Car 686 does not get finish had hoped for - but did finish  - Sunday, February 25, 2007
While the theme may seem repetitive, there were a lot of problems – even more than an average rally.

Car 686 Nunnemacher/Nunnemacher was no exception. They had some minor problems yesterday in the early stages - namely on SS3, when they hit a rock with the right rear, thus breaking a lateral link. “My line was good, but I target fixated on that rock…O’Neil will kill me for that” stated driver Heath Nunnemacher, referencing his coach and mentor, Tim O’Neil “I know I should not look, but I did”.

The faux pas cost the team some time, but they were able to fix it and their evening finished uneventfully. Throughout the day today, the team struggled with gearbox/clutch issues, which again, seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the field, but all seemed well despite.

And unfortunately, their finish seemed all too familiar as well. The team came in on tow rope and the driver/co-driver pushed the car across the finish. We do not know the reason for the problem, but it definitely cost the team some time. Ultimately, the team finished 4th in PGT and 16th overall in the 100 Acre Wood Regional Rally. Despite a finish that would not have been their desire at the outset of this rally, the team did finish and that is better than the fate some other teams endured!

Car 59 Moro/Rossey get podium finish despite problems  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
There were a lot of ups and downs in the PGT battle in the Rally in the 100 Acre Woods National Event. The lead was held consistently by Car 46 Johnson/Wimpey until a crash put them out of contention. Unfortunately, the luck of Car 28 Pritchard/DeMotte was no better when they DNF'd for mechanical reasons, nor was Car 690 Bartram/Hotson when they had transmission problems early and a turbo problem later, and to top it off, Car 523 Hanson/Hanson had a major off on the last stage...and those problems aren't the only ones.

It was not all sunshine and roses for the other teams, Car 59 Moro/Rossey was no exception. On SS14, at about 3 miles in, the stage had become increasingly slippery and the car slipped off the road, hit something, shattered the right rear window, and become quagmired into the mud.

In the midst of climbing out the passenger window (because the door would not open), co-driver Mike Rossey realized that not only were they stuck, but it was going to be awhile before they would get themselves unstuck. Thankfully, the team has learned that it is quicker to get yourself out than to wait for help. How do this work? Well, they carry their own "come-along", so they winched themselves out. The bad part is that they lost 8 minutes doing it (still quicker than sweep though!).

If that was not enough, they had been limiting their fuel input in order to save on weight, so after their unexpected delay, the low fuel light came on during SS15 and stayed on throughout the rest of the rally (more than 15 grueling long miles) through the end of the rally. Thankfully, they made it to the finish.

Due to the problems that they and their competitors had throughout the day, Rossey would not commit to having finished in a particular position, merely saying "we are either in 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th position in class!" As it turns out, despite their problems, the team finished 3rd in PGT class.

Car 20 Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb finish third overall  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
After such tight competition with Car 199 Pastrana/Edstrom, the team is completely thrilled to bring a podium finish home to their sponsors.

"These last stages were challenging, especially the last one where it was so foggy that Andrew had to rely completely on the notes, because we could not see anything" stated co-driver March Goldfarb.

Despite one moment when they slid off on a corner, the team had no major drama this weekend, and for that they would like to thank their crew and their sponsors - Slowboy Racing, Yokohama Tires, First Commonwealth Bank, NNB, and Innovate Motorsports.

Car 907 Brennan/Gallagher win the Regional Rally Championship  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Car 907 Brennan/Gallagher has won the Regional Rally Championship by more than an 8-minute margin. The team had lost enough time this morning to then 2nd position holder Travis Hanson to warrant concern (and had in fact lost the lead in the 100 Acre Wood Regional Rally), but after the first service break, they “turned it up” and after Travis DNF’d, no other competitor even challenged Brennan/Gallagher.

The team had few problems throughout the weekend, the biggest problem being a left front wheel bearing that posed so little problem that with only 22 stage miles to the finish, the crew chose not to change it in the last service.

Brennan/Gallagher were very humble and thankful to have been invited by Rally America to participate in the Regional Rally Championship. They remarked on the absolutely fabulous event and that it was good to have all the regional competitors from around the country here in order to compete against each other. They would like to thank their dedicated crew that serviced for them all weekend and thank Hankook for all their help as well.

Overheating ends Pritchard's Rally  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
#28, Pritchard and DeMott, were having a great time up until the car started to overheat on SS6. Just two miles after they passed fellow PGT competitors #46, Johnson and Wimpey, on the side of the road, the team was forced to pull over and retire. A ¼ inch hole in the radiator ended up being the problem. The team was really looking forward to some seat time, as this is Pritchard’s first gravel event in this car. They would like to compete at Oregon Trail in April, but right now the plans are still up in the air.

Lagemann out with engine failure  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
It was determined that the earlier retirement of #74, Lagemann and Williams, was related to an engine failure. “It ended part way through the stage with lots of smoke and some flames”, said Williams. The team still has hopes for the X Games, but they must finish very well in the remaining qualifying events and have luck on their side.

Three stages remain  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
We will be leaving the Virburnum service to head back for the finish of the rally in Downtown Salem. The first car is expected to arrive about 7:30pm, so make sure to check back for the final results of the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood and the 2006 Rally America Regional Rally Championship.

Block maintains lead with three stages left  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Block maintains his lead with one leg of the rally remaining. Second place, his teammate Pastrana, has gained a little ground on him, but not enough to really worry Block. It appears that the team’s plan of taking it easy and letting the rest of the competition chase them is working. With three stages remaining in the rally, they are going to stick with the plan that has worked for them all weekend.

Kendall and Friberg out  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
It has been reported from stage 12 that car 26, Kendall and Friberg, were off about 3 miles into the stage. They are OK, but it sounds like the car may have had an encounter with a tree.

Car 18 running on fumes  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Car 18 Iorio/Holter had "what we thought was a good run on SS6, but in looking at the times, it is obvious we did not have enough commitment, because the others have turned it up" stated co-driver Ole Holter. Prior to SS6, the team had been 1:16 out of the lead, by the end of SS6, they were 1:47.

On SS7, they had a very competitive time, and were happy that the teams in positions 3 through 6 were within five seconds of each other; but by SS8, "our tune had changed" stated Ole. Apparently, a cooling problem created a need to idle the car for a full 30 minutes thus causing a fuel issue and the team ran out of gas on SS8. This cost them about 15 seconds.

Currently, Car 18 is in the 6th position, 2:06 out of the lead.

New gearbox for Bartram  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
“Cowboy” Kenny Bartram lost time on SS8 when fourth gear let go on their car. The team worked incredibly hard to make the swap to a new gearbox; despite their best efforts, they were unable to get it done in the allotted service time and will incur a penalty for checking out of service late. The Alpinstars Subaru is maintained and serviced by Sisu Rallysports with support from Vermont Sportscar and Subaru of America.

ACP drops to third  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
ACP, #20, currently sits third, losing one position from the start of the day. The team has no desire to try for second, but if it comes to them, of course they’ll take it. The ultimate goal is to gain points in order to qualify for the X Games. With the tricky conditions on the stages, they don’t want to be the ones to find slippery corners. The crew did change the throttle position sensor while in service hoping to resolve a stutter that ACP had been feeling at high speeds since yesterday. The team looks forward to finishing in the top five, anything else will just be a bonus.

Car 25 Burke/Fries DNF  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Despite seemingly phantom scores, Car 25 Burke/Fries has in fact DNF'd. The team did not start the rally this morning due to a rod that went through the engine block.

Despite popular opinion that Car 91 Bottoms/Bosley has been towing them around all day, that is in fact, false. In truth, Car 91 Bottoms/Bosley has been running on the time card numbered for Car 25. The result has been realized and is being corrected.

Car 90 gaining positions despite "severe engine miss"  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Car 90 O'Sullivan/Putnams is happy that they are able to hear each other today, thus solving an intercom problem from yesterday, but are reporting a "severe engine miss" stated co-driver Scott Putnam. Scott details the miss as "scary bad in some places - on corners where we really needed power, there would not be any and we would be all over the road."

Despite the problem, Car 90 O'Sullivan/Putnam is currently sitting in the 4th position overall and have gained one position since starting this morning.

Stage 6 causes problems for some teams  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Reported off and OK on SS6 is #46, Johnson and Wimpey. Now that the stage has finished, the car is being towed back to the start of the stage where their crew will meet them.

Also reported off and OK on the same stage is #28, Pritchard and DeMott. We have not received any more information, but will let you know when we find out more.

Weather results in small delay  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
The cars will be delayed into service by about thirty minutes due to last minute changes required to the route on SS6. Car 0 reported important information that included deep water in one location, which was passed on to the teams at the start of the stage. Due to the delay, the service will be shortened by twenty minutes to make back up some of the lost time.

Weather to be a factor?!?!  - Saturday, February 24, 2007
Right now, there is heavy rain falling as the Parc Expose starts here in Salem, MO. With the forecast predicted, it is likely that weather may play a role in the rally.

According to NOAA, the weather forecast for today is as follows:

Today: Occasional rain and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. High near 50. Breezy, with a south wind between 18 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Tonight: Rain and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then a chance of rain. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. South wind between 13 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Lagemann in second  - Friday, February 23, 2007
#74, Ramana Lagemann and Mark Williams, are making an excellent showing in their first event with the Cascade Autosport Mitsubishi Evo 8. This was the first outing for the team in fast conditions. “I heard this rally was fast, but I didn’t know just how fast!” said Lagemann after the first three stages. They had some issues with the brake bias settings early on; the car almost came around on them twice, which affected Lagemann’s confidence slightly. But they seem to be in the groove now! Lagemann felt that this car is very different than the Ford and the Subaru he’s driven in the past; “Maybe I’m being too aggressive, this car may respond better to a little more finesse.” The team’s goal is a spot in the X Games, and by missing Sno*Drift, they really need a good finish here to be in the running. The team is supported by Dent Sport Garage (dentsport.com), and by magicrobots.com.

Regional Rally Championship standings  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Car 907 Brennan/Gallagher has run consistently in the first position overall in the Regional Rally Championship. The team has run a clean, consistently fast rally throughout and have reported no problems.

Car 523 Hanson/Hanson are running in second overall and 1st in PGT class, but they have reported that 2nd gear is gone in their transmission. Justin Pritchard was kind enough to lend the team his spare gearbox and it will likely be a late night for Car 523 changing it.

Car 83 Utecht/Bohn is third overall and 1st in G5 class. The team is concerned about their driveshaft. Apparently, the bolts that hold the driveshaft have been moving, thus causing the concern. Right now, the team is just focused on finishing the rally.

Car 548 Bushore/Bushore is leading G2 class and Car 258 Dahl/Dahl are leading P class.

Moro/Rossey "spot on" despite boost problems  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Car 59 Moro/Rossey are not running on full boost. "We felt that we were slow off the start and knew there was a problem. Right now, we are losing about 5 seconds per mile" stated co-driver Mike Rossey. "We are disappointed that we are sitting in 6th position in class, we really wanted to get through this rally with no problems".

Despite the boost problem, which the team is hopeful will be fixed by swapping back to a manual boost controller, Moro/Rossey feel that they have run a very clean rally and that their driving and chemistry is "spot on".

Verdier returns to rally  - Friday, February 23, 2007
The new Flatirons Tuning Subaru team of Stephan Verdier and Scott Crouch are taking time this rally to just get used to things. This is Scott's first event co-driving for somebody other than Tanner Foust, and things are reportedly going well. "Scott was better on the notes than I was on the driving", laughed Verdier, who has only driven six stage miles since his 2005 Pikes Peak Rally victory. Verdier feels he's is a little rusty right now, but he's confident it won't take long to "shake the cobwebs loose". The team was experiencing some mechanical issues earlier today. The transmission was popping out of fourth gear, but they were able to make it to the end of the day. The crew was planning on looking at changing the transmission before the start of the day tomorrow. Currently the #429 is in second place in PGT.

Car 830 happy to be here  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Car 830 is running comfortably in the Trespassers Wil Regional Rally. The team's goal is not to win, but to be happy being here.

In a live update form, the team stated "we made it to 100 Acre Woods!!! We are competing in a 1968 VW Beetle (affectionately known as "Herbert"). We would like to thank the RCM gange back home for helping make this event possible for us!"

Block on top after day one  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Ken Block remains at the top of the scores after the first day of competition. The team is currently 26 seconds up on second place Ramana Lagemann. In third is Andrew Comrie-Picard, almost 36 seconds out of first.

With expectations of tight competition, the field is surprisingly spread out; almost over two minutes separate the top ten cars. There is plenty of competition yet to come, and certainly more surprises!

Problems for Pastrana  - Friday, February 23, 2007
#199, Pastrana and Edstrom, came into service needing some attention from their service crew. The team complained that the car had a lot of oversteer and they were lacking top speed and acceleration. The plan was to change the set up on the rear suspension and hopefully solve the engine issue. To add one more problem to the list, when the team turns on the in car camera, the intercom system shuts off; they chose to use the intercom!

Car 18 loses time, but hopes to gain some back  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Car 18, Iorio/Holter is sitting in 6th position, about 20 seconds out of being in the top three. While 20 seconds may seem to be a small difference to most represents the sum of their lost time to the team.

On SS1, Matt and Ole had "super good fun. Matt ran a good stage and was committed to the notes, but on SS2, the intercom was not working 100% and we were losing time because Matt could not hear me" stated co-driver Ole Holter. At that point in the rally, Ole was not inclined to resort to yelling - not wanting a repeat performance of Sno-Drift where he lost his voice.

By SS3, the team felt they were having a good, clean run, but felt they could have been faster. "We looked at the lines being run by 199 and 43, and realized that they were going much deeper and were more committed than we were willing to be - they must have really checked out those corners to make sure there were no rocks out there on the recce yesterday" Holter jokingly stated.

The team's goal for the night is to try and gain some of the time they have lost.

Quick Notes from the first service  - Friday, February 23, 2007
Car 25 Burke/Fries are reporting that they have no boost and are losing time, but that they are hoping to fix the problem in service. Currently, they are sitting in 8th position overall in the Rally in the 100 Acre Woods National event.

Car 11 Choiniere/Becker had a seized left rear wheel bearing. Unfortunately, the team cannot find a replacement part and have withdrawn from the event. In the three stages they ran, the team was running consistently in the 5th position.

Car 91 Bottoms/Bosley are trying to get accustomed to the new clutch they just installed. They feel they are starting out slow, but are confident they "will get there" states co-driver Carolyn Bosley.

Car 562 Dondlinger/Parps are focusing on taking clean lines, avoiding rocks, and being there at the finish.

Block Leads after SS3  - Friday, February 23, 2007
The unofficial leaderboard after 3 stages is as follows:

Car 43 Block/Gelsomino 13:49.5
Car 20 Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb 14:00.1
Car 74 Lagemann/Williams 14:01.9
Car 199 Pastrana/Edstrom 14:03.9
Car 90 O'Sullivan/Putnam 14:18.4

Block leads  - Friday, February 23, 2007
We have some unofficial times that have been called in from the stages. After stage two, Block is in the lead ahead of Pastrana and Lagemann.