ProRally: Ojibwe Forests Sunday Report

Ojibwe Forests ProRally

85.) At the Osage Service, Eric Burmeister and Mark Buskirk report that the coke-and-flour trick is working just fine on the clutch in their Group 2 Golf GTi. Only two more stages to go, but the final one is more than 20 miles long. 86.) The Group 5-leading Krolikowskis have been really flying. When questioned about the car looking a little nervous – fishtailing slightly much of the time – Cindy said they figured it was just due to their being the first two-wheel-drive car, and that not all of the loose gravel had been swept away by the all-wheel-drives ahead of them. 87.) Gail Truess and Pattie Hughes are having a good rally in their leased PGT Mazda 323 GTX, but they realize that there is no way that they can make up very much of the seven minutes they lost yesterday when they were high-centered. 88.) Dan Sprongl says that they broke the right-front strut on their Audi quattro S2 about three miles into Stage 1 today, after hitting an unmarked washout. They were able to continue on until repairs could be made without losing a lot of time. 89.) Alex Erisoty and Ben Greisler had to change the left-rear strut on their Audi 90 quattro at the Osage service. Greisler said they weren’t sure whether it actually came apart on the last stage or on the transit. However, he did add that they apparently did the entire Maine rally with a broken front strut. (They finished ninth overall, and Erisoty was then a Seed 6 driver!) 90.) Jim Anderson and Martin Dapot (Group 5 Honda Prelude) got a big scare from the TV-sized rock that they forgot lurks on today’s second stage. Anderson says that it’s not some little 14-inch portable, it’s a 19-incher; but they still eluded it. Other than that, they love the many jumps on this rally’s stages. Their new suspension is working well, but they’d still like to tweak the adjustments a bit. 91.) Bill Malik and Christian Edstrom had a real adventure on today’s final two stages – and you should be able to see it on TV. Early on Stage 5, just as they got into fourth gear, the shift lever broke off. So they had to do the remainder of the stage in fourth. Prior to starting the 21-mile final stage (and with the help of Group 2 rival Bryan Hourt), they jury-rigged a four-way lug wrench onto the stub of the shifter, and did the whole stage with Edstrom holding the lug wrench in place while Malik drove. The in-car camera caught it all. So watch for the Speedvision broadcast. 92.) We’ve just found out that on the Wednesday after Maine Forest Ralph Kosmides and his wife had their first child. The vital information is: Nicholas Kosmides; 7 lbs. 4 oz.; 19 inches. For those who wondered why Ralph and Joe Noyes were not at Maine, that was the reason. Congratulations and best wishes from the whole ProRally family to the Kosmides family. 93.) Speaking of Kosmides, he and Noyes lost some time during the first day due to overheating, but still felt that they had some great stages. Today they broke a rear brake rotor on their Group 5 Toyota Supra Turbo on Stage 1, but carried on to the Osage service without much lost time. 94.) Well, the different-winner-every-event streak has ended, but not without some pretty high drama. Noel Lawler and Charlie Bradley have won Ojibwe Forests, and they did it as if they were playing out some Hollywood script. A hundred yards into the 21-mile final stage they broke a halfshaft. Instead of going to two-wheel drive, the car went to one-wheel drive. They soldiered on as hard as they could – knowing that Frank and Dan Sprongl were charging full-blast in their Audi quattro S2 trying to close the gap that existed by then. The Sprongls did make up a lot of ground, but still came up short despite their furious effort. The actual difference was about 30 seconds, but a one-minute road penalty made the gap about a minute and a half. Paul Choiniere and John Buffum were third overall in the other factory Hyundai Tiburon, two minutes further back. Garen and Doc Shrader were fourth in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV; and Jon Kemp and Rod Hendricksen were fifth in their Audi 4000 quattro. Ironically, even though there was shuffling of positions during the event, the top five cars finished in the same order that they started. 95.) Henry and Cindy Krolikowski and “Sparky,” their trusty Dodge Shadow were the Group 5 winners, sixth overall. They finished two minutes ahead of Ralph Kosmides and Joe Noyes (Toyota Supra Turbo), who were ninth overall. 96.) Bryan Hourt and Brian Shanfeld gave Team Honda Research the Group 2 win in their Honda Civic, after a close, rally long battle with Bill Malik and Christian Edstrom, in a Volvo 240. They finished about 30 seconds ahead after helping their rivals make repairs to their car prior to the start of the final stage. 97.) Jim Anderson and Martin Dapot rounded out the top 10 and took third in Group 5 with their Honda Prelude. 97.) Production GT winners Bryan Pepp and Jerry Stang were 11th overall in their Eagle Talon. Lauchlin O’Sullivan and John Dillon were second-in-class, 14th overall, in their leased Mazda 323 GTX. 98.) Hot on the heels of Pepp and Stang were Production winners Karl Scheible and Gail McGuire, in the Volkswagen New Beetle. With this win, they clinched both the driver and co-driver chamionships for the class. However, Scheible says that they definitely will run the two remaining series events. 99.) If overall winners Noel Lawler and Charlie Bradley were any higher, they’d have to file a flight plan with the FAA. It was a hard-fought win, and they’re positively elated. They’ve been walking around headquarters wrapped in wall-to-wall smiles and the Irish flag. European veteran Lawler described it as, “My greatest win. I’ve only won twice over here, but it’s the greatest. Frank (Sprongl) and I had a huge battle Friday, and it’s carried on into today.” He said that the roads (often compared to Finland’s round of the World Championship) were very well suited to both the car and his driving style. There were some deceiving turns that resulted in some “big moments,” but the car took the numerous jumps very well. Overall, he said that the car was “absolutely brilliant” – and quickly added that the part that broke in the Tiburon’s custom all-wheel-drive setup was not a Hyundai piece. 100.) Coming into this event, Lawler said that he knew he had to beat teammate Paul Choiniere at least once in the final three events in order to secure the championship. With the Sprongls physically between him and Choiniere on the road, he felt he was in a great position, and that he had nothing to loose. So he could go all-out. The win does not clinch the championship, but it does put Lawler in an extremely comfortable position. 101.) For those who were wondering, there was a long gap between batches of press notes earlier because we were working to get digital photography to England’s two premiere motorsports publications, Autosport and Motoring News. English journalist Neil Perkins has been here following the event and checking out the Michelin SCCA ProRally series.

Official Results

 OA Pos Driver/Co-Driver             Car                Time     Class
  1 Noel Lawler/Charlie Bradley      Hyundai Tiburon    2:24:56  1 Open
  2 Frank Sprongl/Dan Sprongl        Audi quattro S2    2:26:35  2 Open
  3 Paul Choiniere/John Buffum       Hyundai Tiburon    2:28:41  3 Open
  4 Garen & Floyd "Doc" Shrader      Mitsubishi Evo IV  2:30:50  4 Open
  5 Jon Kemp/Rod Hendricksen         Audi 4000 quattro  2:35:23  5 Open
  6 Henry & Cindy Krolikowski        Dodge Shadow       2:35:41  1 Group 5
  7 Bryan Hourt/Brian Shanfeld       Honda Civic        2:36:28  1 Group 2
  8 Bill Malik/Christian Edstom      Volvo 240          2:37:07  2 Group 2
  9 Ralph Kosmides/Joe Noyes         Toyota Supra T.    2:37:31  2 Group 5
 10 Jim Anderson/Martin Dapot        Honda Prelude      2:38:36  3 Group 5
 11 Bryan Pepp/Jerry Stang           Eagle Talon        2:39:22  1 PGT
 12 Karl Scheible/Gail McGuire       VW New Beetle      2:40:07  1 Prod.
 13 Alex Erisoty/Ben Greisler        Audi 90 quattro    2:40:51  6 Open
 14 Lauchlin O'Sullivan/John Dillon  Mazda 323 GTX      2:41:11  2 PGT
 15 Andrew Havas/Scott Slingerland   Mazda Rx-7         2:41:26  4 Group 5
 16 Chris Czyzio/Eric Carlson        Mitsubishi Eclipse 2:42:28  3 PGT
 17 Lee Shadbolt/Claire Chizma       Subaru Impreza     2:45:33  4 PGT
 18 Rod Dean/Nichole Dean            Plymouth Laser RS  2:46:29  5 PGT
 19 Colin McCleery/Jeff Secor        Ford Sierra        2:47:45  5 Group 5
 20 Paul Dubinsky/Yvon Dubinsky      Eagle Talon        2:48:57  6 PGT
 21 Bob Nielsen/Brenda Corneliusen   VW Golf GTi        2:49:46  3 Group 2
 22 Eric Burmeister/Mark Buskirk     VW Golf GTi        2:50:31  4 Group 2
 23 Gail Truess/Pattie Hughes        Mazda 323 GTX      2:51:30  7 PGT
 24 Ted Grzelak/Chris Plante         Mazda Rx-7         2:54:12  6 Group 5
 25 John Rek/Piotr Modrzejesdki      Audi S2            2:56:16  7 Open
    Steve Gingras/Bill Westrick      Eagle Talon        DNF
    Kyoichi Takaori/Ken Cassidy      Mitsubishi Evo III DNF
    Dean Panton/Mike Fennell         Hyundai Elantra    DNF
    Bill Morton/Mike Busalacchi      Mitsubishi Evo IV  DNF
    Mark Utecht/Diane Sargent        Dodge Omni         DNF
    Mike Hurst/Rob Bohn              Mazda Rx-7         DNF
    Jay Kowalik/Carl Lindquist       Honda Civic CVT    DNF
    Seamus Burke/Tom Lawless         Mitsubishi Galant  DNF
    Richard Pilczuk/Brian Pilczuk    VW Golf GTi        DNF
    Robert Burtis/James Burtis       Audi quattro       DNF
    Evan Moen/Tom Young              Plymouth Neon ACR  DNF
    Dariusz Bosek/Mariusz Malik      Eagle Talon        DNF
    Jim Dale/Robert Logue            Mazda Rx-7         DNF
    Doug Davenport/Al Kintigh        VW Golf GTi        DNF
    Brian Scott/W.David Watts        Eagle Talon        DNF
    Wiktor Biegalski/Daiusz Peszko   Mitsubishi Eclipse DNF
    Charles Sherrill/Mark Rea        Honda Civic CRX    DNF

Stage scores

 CAR  DRIVER     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10    11    12    13    14    15    TOTAL
   2 N Lawler   944  1321  1168   269   920  1224   352   631  1549  1472   898   600   611  2535     0  144.94
 141 F Sprong   960  1352  1182   291   926  1224   360   632  1550  1467   891   611   637  2476   100  146.59
   3 P Choini   986  1374  1191   296   949  1268   356   641  1561  1497   963   645   648  2494     0  148.69
  14 G Shrade  1001  1408  1217   281   948  1280   368   662  1637  1501   919   631   671  2560     0  150.84
  80 J Kemp    1006  1434  1246   286   977  1288   389   670  1614  1530   936   640   676  2847     0  155.39
  44 H Krolik  1049  1453  1330   306   984  1314   380   664  1703  1554   942   656   691  2543     0  155.69
  71 B Hourt   1086  1482  1330   291   966  1330   403   675  1675  1562   948   658   693  2549     0  156.48
  10 B Malik   1061  1475  1285   286   966  1314   381   694  1712  1570   967   668   730  2603     0  157.12
   7 R Kosmid  1076  1520  1312   298   985  1310   377   671  1686  1582   960   667   703  2606     0  157.53
 111 J Anders  1088  1490  1330   307  1011  1339   389   693  1740  1597   975   636   688  2578     0  158.61
  94 B Pepp    1092  1511  1281   314  1002  1321   398   694  1736  1632   981   671   713  2591     0  159.37
  61 K Scheib  1102  1430  1330   303  1001  1322   389   693  1776  1626   998   695   729  2619     0  160.13
 175 A Erisot  1097  1562  1330   319  1031  1377   382   695  1728  1569   976   655   693  2672     0  160.86
  90 L O'Sull  1131  1518  1330   302  1013  1334   384   687  1818  1613   962   663   699  2665     0  161.19
 188 A Havas   1160  1565  1330   318  1022  1393   385   688  1770  1560   958   656   699  2640     0  161.44
  21 C Czyzio  1106  1554  1320   305  1030  1387   392   691  1832  1613   997   665   700  2656     0  162.48
  35 L Shadbo  1106  1539  1330   321  1042  1424   428   724  1828  1617  1030   689   758  2719     0  165.55
  19 R Dean    1148  1606  1330   322  1051  1410   410   716  1817  1653  1045   661   707  2773     0  166.49
 555 C McClee  1143  1562  1330   314  1066  1447   402   726  1829  1713  1018   677   731  2818     0  167.76
  97 P Dubins  1168  1612  1330   328  1080  1425   418   710  1846  1695  1024   681   735  2743   100  168.95
  98 B Nielse  1113  1537  1330   340  1228  1407   400   724  1858  1664  1033   689   724  2931     0  169.78
  42 E Burmei  1128  1565  1330   319  1074  1412   403   720  1828  1658  1019   696   738  2762   400  170.52
  16 G Truess  1091  1550  1329   319   974  2124   421   752  1829  1681   995   671   722  2693     0  171.51
 158 T Grzela  1183  1653  1330   337  1120  1438   442   742  1963  1755  1050   715   749  2944     0  174.21
  59 J Rek     1178  1622  1330   322  1081  1475   491   754  1938  1968  1071   693   747  2857   100  176.27
   6 S Gingra  1018  1447  1228   286                                                                       DNF
  53 K Takaor  1052  1885  1239   275   929  1278   359   646                                               DNF
 120 D Panton                                                                                               DNF
 105 B Morton                                                                                               DNF
  83 M Utecht  1081  1476     0                                                                             DNF
  82 M Hurst   1083  1583                                                                                   DNF
  67 J Kowali  1097  1518  1330   315   996  1335   397   700                                               DNF
 115 S Burke   3002  1695  1330   295   994  1361   385   684                                               DNF
  66 R Pilczu  1089  1498  1330   298   987  1310   401   669                                               DNF
 132 R Burtis  1227  1657  1330   355  1162  1520   459   791                                               DNF
  36 E Moen    1103  1506  1330   329                                                                       DNF
 147 D Bosek   1176  1629  1330   344  1095  1497                                                           DNF
 103 J Dale    1194  1678  1330   355  1141  1530   446   770                                               DNF
  56 D Davenp                                                                                               DNF
 192 B Scott   1152  1654  1330   319  1077  1574   420   758                                               DNF
 194 W Biegal  1102  1531  1330   316  1009  1506                                                           DNF
  69 C Sherri  1243  1731  1330   369  1365  1570   465   787                                               DNF