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RALLY: GRS Headwaters final report

GRS wins Headwaters ClubRally. ELK RIVER, Minnesota -- Gingras Rally Sport has taken its second win in the Bloomington Subaru sponsored Subaru Impreza WRX that was introduced late last season. Driver Steve Gingras (of Elk River, Minnesota), ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 6:09 AM

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GRS wins Headwaters ClubRally.

ELK RIVER, Minnesota -- Gingras Rally Sport has taken its second win in the Bloomington Subaru sponsored Subaru Impreza WRX that was introduced late last season. Driver Steve Gingras (of Elk River, Minnesota), along with first-time co-driver Phil Strohm (of Saginaw, Minnesota), won the Headwaters ClubRally in Park Rapids, Minnesota, by nearly two minutes, besting a field of over thirty entrants. This is the fourth time Gingras has won the Headwaters rally; the previous wins were in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

"Weather conditions were threatening rain, so I wanted build an early lead and let the rest of the teams play catch up in the rain and mud," said Gingras. "I was also concerned about a couple of potentially fast cars -- the Mitsubishi Lancer Evos of Dennis Martin (of Wisconsin) and Brian Scott (of Michigan). Since this was Phil's first rally, it took awhile for him to get used to calling out instructions from the route book. We gave up only fourteen seconds on the rally's first stage, then won the next three stages."

Gingras and Strohm were helped by attrition, as Scott lost over ten minutes on Stage Two with a broken wheel, and Martin's Mitsubishi suffered an engine failure on Stage Two which put him out of the rally. "I kept the pace up on Stage Four," said Gingras, "but after that I eased off and went into 'Wimp Mode', cruising through the final three stages. The only problem we had was the brakes were a little spongy after the first three stages due to a lot of left-foot braking, so we replaced the rear pads and bled the brakes at the first service opportunity. At the second service, all we did was check fluids and top up the fuel."

This was the second rally victory for the Bloomington Subaru sponsored WRX in only five outings. The first came at the Magnum Opus ClubRally near Munising, Michigan, last September. The car was unable to finish the other three rallies where it was entered, once due to a damaged suspension that put the car off the road, the other two times due to mechanical failures.

Gingras purchased the Subaru WRX last year and built it in to a Performance Rally race car himself with the help of friends. The engine was built by SVS, Inc. of Saginaw, Minnesota, owned by Phil Strohm's father, Mark Strohm.

Finishing second at Headwaters was the Subaru of Graham Price and Scott Putnam, one minute and 55 seconds (1:55) behind Gingras. Third place overall went to the Production Class Nissan Sentra SE-R of brothers Jake and Silas Himes, 3:02 behind Price.

Gingras Rally Sport is also sponsored by ACT II Popcorn, www.Subaru.net, Rally Performance and PIAA Lighting.

-grs-

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