RALLY: ProRally: Susquehannock Trail notes, start order

SCCA ProRally Championship Round 5
Susquehannock Trail

Wellsboro, PA A record ninety performance rally cars from across North America are entered in the 25th consecutive running of the Susquehannock Trail SCCA ProRally Championship event. All three Championship manufacturers (Hyundai, Subaru and Mitsubishi) are represented, featuring four of the hugely successful 5-time champion Hyundais, 10 Mitsubishi Lancers Evos, and a large grouping (14) of Subaru Imprezas, in both FIA Group N and SCCA specification Open categories.

The one-day event will be held on Pennsylvania state forest roads in the area south and west of Wellsboro. The Rally starts Saturday morning, 02 June at 10:30 AM EST, following a one-hour Parc Expose of all the performance rally cars entered.

Selected late entries, news:

* Riding a high from their commanding finishes at Rim of the World, where Subaru not only debuted two all new cars, but also captured the points leads in both Overall Manufacturers and the Drivers Championship, Subaru Rally Team USA overnight has become the team to beat.

* Five-time SCCA ProRally Manufacturer Champion Hyundai, for the first time in their SCCA history not leading in the points, is fighting back, with the largest fleet of cars the company has ever entered in a ProRally Championship event. Noel Lawler's Tiburon, completely rebuilt after his huge shunt at Oregon Trail in April is back. Paul Choiniere's remarkable come from behind 4th place finish at Rim of the World showed true grit and determination, and the team's miserable weekend at STPR last year clearly has the legendary Libra Racing crew motivated to finish well this year. Privateer Malachy Crawford will be piloting the team's evergreen Elantra, and veteran Tim O'Neill will be wheeling the company's Production class Tiburon, as Hyundai not only seeks to regain its lead overall points position, but also attempts to sweeten the deal with a Production class win.

* With both Rhys Millen and Richard Tuthill in absentia, a first glance at the entry list gives the impression that Mitsubishi's house is significantly diminished. However, the astonishingly quick and reliable independent team of Seamus Burke and Frank Cunningham, coupled with the surprise last minute switch of longtime Canadian Audi specialists Frank and Dan Spongl to the Mitsubishi brand, and the debut of UK Group N points leader Jeremy Easson hardly leave the company without players.

* The international FIA Group N category continues to grow and thrive, with STPR marking the first time in US competition that there will be a 'break-out' of Group N into two classes - Group 'N3' features two-wheel drive, normally aspirated cars, and features the very unique in the US Vauxhall Astra of Padraig Purcell and two new Ford Focuses.

* As was the case last year, torrential late spring rains that much of the north eastern portions of the USA have been receiving over then past week are playing havoc with team event strategies. While some stages will no doubt be dusty, giving advantage to the leader, others are expected to be slick and dust free, keeping the rest of the pack in the hunt. Last years' famous 'water crossing' at the end of SS1 was cancelled due to high water, but it appears that this year the stage will happen, as the water level is 'right at' the go/no go threshold, and the forecast for the next 36 hours has only overcast skies and light rain predicted.

<pre> Information regarding the start order list: Car # number on vehicle. Car # under 200 are ProRally entries. Car # over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants. Class Open, FIA Gr N - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P (Production) - slowest; are cars very near to showroom stock configuration. G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars; PGT - high horsepower production (stock) cars.

Susquehannock Trail SCCA ProRally Championship Round #5 02 June, 2001

Start Order (subject to final revision) Car # Seed Class Driver Country Start Co-Driver Country Car 1 1 0 Open Paul Choiniere USA Jeff Becker USA 00 Hyundai Tiburon 2 12 0 Open Jeremy Easson UK Mark Williams USA 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 3 14 0 Open Mark Lovell UK Michael Kidd UK 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 4 87 0 Open Frank Sprongl Canada Daniel Sprongl Canada 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 5 3 0 Open Noel Lawler USA Michael Fennell Jamaica 00 Hyundai Tiburon 6 2 0 Gr N Karl Scheible USA Brian Maxwell Canada 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 7 115 1 Open Seamus Burke USA Frank Cunningham USA 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 8 80 1 Open Jon Kemp USA Gail McGuire USA 84 Audi 4000 quattro 9 5 1 Open Doug Shepherd USA Peter Gladysz USA 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 10 116 1 Open Thomas Lawless USA Brian Sharkey USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 11 50 1 Open Steve Gingras USA Bill Westrick USA 00 Subaru Impreza 12 44 1 Gr N Henry Krolikowski USA Cindy Krolikowski USA 00 Subaru WRX STi 13 107 2 Open Tim Paterson USA Scott Ferguson USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 14 925 2 Open Sakis Hadjiminas USA Luis Figueiredo USA 95 Subaru Impreza 15 74 2 Gr N Ramana Lagemann USA Russ Hughes USA 00 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 16 123 2 Gr N Vicente Frontinan USA Luis Teixeira USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 17 168 2 PGT Celsus Donnelly USA Joshua Bressem USA 90 Eagle Talon TSi 18 83 2 PGT Mark Utecht USA Brenda Lewis USA 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 19 90 2 PGT Lauchlin O'Sullivan USA John Dillon USA 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 20 48 1 Open Lon Peterson USA Bill Gutzmann USA 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 21 71 1 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt USA Drew Ritchie USA 00 Acura Integra GS-R 22 188 2 Gr 5 Andrew Havas USA Scott Slingerman USA 79 Mazda RX-7 23 82 2 Gr 5 Mike Hurst USA Robert Bohn USA 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 24 63 2 Gr 5 Tad Ohtake USA Martin Dapot USA 98 Ford Escort ZX2 25 904 3 Open John Drislane USA Declan Hegarty USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 26 58 4 Open Alec Ellsworth USA Steve Kaczkowski USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 27 64 3 Open Sylvester Stepniewski USA Adam Pelc USA 84 Audi 4000 quattro 28 49 3 Open Jonathan Ryther USA Janice Damitio USA 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 29 527 3 Open Chris Gilligan USA Joe Peterson USA 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 30 565 3 Gr N Russell Hodges USA Jim Brandt USA 00 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 31 38 3 Gr N Lesley Suddard USA Marc Goldfarb USA 92 Ford Sierra Cosworth 32 914 3 Gr N Noel Nash USA Bernard Farrell USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 33 27 3 PGT Greg Healey USA John MacLeod USA 97 Subaru Impreza 34 992 3 PGT Bruce Perry USA Philip Barnes USA 90 Eagle Talon TSi 35 76 3 PGT Gail Truess USA Jeff Secor USA 89 Mazda 323 GTX 36 971 3 PGT Brendan Cunningham USA Paul McClean USA 90 Eagle Talon TSi 37 55 3 Gr 5 Brian Vinson USA Richard Beels USA 96 Toyota Supra turbo 38 73 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson USA Jim Newton USA 97 Honda Civic 39 40 2 Open Bruno Kreibich USA Rod Hendricksen USA 83 Audi quattro coupe 40 301 2 P Tony Chavez USA Doug Robinson USA 89 VW Golf Gti 41 190 0 P Tim O'Neil USA Georgio Cerboncini USA 00 Hyundai Tiburon 42 118 3 Gr N3 Ivor Wigham USA Edward Wahl USA 99 Acura Integra Type R 43 928 3 Open Dean Fry USA Rick Davis USA 90 Subaru Legacy 44 97 3 PGT Paul Dubinsky USA Yvon Dubinsky USA 92 Eagle Talon TSi 45 166 3 Gr 5 John Daubenmier USA Stanley Rosen USA 88 Chevrolet S10 46 887 3 Gr 5 Mark Bowers USA Sumit Panjabi USA 84 Mitsubishi Starion 47 42 3 Gr 2 Eric Burmeister USA Robert Dupree USA 89 VW Golf Gti 48 885 3 P Ted Mendham USA Lise Mendham USA 91 Nissan Sentra SE-R 49 126 4 Open Arthur Wojcik USA Dominik Jozwiak USA 94 Mitsubishi Galant GSX 50 982 4 Open Wojciech Hajduczyk USA Chuck Cox USA 91 Plymouth Laser 51 11 4 Open Ivan Orisek USA Olga Orisek USA 84 Audi 4000 quattro 52 185 4 Open Jon Bogert USA Daphne Bogert USA 88 Toyota Celica All-trac 53 173 4 Gr N Patrick Lilly USA Sergal Shovelin USA 98 Subaru Impreza 54 937 5 Gr N James Farrell USA John O'Reilly USA 99 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 55 881 4 PGT Pierre Bazinet Canada Dave Shindle USA 99 Subaru Impreza RS 2.5 56 950 4 PGT Shane Mitchell USA Paul Donnelly USA 92 Eagle Talon TSi 57 891 4 PGT Randy Zimmer USA Peter Watt Canada 96 Subaru Impreza 58 519 4 PGT Scott Harvey Jr USA Jeffrey Hribar USA 91 Eagle Talon TSi 59 913 4 Gr 5 Michael Curran USA Mike Kelly USA 92 Eagle Talon 60 940 4 Gr 5 Niall Donnelly USA Eoin McGeough USA 91 Mitsubishi Eclipse 61 207 4 Gr 5 Dave Hintz USA Rick Hintz USA 87 Mazda RX7 turbo 62 65 4 Gr 5 Don Rathgeber USA D.J Bodnar USA 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 63 957 3 Open Malachy Crawford USA Mark McAllister USA 99 Hyundai Elantra 64 970 4 Gr 2 John Rahill USA Vladimir Hladky USA 86 VW Golf Gti 65 955 4 Gr N3 Padraig Purcell USA John McCafferty Ireland 93 Vauxhall Astra GSi 66 987 4 Gr N3 Peter Reilly Canada Ray Felice Canada 00 Ford Focus 67 540 4 P Scott Carlborn USA Dale Dewald USA 92 Jeep Comanche 4.0 68 61 4 P Michael Halley USA Ole Holter USA 99 VW New Beetle 69 822 4 P Jeff Field USA David Weiman USA 85 Dodge Shadow 70 78 5 Open Paul Dunn USA Rebecca Dunn USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 71 932 5 Gr N Dmitri Kishkarev USA Scott Comens Canada 85 VW Golf GTi 72 931 5 PGT Donald Kennedy USA Matthew Kennedy USA 96 Subaru Impreza 73 88 5 PGT Don Taylor USA Donnie Bigelow USA 89 Dodge Shelby CSX 74 324 5 PGT Peter Workum USA Claire Chizma USA 00 Subaru Impreza 75 94 5 Gr N3 Craig Peeper USA Ian Bevan UK 00 Ford Focus 76 905 5 Gr 5 John Carrara USA Philip Ho USA 87 Dodge Shadow 77 947 5 Gr 2 William Bacon USA Alan Grant USA 97 Acura Integra 78 936 6 Gr 2 Donald Paulsen USA Charles Paulsen USA 80 Volvo 240 79 543 6 Gr 2 Christopher Whiteman USA Michael Paulin USA 85 VW Golf Gti 80 941 5 Gr 2 Daniel Cook USA Bill Rhodes USA 68 Datsun 510 81 505 5 Gr 2 Jon Hamilton USA Josh Westhaven USA 79 VW Rabbit 82 84 5 Gr 2 JB Niday USA Al Kintigh USA 86 VW Golf Gti 83 15 5 Gr 2 Brad Hawkins USA Adrian Wintle Canada 93 VW Golf Gti 84 137 5 Gr 2 Phil Smith USA Pam Smith USA 67 MGB-GT 85 69 5 Gr 2 Charles Sherrill USA Bryan O'Neal USA 89 Honda CRX-Si 86 133 5 P Thomas Young USA Jim LeBeau USA 97 Dodge Neon ACR 87 933 5 P Serguei Grichetchkine Canada Ksenia Prokofjeva USA 89 VW Golf Gti 88 942 5 P William Tremmel USA Peter Coleman USA 86 VW Golf Gti 89 927 5 P Brian Goss USA Sarah Gardescu USA 95 Dodge Neon ACR 90 949 6 P Scott Naturale USA Don DeRosa USA 84 VW Golf GTi

The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Hyundai Motor America, Inc., and Subaru of America, Inc.

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