OJIBWE 2001
Lovell takes SCCA ProRally Victory #4
by Tim WinkerBemidji, Minnesota - Subaru Rally Team USA’s Mark Lovell and Steve Turvey padded their lead in the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) ProRally Championship with Lovell’s fourth victory this season, this time at the Ojibwe Forests ProRally in Bemidji, Minnesota. It was not, however, an easy victory as pressure from Seamus Burke and Frank Cunningham in a Mistubishi Evo 6 and Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker in a Hyundai Tiburon kept Lovell on his toes. An uncharacteristic error by Choiniere, however, caused him to roll his car on Stage 11, putting him out of the event, and ultimately handing third place to Lovell’s team mates, Karl Scheible and Brian Maxwell, in a Group N Subaru Impreza. Fourth place went to the Knight Racing Subaru 2.5RS Turbo of Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick, with fifth place going to Tim Paterson and Scott Ferguson in a Mitsubishi Evo IV. Lovell’s margin of victory was 56 seconds over Burke, with Scheible just over 7 minutes behind Burke.
Filling out the top ten were: 6th - Alec Ellsworth and Steve Kaczkowski in an Evo IV; 7th - Mark Nelson and Alex Gelsomino in an Evo VI; 8th -Paul Eklund and Scott Huhn in a Subaru Impreza; 9th - Nat Stow and Amity Trowbridge, PGT winners in a Subaru WRX; and 10th - Mark Utecht and Brenda Lewis in a PGT Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Lovell’s win was not without controversy. Burke and Cunningham filed a protest that the USGS topographic maps that Turvey used to supplement the official route book also had information
written on them in pencil, a violation of the ProRally rule against the use of pace notes. After considerable discussion, the Protest Committee voted against the protest. Had the protest been upheld, Lovell would have been disqualified, plus given a 60 day suspension of his competition license, which would likely have ended his chances to take the ProRally Championship. Heavy rains on Friday just prior to the start kept dust to a minimum, but did turn some areas of the course rather slippery. The water quickly drained off the sandy roads, and warm weather on Saturday dried them to a nice hard packed surface. Winner Lovell compared them favorably with the roads of Finland.
Choiniere’s demise came when he hit a rock at the apex of a 90-degree right and rolled his Tiburon onto the roof. Prior to that, he had won two of the ten stages he had run. Burke won four stages, with Lovell taking eight stage wins. Other major retirements included Noel Lawler and Charles Bradley in their usual Hyundai Tiburon, and Rhys Millen and Josh Jaquot in the factory-backed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5 TME. Lawler dropped out only three miles into Stage 1 when his turbocharger blew. Millen put his car on the trailer with a blown head gasket following Stage 3. Patrick Richard, the 2000 PGT Champion, was entered with co-driver Ben Bradley in an Open class Subaru Impreza, but they did not start due to a pre-rally transmission failure.
It was a good weekend for cars prepared by TAD Motorsports. In addition to the second place Mitsubishi Evo 6 of Burke, TAD-maintained cars finished fifth, sixth, seventh and thirteenth, all Mitsubishi Lancer Evos.
Fourth place was a victory of sorts for Gingras and Knight Racing. The team was formed just last year, with two Subaru 2.5RS for Lon Peterson and Bill Gutzmann, and for Jonathan Ryther and Janice Damito. Gingras and Westrick joined the team this year in a third Subaru, bringing along their sponsorship from ACT II Popcorn and PIAA lighting. The team has shown promise by setting fast stage times early in events, but they have had a string of DNFs. The team uses manually shifted Subaru automatic transmissions modified to take the rigors of rallying, and have had problems shearing the bolts that hold the flex-plate to the torque converter. Knight Racing’s best previous finish was last year at Prescott Forest in Arizona when Lon Peterson finished second overall. Peterson was not at Ojibwe as the engine in his car was being rebuilt, while Jonathan Ryther and Janice Damito rolled on the NJK Ranch Spectator Stage - SS10 - while running in 7th place. Their car was quickly taken to the attached service area and patched back together, and Ryther went on to finish the stage and the rally, though in last place. Scheible cruised to the Group N victory after the Subaru of Ramana Lagemann and Russ Hughes stalled on Stage 13, the victim of a fuel pump relay failure. Lagemann was in third place overall and leading Scheible by over two minutes when the trouble put his car alongside the road. Co-driver Hughes worked to re-wire the fuel pump, ultimately hot-wiring it to the trunk light, as they were the only remaining car in Group N, and made it to the finish for second place, 37 minutes behind Scheible.
Nat Stow, with Amity Trowbridge filling in as co-driver, hauled his re
Ojibwe, continued from page 9
Tonneau On-Line October 2001
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Copyright 2001, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
