; Gingras/Westrick, 81.76; Pepp/Stang, 82.16; Krolikowski/Krolikowski, 82.31; Hourt/Cardimen, 83.20; Davbenmeier/Rosen, 83.74; Malik/Edstrom, 83.96 (tie); Czyzio/Carlson, 83.96 (tie); Pilczuk/Pilczuk, 83.98; Richard/Chizma, 85.31; Malaszuk/Szerejko, 85.86; Anderson/Williams, 86.61; Utecht/Sargent, 87.40; E. Burmeister/Buskirk, 88.98; Kieranen/Bruso, 89.14; Kosmides/Noyes, 89.26; Vinson/TBA 90.18; Moen/Young, 90.25; Rek/TBA, 91.34; Babinski/Boseko, 91.65; Grzelak/Plante, 92.00; Davenport/Kintigh, 92.07; Hajduczyk/Fidler, 92.95; Smith/Smith, 94.86; Kemp/Hendricksen, 95.16; Nielsen/Corneliusen, 96.22; McCleery/Brandt, 99.11; Erisoty/Greisler, 99.23; Rathgeber/Bodnar, 99.89; Jastrzebski/Korneluk, 100.35; Wojcik/Cox, 100.44; A. Burmeister/Moore, 102.21; Dubinsky/TBA, 103.39; Sherrill/Rea, 107.66. 52.) Garen and Doc Shrader (Open Class Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV) did not restart this morning, due to head-gasket failure. They are spectating today. 53.) Henry and Cindy Krolikowski (Dodge Shadow GT), who started the day leading Group 5 comfortably, had an off on today's first stage (Stage 11). They told radio reporters that they got back on the road quickly and lost little time. 54.) Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker (Open Class Hyundai Tiburon) also had problems on that stage, but they were far longer-lasting than the Krolikowskis. They broke a halfshaft and had to hobble along through two and a half stages before they could get to service for repairs. 55.) The weather out on the stages is typically Upper Peninsula changeable. On the first stage it was rainy and sleeting. The next stage started out beautiful, but a squall came in and changed all that. The wind is still strong, estimated at 30-40 knots, and the waves on Lake Superior are estimated to be 15 feet. There were no surfers. However, reformed lake-surfer Jeff Burmeister spoke fondly of the big, steep waves with their beautiful right-to-left break and the long, open beach. 56.) After the first pass through the Brockway Mountain stage, teams are calling it their favorite of the event. The Daewoo boys, Peter Malaszuk and Darek Szerejko were particularly vocal about how much they liked it. 57.) Really small world department: Last night, while he was out scouting around, Tim Cline was standing in the dark near a group of spectators talking about rallying, old times, etc. After a while he happened to hear someone say, "What ever happened to Tim Cline?" When Cline asked who was inquiring the speaker stepped out and identified himself. It turned out to the driver with whom he navigated this event 26 years ago, Bent Pahl. 58.) The Production GT Plymouth Laser RS of Rod and Nichole Dean clearly is out of the event. The car just passed by the press room on the trailer, with the nosed bashed in. 59.) It looks as though Prescott, Arizona, isn't the only rally town that demonstrably supports its high school. A little while ago a parade of cheering high-schoolers led by a fire engine passed by our window on the world, loudly spreading their enthusiasm. 60.) Eileen Deehan and Andy Wos of Rallysport, Inc., tell us that Jim Anderson and Mark Williams (Group 5 Honda Prelude) were the clear winners of the unofficial "big-air" contest on the second running of Brockway Mountain. When they landed they hit so hard, out of sight of the spectators, that many people thought that they had crashed and began running to them. However, Anderson and Williams continued, leaving only a long set of tracks on the right side of the road –- about as far as possible far from the cliff on the left side. 61.) Our crew at the finish reports that John Buffum and Lance Smith are our unofficial overall winners in the Hyundai Elantra. Henry Joy and Chris Griffin are second in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II. Jon Kemp and Rod Hendricksen are reported to be third in their Audi quattro. Karl Scheible and Gail McGuire think that they are fifth in the Evo V.

62.) At the start of the day today, Buffum was concerned about the 1.75 minutes he lost on last night's final stage changing a flat. At the time, he was far more concerned about visibility in the snowy conditions than tire issues or slipperiness. However, today he made up the time. He says that Hyundai is, understandably, very happy about winning a fourth-consecutive manufacturers' title. 63.) Buffum hopes to be running a two-car team again next year, and is consulting with Hyundai. He also is investigating the possibilities for involvement in the future FIA event, which will hinge on car eligibility.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article ASTC: Peter Hills Interview

Next article SWS: Featherlite Southwest Series Sets Schedule

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

18 min

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

49 min

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts