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2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally
June 2, 2005
Wellsboro, Penn.
Press Notes - Thursday night
  1. Welcome to the 29th running of the Susquehannock Trail ProRally, round #3 of the Rally America Championship - a new championship for 2005 born from the Sports Car Club of America's withdrawal from ProRally at the end of last year. With last year's rally chair Debbi Segall retiring from the committee (although she has helped out with many aspects of this year's event), Meridith Croucher, former regional executive of the SCCA Finger Lakes Region, has taken over the top spot on the organizing committee - now known as the Finger Lakes STPR Motorsports, LLC to separate itself from the SCCA regional organization.

  2. Lots and lots of former Pro Rally overall winners are running this weekend, including Paul Choiniere, seven-time STPR winner and eight-time national champion; Stig Blomqvist, 1984 World Rally champion; Pat Richard, defending national Pro Rally champion; Shane Mitchell, last year's STPR winner; Matt Iorio, current leader in both the United States Rally Championship and the Rally America Championship; and Tom Lawless, winner of the USRC event earlier this year in Tennessee.

  3. Blomqvist is a particularly interesting story, as most drivers with his career would be long retired, but he answers simply "You have to do something," when questioned why he is still racing. He will be racing the David Sutton (Cars) Subaru Impreza Group N car which won the Rally America event earlier this year in Oregon. Blomqvist, who spends about half the year in his native Sweden and the other half traveling around, hadn't run in North America since a Canadian Rally in the '70s in Montreal until 1999, when WeeGee Smith offered him a ride in Carl Merrill's Ford Escort Cosworth for the Maine Forest Rally as a tribute to Carl. On that occasion, Blomqvist outlasted Frank Spongl and Paul Choiniere to win that event. As far as running rallies in the U.S., Blomqvist plans to run at least the next several events (Pikes Peak and Maine), and he enjoys running the U.S. rally circuits because of the variety of roads at the different events. It will be interesting to see how his Group N car fares against a strong group of faster Open class cars here.

  4. Speaking of Merrill's Ford Escort Cosworth and WeeGee Smith, who bought the car from the Merrill family after Carl's death, the car, which won STPR in 1997, is racing here this weekend in the capable hands of Ramana Lagemann. Lagemann, who crashed the car the one other time he ran it in 2001, hopes to restore the classic rally car to its position at the top of the standings. For those of you who do not remember, Merrill, from Ogunquit, Maine, died from a heart attack while at the wheel of his rally car at the Prescott Forest Rally in October, 1998.

  5. When we last saw Patrick Richard four weeks ago, he was winning the Rim of the World rally in Southern California, but with a very sore wrist which needed to be iced down after every stage. Sister and co-driver Nathalie has not seen Patrick since then, so when we talked to her at registration tonight, she could not give us an updated medical report. We will check back with the Richards tomorrow.


2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally
June 3, 2005
Wellsboro, Penn.
Press Notes - Friday morning

  1. Two topics of STPR conversation - the weather and the Stony Fork water crossing - need addressing this morning. The weather first. The last two years have been rainy for this event, with last year's STPR being a real washout. This year, Wellsboro has awoken on Friday morning to a spitting rain, the kind the competitors like to help keep the dust down. The problem is that this rain should continue most of the day and into tonight, possibly turning some of the roads from moist gravel to moister mud. Saturday's forecast calls for a drier day, but mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and temperatures in the 70's. That doesn't sound too bad (unless you are camping for the weekend), but there is a fine line between occasional and steady rain. The water crossing is very dry this year - so dry that the organizer will have to make sure there are no big boulders blocking the course of the cars. In past years, the creek would be too full, forcing the organizer to cancel the stage (former committee chair Rusty Campbell has a birthmark on his calf which was used for measuring the depth of the creek - approximately eight inches was considered the maximum height before it was considered too risky for cars to cross). This is the first stage of the rally, and has also been the last stage for inexperienced rallyists who have the adrenalin pumping for stage #1. DNFs have abounded here, including cars which have flown off the road into the trees on the steep, downhill approach to the crossing, "Bergeron's curve" - a blind right hairpin with a rocky outcropping and a culver on the inside of the turn, and too much cold water hitting a hot race engine when the cars splash across the finish in the creek. In the route book, the rallymaster warns "don't try to win the rally on stage #1."

  2. For those planning to spectate in the woods on Saturday, a must purchase is the 2005 Official Rally Program and Spectator Guide, available at registration, the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce, and on the town Green (Saturday only). Put together by History and Records committee chair Carl Dresie, this program has detailed driving directions and stage descriptions on how to get to the various viewing points, and tips on what to look for from the race cars, as well as a lot of historical and trivia tidbits from previous STPR events. A couple of examples: John Buffum and his stepson Paul Choiniere have won STPR overall a total of 11 times between them (Choiniere also has a class win - in a two-wheel-drive Group 5 car last year with co-driver Cindy Krolikowski); Cal Landau, a Pittsburgh area resident, won the Production GT class at STPR three years in a row (1997-99) with co-driver Eric Marcus in a Mitsubishi Eclipse. His streak was broken by Celsus Donnelly in 2000, who had last year's STPR winner Shane Mitchell as a co-driver.

  3. Speaking of the classes, here's a quick breakdown of the Rally America's classes. The cars are grouped in Open (Open, Group 5 and Group 2 - highly modified); Production (Production GT, Production and Rally Truck - very limited modifications); FIA (Group N - modified to international rules - competitive with the Open cars); and Historic (at least 25 years old - none entered here this weekend). A complete description and rules for each class are available on the Rally America web site at www.rally-america.com, or on page 16 of the STPR program available at the event.


2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally
June 3, 2005
Wellsboro, Penn.
Press Notes - Friday night

  1. As with any Pro Rally in the United States, STPR takes place at the behest of sponsors and the local community. In Wellsboro, the Chamber of Commerce and Citizen & Northern Bank are the primary sponsors of the event. On race day on the central town Green, several of the service organizations will have concession stands, including the Wellsboro Rotary's Chicken Barbeque, the Boy Scouts - rally t-shirts and hats, St. Paul Episcopal Church - hot dogs, hamburgers and soda, and Rally for Life: Cops for a Cure - coffee. In addition, Chamber director Mary Worthington has reported brisk sales for the event program.

  2. We ran into John Buffum from Libra Racing as he was preparing the Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker 2003 Hyundai Tiburon for tomorrow's event. This is the car which Choiniere ran during the 2002 rally season, and which has been run by several of Buffum's customers since. Choiniere, who has not been in the car for a while, said he felt a little rusty on the practice stage this afternoon, and was not used to the new rules that govern the Open class. Choiniere told Buffum he thought the car wasn't running right, but it was fine - it just runs different.

  3. The final start list has been published as of the close of registration, and 56 cars are scheduled to take the countdown tomorrow morning at the Green. 25 of those starters are Subarus, nine Mitsubishis, and assorted Fords, VWs, Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, Mazdas, Suzukis, Eagles, Dodges and Saabs. Some of the reasons given for the low number of entries (recent start lists have ranged from 60 - 80 cars) include the confusion over the sanctioning body situation which led to the uncertainty of the event schedule, the running of a competing USRC/USAC rally in New York State, and a smaller number of national competitors running for the championship.

  4. For those of you who follow the American Le Mans Series road racing circuit, two people who have Pro Rally in their heritage are at the 24 Hours of Le Mans practice day this weekend to help their team prepare for the June 18-19 event in France. Dennis Chizma, long time Southern California rallyist, is one of the crew chiefs for the defending LMGT champion Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3 RSR while Paul Truess, who built several rally cars for his wife Gail and Cindy Krolikowski (and others), is one of the top techs for the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The 24 Hours of Le Mans will be televised live on Speed Channel starting June 18 at 10:00 AM EDT.

  5. Cable News Network (CNN) has a producer in Wellsboro this weekend, and he is pursuing a story on women co-drivers as well a feature on Stig Blomqvist. We will keep in touch with him, and post a news item on www.stpr.org when we find out the segment is running. We would like to thank TV2GO in advance for offering CNN action footage to go with their report.

2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally,
June 4, 2005,
Wellsboro, Penn.,
Press Notes - Early Saturday morning

  1. Below is a list of the top 12 starters for the STPR rally:

    Pos, Car #,Driver, Hometown/Co-Driver, Hometown, Class, Year Make Model
    1, 27, Chris Gilligan, Davidson,NC/Joe Peterson, Rubicon,WI, Open, 1997 Mitsubishi Evo IV
    2, 18, Matthew Iorio, Westmoreland, NH/Ole Holter, Long Beach, CA, Open,1997 Subaru Impreza
    3, 65, Stig Blomqvist, Davantry, England/Ana Goni, Davantry, England,Group N,2003 Subaru Impreza
    4, 43, Ken Block, Encinitas, CA/Alessandro Gelsomino, Santa Clarita, CA, Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX
    5, 11, Paul Choiniere, Shelburne, VT/Jeff Becker, New York, NY, Open,2003 Hyundai Tiburon
    6, 74, Ramana Lagemann, Somerville, MA/Mark Williams, Gaithersburg, MD, Open, 1997 Ford Escort Cosworth
    7, 1, Patrick Richard, Vancouver, BC/Nathalie Richard, Quebec City, QUE, Group N, 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX
    8, 199, Travis Pastrana, Colchester, VT/Christian Edstrom, New York, NY Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX
    9, 91, Jonathan Bottoms, Buffalo, NY/Carolyn Bosley, Hinesburg, VT, Group N, 2002 Subaru WRX
    10, 116, Tom Lawless, Yonkers, NY/Jason Gillespie, Yonkers, NY, Open,2003 Mitsubishi Evo 8
    11, 45, Shane Mitchell, Yonkers, NY/Glenn Patterson, Yonkers, NY, Open, 2000 Subaru Impreza
    12, 676, Mark McElduff, Chicago, IL/Scott Putnam, Chicago, IL Group N, 2002 Subaru WRX

  2. The reason we listed the top 12 starters is they were all thrown together in a hat and the starting positions were drawn randomly. The reason these 12 were grouped together is that they all had a "speed factory" rating of 95 and above. This is sort of like the BCS in college football or the RPI rating in NCAA basketball - it has little relationship to the actual driver speed or ability. Should two Seed 2 drivers start in front of Stig Blomqvist? Should defending national champion Pat Richard - even with his bad wrist - start seventh? How about last year's STPR winner at the 11th position? Several different methods have been tried over the years to fairly determine starting positions in Pro Rally - most of them terrible. Fortunately, the wet conditions mean that first on the road is not a bid advantage because there will be no dust, and the roads are firm enough that they won't get chewed up, but it could have been a factor. The best start order seed method we have seen is the educated, but dictatorial decision of the national steward to pick the positions himself, and let a driver make a case if he wants to be moved. If you have two or three drivers running for the championship who are close in skill, rotate them from event to event.

  3. The charity road rally for the American Cancer Society raised more than $1,000 for the organization, with 36 entries participating. Greg Lester, who has won the event multiple times, completed the rally through Wellsboro and vacinity with navigator Ken Swarn losing only eight penalty points.

2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally,
June 4, 2005,
Wellsboro, Penn.,
Press Notes - Late Saturday morning

  1. 55 cars took the starting countdown and ceremonial green in downtown Wellsboro starting at 10:31 AM EDT as the 29th annual Susquehannock Trail ProRally presented by Citizens & Northern Bank is underway. After some adjustments to the start order to fix the inequities caused by yesterday's draw, the #18 Matt Iorio/Ole Holter Subaru Impreza - leader of both the Rally America Championship and the United States Rally Championship - was the first car on the road, followed by the #65 Stig Blomqvist/Pauline Gullick Subaru and the #43 Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino Subaru. Block went off the road during yesterday's practice stage after the car got stuck in deep water during a water crossing (not stage #1!). The check for any possible electrical problems caused by the high water, and started normally at the Wellsboro countdown.

  2. The #947 William Bacon/Peter Watt Subaru STi Group N car was forced to withdraw this morning after being unable to diagnose and fix a nagging electrical problem in their shop. They hoped to be able to get some input from other teams to help them, but no one could find the problem.

  3. Matt Iorio has no illusions about holding off the fast competition in the front of the rally field, but the Rally America Championship points leader isn't going to let the Richards, Blomqvists or Choinieres prevent him from aiming for a podium finish. "I would have to keep the pedal to the metal with little regard for my car or my safety to try to stay up front in this event, but staying ahead in the championship means being fast, but making sure I finish. With the roads drier than last year, and the cool temperatures, it should be an idea day for the drivers." Iorio reported that the entire car had to be rebuilt after Rim of the World, including restretching a bent frame, rebuilding the engine which had ingested mud which pushed by a helpless, distorted air filter - causing the turbo and intercooler to be caked with mud, wheel bearings were shot, struts had to be rebuilt, etc.

  4. The #91 Jonathan Bottoms/Carolyn Bosley Subaru Group N car, which started 9th this morning, is trying to overcome bad mechanical luck which has sidelined them in the past. As a "hometown" driver (from Buffalo, Bottoms has a lot of family and friends here and he hopes they don't go home disappointed.

  5. The defending STPR champion, the #45 Shane Mitchell/Glenn Patterson Subaru, is back this year, but Mitchell tells us this is a new car. Also, he hasn't driven a rally car since his win here in 2004, so he expects to be a bit rusty. He plans to run at a comfortable pace until he feels that he has his rhythm back, and he'll see where he is in the standings.

  6. The #199 Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom Subaru is being driven the only driver who attracted more attention than former WRC champion Stig Blomqvist. Pastrana, a world-class extreme motorcross champion, was mobbed for autographs before the start of the rally. When asked if he minded the attention, he replied he felt lucky to get the opportunity to drive. Pastrana finished fourth at the Oregon Trail rally earlier this year.

(Notes from the event administration chairman)

  • Sat, 4 Jun 2005 12:06:20 - 55 cars finished stage 1
  • Sat, 4 Jun 2005 12:35:20 - Car 72 is out because of the water crossing. He is at Service.

2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally,
June 4, 2005,
Wellsboro, Penn.,
Press Notes - Saturday afternoon

  1. 47 of the 55 cars which started the rally came back to the Green after four eventful stages of STPR, and almost none of the pre-rally prognosticators were right when it came to the standings. Before we explain why, here's the top ten:

    Pos, Car #,Driver, Hometown/Co-Driver, Hometown, Class, Year Make Model, Total Time
    1, 11, Paul Choiniere, Shelburne, VT/Jeff Becker, New York, NY, Open, 2003 Hyundai Tiburon, 33.53.6
    2, 45, Shane Mitchell, Yonkers, NY/Glenn Patterson, Yonkers, NY, Open, 2000 Subaru Impreza, 34:06.3
    3, 199, Travis Pastrana, Colchester, VT/Christian Edstrom, New York, NY, Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX, 34:20.4
    4, 65, Stig Blomqvist, Davantry, England/Pauline Gullick, Davantry, England, Group N,2003 Subaru Impreza, 34:31.6
    5, 116, Tom Lawless, Yonkers, NY/Jason Gillespie, Yonkers, NY, Open,2003 Mitsubishi Evo 8, 35:00.4
    6, 1, Patrick Richard, Vancouver, BC/Nathalie Richard, Quebec City, QUE, Group N, 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX, 35:11.4
    7, 43, Ken Block, Encinitas, CA/Alessandro Gelsomino, Santa Clarita, CA, Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX, 35.42.0
    8, 91, Jonathan Bottoms, Buffalo, NY/Carolyn Bosley, Hinesburg, VT, Group N, 2002 Subaru WRX, 37:18.3
    9, 977, Martin Donnelly, Pearl River, NY/Chrissie Beavis, San Diego, CA, Open, Mitsubishi Evo IV, 37:52.7
    10, 676, Mark McElduff, Chicago, IL/Scott Putnam, Chicago, IL Group N, 2002 Subaru WRX, 38.00.1

  2. Choiniere and Becker were a little surprised by their lead after four stages as Paul thought he had enough problems on stage #4 that the rest of the field would have gone by him (indeed, Pastrana beat him by more than eight seconds), but other people had other problems and the Hyundai has a 15-second lead.

  3. As you might remember, the last thing Shane Mitchell told us before he left this morning was that he hadn't rallied in a year and he was in a new car. He hadn't plan to run near the from, and was hoping for a top five finish at best, but he and Glenn Paterson find themselves in second place. Mitchell is very pleased to be where he is, and says the car is running great.

  4. Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom in the Vermont Sports Car Subaru Impreza are third with Travis winning stage #4 outright to stay ahead of the Stig Blomqvist/Pauline Gullick Subaru.

  5. Rally DNF's include:
    • #27, Chris Gilligan/Joe Peterson, Mitsubishi Evo IV, broken ball joint and half shaft, a DNF for the national, but has entered the regional rally for this afternoon
    • #74, Ramana Lagemann/Mark Williams, 1997 Ford Escort Cosworth, blew engine/lost oil and compression, DNF
    • #143, Chris Whiteman/Mike Paulin,Dodge SRT4, hit a rock and stripped the left front wheel lug nuts off, bending wheel hub, DNF
    • #945, Brendan Kelly/Bob Kelly,2002 Subaru WRX, broke a rear control arm after hitting a rock; this was after replacing a radiator earlier, DNF
    • #558 Jim Cox/Joshua Bressen, 2004 Chevrolet S10, tried to fix broken CV joint, but could not continue, DNF
    • #72,Jon Hamilton/Ken Sabo,2000 Volkswagen Golf TDI, water intake from creek crossing, DNF
    • #769,Keith Kreisler/Steve McKelvie,1995 Subaru WRX, pushed radiator up and broke oil filter mount, DNF

  6. Matt Iorio/Ole Holter's Subaru is running 11th overall, with problems at the water crossing (going too wide, soaking some photographers and causing the announcer to fall into the water - breaking a driveshaft and ripping the front grill off the car. They also lost their turbocharger, which had to be replaced during the service stop in Wellsboro.

  7. Patrick Richard/Nathalie Richard's Subaru also had its turbo replaced at service in Wellsboro, as Patrick reported it was taking 15-seconds to give full boost.

  8. 46 cars started the second half of the STPR rally from the Green in Wellsboro (car #629 VW GTI of Tim Rastatter/Jason Williams had to met by their crew at the end of stage #4 and be towed back to Wellsboro, but they could not continue - DNF).

2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally,
June 4, 2005,
Wellsboro, Penn.,
Press Notes, Saturday evening

  1. After five clean stages, the STPR event came to a halt on stage #6. From what we can tell, car #676, Mark McElduff, Chicago, IL/Scott Putnam, Chicago, IL, 2002 Subaru WRX blew his clutch, losing his transmission and running off the road. Several cars stopped to make sure the drivers were okay, causing the stage to back up and ultimately be stopped. Because of radio transmission difficulties, there was a delay in determining what car was off, if the drivers were okay, if the stage was then clear, and if it was safe to re-start the stage. A decision was made to transit the rest of the cars through the stage and not count the times towards the rally results. Drivers were okay, and their service crew was called.

  2. On the next stage, stage #, car #622, Larry Parker/Mark Bowers, Eagle Talon and car #856, Robin Jones/Jason O'Sullivan, Group 2, 1983 VW Rabbit both went off the road. The stage was delayed for 30 minutes while the cars were located, and everyone determined exactly where the vehicles were. Once the stage was clear, 43 cars finished stage #7.

  3. Committee member Carl Dresie had the radar gun going at the 8.26 miles into stage #5, and reported the following speeds:

    • #18, Matthew Iorio, Westmoreland, NH/Ole Holter, Long Beach, CA, Open,1997 Subaru Impreza, 85 mph
    • #65, Stig Blomqvist, Davantry, England/Ana Goni, Davantry, England, Group N,2003 Subaru Impreza, 90 mph
    • #43, Ken Block, Encinitas, CA/Alessandro Gelsomino, Santa Clarita, CA, Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX, 88 mph
    • #11, Paul Choiniere, Shelburne, VT/Jeff Becker, New York, NY, Open, 2003 Hyundai Tiburon, 91 mph
    • #1, Patrick Richard, Vancouver, BC/Nathalie Richard, Quebec City, QUE, Group N, 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX, 92 mph
    • #199, Travis Pastrana, Colchester, VT/Christian Edstrom, New York, NY Group N, 2004 Subaru WRX, 90 mph
    • #91, Jonathan Bottoms, Buffalo, NY/Carolyn Bosley, Hinesburg, VT, Group N, 2002 Subaru WRX, 84 mph
    • #116, Tom Lawless, Yonkers, NY/Jason Gillespie, Yonkers, NY Open,2003 Mitsubishi Evo 8, 95 mph
    • #45, Shane Mitchell, Yonkers, NY/Glenn Patterson, Yonkers, NY, Open, 2000 Subaru Impreza, 94 mph

2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally,
June 4, 2005,
Wellsboro, Penn.,
Press Notes, Saturday late night

  1. There is another problem in the woods, this time with drunk spectators in a non-spectator area on stage #9. The forest service is enforcing the "no alcohol" rules, but the rallymaster is afraid that more drunks could pop out of the wood, and has decided to transit (cancel) the stage. This will leave one stage left in the rally - stage #10 (10.36 miles).

  2. It's took bad the rally stages are having problems because the Choiniere/Becker Hyundai and the Mitchell/Patterson Subaru are having a terrific battle for the lead. Through stage #7, Choiniere/Becker have a 16-second lead, but earned that lead after beating Mitchell on stage seven by a whopping 22 seconds. Mitchell had taken a six second lead with a 13-second margin over Choiniere on stage #6. Mitchell has reported trouble with his power streering as well as his power output, and doesn't think he can keep up with Choiniere. Stig Blomqvist/Pauline Gullick are one minute behind, with Stig saying that his Group N car just doesn't have the power to keep up with the Open class cars on these fast roads.

  3. The Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom Subaru, which was running as high as third early in the rally, crashed on stage #7 and spent 18 minutes trying to get free from a dirt mound. Their car is still running, but out of contention.

  4. Class leaders include Choiniere/Becker (open), Blomqvist/Gullick (Group N), Tom Penasack/Marcd Goldfarb Subaru WRX (Production GT), and Matt Johnson/Alex Kihurani Honda Civic (Group 2). There are no Group 5 finishers.

  5. The next press notes will include final results as the rally is now running its final stage (stage 10). Go to www.stpr.org or www.rally-america.com for final results.


2005 Susquehannock Trail ProRally
June 2, 2005
Wellsboro, Penn.
Press Notes - Sunday morning

  1. Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker, the most successful driver/co-driver combination in the 29-year history of the Susquehannock Trail ProRally, worked their magic one more time to score a one minute, 14.3-second victory in their Hyundai Tiburon. For Choiniere, it was his eighth STPR win and seventh with Becker (he won the 1989 event with co-driver Scott Weinheimer), and for Becker, it was also his eighth win as he won the 1991 event co-driving with Bruno Kreibich.

    "Our run was extremely smooth," said Choiniere, for whom this was his first rally of the season. "Our tachometer broke on the last stage, and that was the only problem we had. For a high-speed rally like this, that's remarkable." "Shane Mitchell gave us all we could handle for seven stages, including taking the rally lead after stage #6, so we anticipated a real battle until the end. But, as so often happens in rally, there is a build-up to a tight competition for the finish, and something happens to one of the cars and that battle never materializes. We have been on the short end of that stick enough times to appreciate this win," said Choiniere.

    "Our Open class Hyundai, although down on horsepower from what it was from the old days because of the rules, still has enough of a power advantage to outperform a Group N car if both cars are running perfectly on a fast course like STPR," said Choiniere, noting that the third place finishers Stig Blomqvist/Pauline Gullick were a steady margin behind him for the entire event. "We came here to have fun and compete," said Becker, who estimates he has co-driven in at least 22 of the 29 STPR events. "We certainly did not expect to win with the fierce competition from drivers who are chasing a championship."

    "Like a coxswain in a crew boat, the co-driver needs to pick up the pace of the calls when the rally is close, and we thought we would be battling Shane Mitchell right to the end. As I called turns faster, Paul went faster and his confidence built, and with the car running like a clock, it was a winning combination," said Becker.

    Will we see the winning team battling the current crop of Rally America competitors at any other events? "Maybe Maine," said Becker, "but we would run the odd event rather than a regular schedule of rallies.

  2. For the Shane Mitchell/Glenn Patterson Subaru Impreza, the defending STPR champions from 2004, it was a disappointing ending, even though Mitchell had only hoped for a top five finish going in.

    "When we did so well after the first four stages, we realized we were competitive, and we won stage six and took the lead, but things went downhill from there. We lost power, and then we lost our power steering. By the end of stage #7, I realized that we couldn't chase Choiniere, and we had to be satisfied with second," said Mitchell, who had not rallied since his win here last year."

  3. Third place went to the pre-rally favorite, 1984 World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist, with co-driver Pauline Gullick. Blomqvist, who won the Oregon Trail rally earlier this year, out-gunning defending national champions Patrick and Nathalie Richard, ran a flawless event, but just didn't have enough horsepower in his Group N Subaru to catch the two Open class cars ahead of him. He ended up more than a minute behind Mitchell and almost 2-1/2 minutes behind Choiniere.

    "We would like to run the next rally or two (Pike's Peak and Maine), but our schedule is not sure at this time," said Blomqvist, who brought an excitement to the event not seen in some time. "I enjoy the roads here - but the fast conditions gave advantage to the Open cars and we just didn't have enough power." Blomqvist did win the Group N class.

  4. The Patrick Richard/Nathalie Richard Subaru Impreza was fourth, but it was not a satisfying rally for last year's champions. As previously reported, they were fighting a turbo problem all day and were down on power, and then a handbrake malfunction lessened Patrick's opportunity to use that tool on the later stages. Add to that his wrist is still sore from previous surgery and the Rim of the World rally last month, and it wasn't a good day. As they are again running for the championship, the fourth place points are important, but they had hoped for a better finish here.

  5. The class winners were: Choiniere/Becker, Hyundai Tiburon, Open; Blomqvist/Gullick, Subaru Impreza, Group N; Eric Langbein/Jeremy Wimpey, Toyota Celica 4WD, Production GT; and Matt Johnson/Alex Kihurani, Honda Civic, Group 2. There were two Group 5 entries, but neither of them finished, and there were no Production class or Historic class entries.

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