28th Annual Susquehannock Trail PRO Rally
Round #4, June 4 - 6, 2004
SCCA ProRally Championship presented by Hot Wheels
www.stpr.org press notes #3 - 6/5/04 - noon

7. In the midst of a steady rainfall, 58 cars left the town Green in
Wellsboro to start the 28th running of the Susquehannock Trail ProRally
(car #961, the VW Golf of Jerzy Banjo/Erwin Meisel - Group 2 - did not
start). Although the rain is scheduled to let up by early afternoon, it
was already having an impact on t-shirt sales at the Boy Scouts tent and
the St. Paul’s Church and Rotary Club food concessions. A small, but
hearty crowd of fans and local townspeople saw the drivers off at 10:31 AM
EDT, and everyone seemed resigned to the fact that it was going to be a wet
rally, but the rain is supposed to stay on the light side and let up as the
afternoon wears on. The competitors will run four stages, including the
Subaru Splash water crossing, and come back to the Green after stage four
for a two-hour dinner break and service. The cars will be re-seeded based
on their times after two stages.

8. We spoke to Mark Utecht, who, along with co-driver Jeff Secor, have had
a rough season so far with all DNFs in his Subaru Impreza Group N car.
Utecht made a point of telling us how determined he was to better his
status in the point standings, and possibly finish on the podium for the
first time. However, it is not to be as the #83 Subaru is reported to have
mechanical failure at the end of stage #1 and will DNF for the rally - no
word as to whether the water crossing caused his ills. Utecht did not need
any assistance to get his car off the stage. Details available after we
talk to the driver.

9. Dan Coughnour from Rochester won the American Cancer Society TSD charity
rally held in Wellsboro yesterday. 35 cars entered the event, raising
almost $1,000 for the local Cancer Society chapter. Coughnour won the
"equipped" class, Ron Johnstonbaugh won the stock class, Jerry Kerwin the
limited class, and Jared Lanzy the novice class. Full results will be
posted on the www.stpr.org web site.

10. As promised, we checked with former rally champion, current car
builder, Michelin rally tire distributor John Buffum, who thought that most
of the competitors who had the budget to buy a selection of tires would go
with the "dry" or wider tires to get maximum bite on these very fast roads.
The competitors would have the opportunity to change after the first stage
if they thought it was slippery or muddy enough to need the narrower,
wider-grooved tire - the model Michelin calls its ZE80. This applies to
the larger-budget competitors only, however, as most of the entrants will
slog through the stages on whatever tires they brought.

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