Pastrana/Edstrom Wins Sno*Drift
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
After a tight battle with some tough competition throughout the entire Sno*Drift
National Rally, Car 199 Pastrana/Edstrom have won both the overall and open
class!
With the increased level of competition in this event (over recent years), it
was an interesting battle that saw several different leaders and a lot of
movement throughout the entire field.
At the last service, Car 34 Foust/Crouch lead however, the team lost some time
on SS16, and finished 6.3 seconds behind Pastrana/Edstrom. While the team was
disappointed, because they initially thought they had won, they are truly happy
to have finished 2nd in their first outing with the new car.
Andrew Pinker and Paul Coiniere both ran hard all rally and were able to keep
their noses clean. They finished 3rd and 4th respectively.
Andrew Comrie-Picard, reigning champ of the Sno*Drift National Rally, finished
fifth and accomplished his goal of finishing in the top 5 for this event. The
team debuted a new car at this event and found the normal new car problems, but
are happy to have been able to sort those out and come home with a 5th place
position.
In the Group N battle, the leaderboard remains the same as it did after the
final service. Car 91 Bottoms/Bosley have won, with Car 774 Dimiters/Ockwell
finishing 2nd. The difference in time after the last service was 1:03.1, but
did tighten up to 33.8 seconds at the end. Bottoms/Bosley had hoped for a top 8
position in the overall standing, but finished with a top ten.
In the Group 5 battle, again the standings were the same at the end of the
Sno*Drift Regional Rally as they were at the final service - Car 26
Kendall/Friberg finished 1st and Car 55 Sarasin/Johansson finished second.
Despite a 1 minute spread (which can be attributed to one stage), the teams
seemed to be evenly matched and enjoyed a good battle throughout the event.
In the Group 2 battle, a relative newcomer to the national series, Christopher
Duplessis shone. He consistently gained time over the closest competition in
class. He finished more than twelve minutes in front of his closest competition
in class, Car 55 Boullion/Boullion. On top of that, he placed first in his
class in both the Sno* Regional Rally and the Drift Regional Rally.
In the PGT class, the leaderboard changed up quite a bit throughout the weekend.
After yesterday's stages, Car #59 Moro/Rossey was leading, but after a bad
SS10, he was dropped to 4th. Car 523 Hanson/Hanson ran a consistent throughout,
but had an off in the later going. Throughout the early stages, Car 46
Johnson/Wimpey were further down the field after a wrong tire choice. After all
was done, Car 46 came out win the win, Car 523 Hanson/Hanson got second and Car
28 Pritchard/DeMotte got third.
In Production, there was only one finisher. Car 572 Robinson/Vanderhoof got the
win with a total time of 2:02:06.8.
With the scores final, the racing done, and another rally in the record books,
we sign off. Please remember to watch the front page for up to date new stories
between events and watch for the next live updates starting on February 23rd
when we go to Salem, Missouri for the 100 Acre Wood National Rally.
Regional Results
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Two Regional rallys were run in conjunction with the Sno*Drift National Rally,
the results follow:
Sno Regional Rally
Overall
Car 44, Krolikowski / Krolikowski
Car 70, Duplessis / Headland
Car 646, Zenz / Parps
Open
Car 44, Krolikowski / Krolikowski
Car 646, Zenz / Parps
Car 508, Ottey / McGarvey
Group 2
Car 70, Duplessis / Headland
Car 590, Sanford / Sanford
Car 744, Koll / Seidel
Production
Car 572, Robinson / Vanderhoof
Car 491, Stevens / Stevens
Car 480, Gagnon / Martin
Drift Regional Rally
Open
Car 44, Krolikowski / Krolikowski
Car 614, Wiktokczyk / Brady
Car 646, Zenz / Parps
Group 2
Car 70, Duplessis / Headland
Car 478, Moen / Victor
Car 744, Koll / Seidel
Production
Car 572, Robinson / Vanderhoof
Car 480, Gagnon / Martin
Car 708, Zedril / Zedril
PGT
Car 690, Bartram / Hotson
Car 536, Marker / Haughn
Saturday troubles drop Moro in standings
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Trouble early on day two dropped #59, Moro/Rossey, to fourth in PGT. The team
had a couple of offs on Friday, but they got lucky and were able to maintain the
lead. Their luck turned today on SS9 when got a flat forcing them to drive the
last seven miles of the stage on the rim. Then, on SS10 they went off the road
and were stuck in the deep snow. The team used a come-along and a tree to get
themselves back on the road, but lost valuable time. Overall, they were very
happy with their times with in their class and felt very competitive. As for
their plans for the season, the team plans to “play it by ear” , but would like
to run as many events as possible.
Pinker in third
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Only 30 seconds out of first is #5, Andy Pinker and Robbie Durant. The team
hasn’t competed since last June at STPR. Durant has co-driven, but Pinker
hasn’t even been in a car in nearly eight months. Combine their lack of recent
competition with their engine problems they had yesterday, they are very happy
to be where they are. “Andy’s been driving well, we plan on pushing hard the
rest of the day”, said Durant.
Got boost?
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
The earlier issues that #20, Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb, were having have been
chalked up to “new car gremlins”. Topping the list of problems was a lack of
boost. The crew found the faulty component and were able to fix the problem
just before the team headed out to run SS12. “It sure drives better with more
boost!” smiled ACP, “the road conditions are perfect! Who would have thought
with the weather they had here a couple of weeks ago that the roads would be in
such great shape.” After 14 stages, the team sits in fifth place.
Defending PGT Champ leads class
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Defending PGT champ Matthew Johnson is sitting in a familiar spot, first! After
14 stages Johnson and Wimpey have taken the PGT class lead by over a minute. The
team had a tough first day, suspension set-up issues and an incorrect tire
choice left them with an ill-handling car and the team third in class. Also,
this is the first event for Johnson and Wimpey as teammates, they spent most of
Friday trying to get up to speed as a team. With three stages remaining in the
rally, the pair is excited to be where they are.
Car 44 leading the Drift Regional Rally
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 44 Krolikowski/Krolikowski are “still in it – we have not crashed or had any
major moments – we are doing ok and Henry really enjoyed ranch stage last night”
stated co-driver Cindy Krolikowski in her classic understated manner. In fact,
the team set 3rd fastest time in the Sno*Drift National Rally and are currently,
sitting in the top position in the Drift Regional Rally.
Rally luck not shining on car 508 Ottey/McGarvey
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 508 has been having a rough day. It started when they high centered the
car in deep snow on ss8. That faux pas cost them 3 minutes. On top of that,
the odo (rally computer) has not working property – it shuts off and gives bogus
numbers at random times. As if that was not enough, they also had flat tire on
SS10, which did not cost them much time as they did not change on stage, but
jack broke; luckily, the stage workers were kind enough to lend theirs.
After their series of bad luck, unfortunately the team was stressed and focused
on returning to service and thinking about how to get some time back on the
stages…but, they were found to be speeding by observation control and were
assessed a 62.5 minute penalty. Currently, the team is being listed as the 17th
and last place in the Drift Regional Rally.
Car 478 Moen/Victor happy with selves, but watching the competition
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 478 Moen/Victor went off on SS3 last evening, but were lucky because there
were 4 people there to push them out. The process of getting them out took
about 7 minutes – but they were able to continue on and made good time while
still staying safe.
Today, Moen/Victor is about 5 seconds out of the lead in Group 2 in the Drift
Regional Rally behind Car 70 Duplessis/Headland. Evan Moen been racing for 8
years, but this is Dave Victor’s second rally.
The team states that they okay with being behind a newer competitor (car 70), as
long as gaining experience – “if we use that as a measure, we are happy with our
time, we have also been measuring again Koll (car 774) and because we are ahead
of him, we figure we are doing well,” states co-driver Dave Victor.
Leaderboard after SS14
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
The cars are starting to come in after running SS14. Due to the cancelling of
SS13, the service has been shortened so that the rally will continue on time.
Right now, the unofficial scores are as follows:
#34 Foust/Crouch
#199 Pastrana/Edstrom
#5 Pinker/Durant
#20 Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb
The first car is due to leave the service area at approximately 4:57 PM. There
will be three more stages that the teams will run prior to finishing at the
Hillman Community Center at about 7 PM.
Foust takes over top spot
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
The #34 Rockstar Energy Drink team of Foust and Crouch were pleasantly surprised
to arrive at service and find that they had taken the rally lead. Because they
were unable to track the times of #199 due to their road position, they had no
idea they had moved into first. “From the tracks on the road, it looked like
the cars ahead of us were going a lot faster than we were”, said Foust. Being
the first event in their new Open class car, the team’s focus was to learn the
new car and team. It looks like whatever they are doing is working!
If you have been looking for Foust in #429, you’ll notice he is now running
under a new number. The team has chosen the number 34 to honor the Syms Rally
Team Production Cup World Championship car with the same number. Foust would
like to thanks Syms for the amazing opportunity and allowing them the time to
really focus on the competition. “This is the tightest Open class competition
I’ve ever seen, it’s awesome!” smiled Tanner.
Nunnemachers change strategy
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
For Heath and Heidi Nunnemacher of Car 686, this will hopefully be the first
full rally together. They have tried to ride together previously at Headwaters
Regional Rally, but unfortunately crashed and went out on SS1. According to
Heidi, Heath is doing well…He just came back from testing at Team O’Neil Rally
school and has taken the advice of Tim O’Neil that he should slow down, work on
his technique and the speed will come. Currently, the team is very happy with
this strategy and it is working for them - they have had no big moments (except
for a few bumping of banks)…they are sitting 25th overall and 5th in PGT.
Currently, the team is changing a strut – but they suspect it may be a late
appearing sign from a big off at LSPR.
Heath is a student at Michigan Tech and Heidi, as his mom, is his co-driver. To
date, they are the only mother-son team running. The combination seems to be
working and they hope to continue on by running 5 events this year – 100AW,
STPR, MFR, LSPR and Headwaters Regional Rally. Heath was invited to the Club
finals, but will be attending 100AW on the national side.
SS13 has been stopped
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
The cars have been stopped 20 miles into stage 13 due to excessive snowmobile
traffic. The first car on the road, #199, made the decision that the stage was
unsafe and stopped it. The cars will be transiting the stage and proceeding on
to SS14.
Problems for ACP??
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
We were unable to speak with the team of #20 who's crew appeared to be trying to
sort out some sort of problem (looked too busy to bother them). The hood was up
and a large number of techs had gathered in the service area. The next time we
saw the car, it appeared to be running just fine as it headed out to start SS12.
We will catch up with the team at the next service.
Block maintains sixth
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
“Tires are a bit of a gamble here”, said #43’s Alex Gelsomino, “they weren’t
great for the second or third stage, but we were able to win the last stage (SS
11).” That stage win likely give driver Ken Block some much needed confidence.
The team had some trouble on SS7, the last stage run yesterday, where the team
lost nearly a minute. “It was just a terrible stage for us, we were just
everywhere”, said Block. They feel they have an advantage this afternoon as
they will be running back far enough that the roads should be swept somewhat
clean. The plan for the rest of the day is to continue to run on the
conservative side and finish the rally.
Car 26 leading Group 5
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Currently, Car 26 Kendall/Friberg is sitting 1st in Group 5 and their goal for
day is to finish – a subsequent goal is to finish first as well. “It is an
interesting day in a two wheel drive car out there. We had a big moment on 2nd
stage and hit a big bump and we did a ‘bunny hop’ – we were still on gas, and
all snow on road went over windshield, we could not see anything” stated
co-driver Scott Friberg. The team feels that there is a big advantage to getting
a lot of points here. “It would be good to gain some points toward the
championship as we going to try and run whole season in an effort to win the
Group 5 championship,” Friberg goes on to state.
Kendall/Friberg realize that there is little to gain and a lot to lose by racing
too hard here, but state that they are watching Car 55 Sarasin/Johansson as well
as Car 70 Duplessis/Headland.; unfortunately for Car 26, Sarasin/Johansson have
made up one minute over this morning’s stages. When asked why Car 70, as a
Group 2 entrant, would be of interest to a G5 competitor, Friberg stated that
“they are somebody fun to race with – it’s good fun and we gotta try to beat
Chris because he is lighter and theoretically in a lesser class (G2 vs. G5)”.
Currently, Car 70 is beating Car 26 by 1 position overall and about 31
seconds.
They also realize that this is not a horsepower race and are making some changes
– such as running the turbo at a lower setting than from the factory and cutting
some tires. Right now, the changes seem to be working for them.
Pastrana slips to second
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
The snow is coming down pretty hard here in Atlanta, which should make for an
interesting afternoon of rally. Car 199 is again leading the way. Pastrana
felt he was driving well and pretty aggressively this morning, but was
disappointed that the times didn’t reflect it. “I can’t blame the tires, Paul
(Choiniere) is on the same tires and he took 30 seconds out of us this morning”,
said Pastrana, “we obviously have to stay on the road, but we’re going to go as
fast as we can while doing it.” Pastrana and Edstrom sit in second place, only
seven seconds back from new leader Tanner Foust.
A few updates for the Sno* Regional Rally
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 44 Krolikowski/Krolikowski won 3 stages overall in the Sno* Regional Rally
yesterday - they won SS7 by an impressive 1 minute over the next closest time.
They subsequently won the regional rally overall and were sitting in 15th
position overall in the Sno*Drift National Rally. The team is dual entered as
Cindy is planning to running some national events with Wyeth Gubelmann and
hoping to be in the points chase for the co-driver championship as the season
progresses.
Car 508 Ottey/McGarvey were having a great first stage and in fact, won the
first stage in the Sno* Regional Rally. Unfortunately, they thought their luck
had run out on SS2 when the spun their car on a long straight. When they were
done spinning, however, they found themselves in the center of the road and even
facing the right direction. At that point, they were happy, but later found
that snow had gotten up into the electrical system causing the car to "act up".
In the end, the electrical system seemingly dried out and everything was fine
again, but they finished in 4th position in the Sno* Regional Rally despite
having set 2 fastest stage times (the other was SS5). The team seemed happy and
are enjoying battling it out with Car 646 Zenz/Parps - the other Mazda 323 in
the field.
Stage 11 claims another car
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 811, Sozanski/Slocum, have been reported to be blocking the road about three
miles into SS11. The road is passible, but it's tight. The team is reported to
be OK.
Kendall and Friberg lead Group 5
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 26 sits in the lead of Group 5 by almost two minutes, not very much time
here at Sno*Drift in these conditions. “It would only take getting stuck once
to lose that time”, said Friberg. They are just running their own rally and not
worrying about what their competition is doing. “We do miss four wheel drive
this weekend!” said Kendall. The team plans to run the 2007 season and contest
the Rally America Group 5 National Championship.
Car 64 Borowicz/Borowick have rolled on SS11
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 64 Borowicz/Borowicz have been reported as being rolled over on SS11. The
car is being reported as being upside down in the road; however, the road is
passable and the stage has not been affected. All are reported as OK.
The Ranch Stage causes problems for O
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
With their new sponsor, K&N , in place, Car 90 O'Sullivan/Putnam had high hopes
for Sno*Drift.
The duo have not been in a car together for 5 months, but O'Sullivan has been
doing a lot of stunt driving. Despite the level of driving, he has not done any
snow driving and that caught up with him on the Ranch stage last evening.
O'Sullivan had a minor off on the stage and was able to get themselves out;
however, when they went off, the car stalled and they were unable to get the car
started. The off and subsequent inability to start the car cost the team about
one and a half minutes and they are currently sitting in the 11th position.
Elk!!
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Stage 10 has reported that there is a heard of Elk on the stage. Competitors
have been warned to be cautious.
Trouble for Car 96
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
It has been reported that Car 96, Brian Scott and John Dillon, are off in the
middle of stage 8. The team survived the first day of the rally, and Scott's
first rally and the snow, with only one spin. They had gained some confidence
in the snowy conditions and were excited to get a finish here at Sno*Drift.
Unfortunately, they were just towed into the service area and it appears their
day is done. Dillon reports that they went off the road and hit a tree damaging
the radiator. The car will run, but they didn't want to risk damaging the
motor. Both driver and co-driver are OK and the car will be too. John would
like to wish Donna a very Happy Birthday!
Pastrana and Edstrom lead the way
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Pastrana and Edstrom will be starting as the first car on the road for the final
day of the Sno*Drift Rally. The team is not incredibly excited to leading the
way today, they expect that they will loose some time on the first set of stages
due to their road position. Edstrom tells us that they would be happy to finish
Sno*Drift in third or fourth. Defending their Championship is the primary goal,
so gaining points here is the main focus.
Group N update
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car 91 Bottoms/Bosley had a really good first stage last night, posting the
second fastest time on that stage behind Cr 774 Dimiters/Ockwell - the only
other Group N car in the Sno*Drift National Rally. After SS1, the two Group N
cars traded times over the next 5 stages. Both had problems on the last stage
of the evening, the Ranch Stage. Bottoms overshot a junction, but Dimiters took
the brunt of the time loss when they drove into a ditch. While not a lot of
damage was sustained (except on the pull out when an open passenger door was
open and got swung the wrong way), the team required a pull out of the ditch and
lost about 3 minutes to Bottoms on that stage.
Both teams are running today; Bottoms/Bosley are leading Group N over
Dimiters/Ockwell by 1:30, so it is still too close to call. Car 91's goal for
today is to win Group Nfinish 8th or above overall as it is their belief that
consistent finishes like that will help them get into the summer X Games. Car
774 hopes to close in on Car 91 for the Group N win.
Day two begins
- Saturday, January 27, 2007
We are now at the Atlanta High School in Atlanta, MI. The driver's meeting has
occurred and the teams are starting to leave to go and run the first four stages
before coming back here for a 90 minute service. They will then run three
stages before another service break. The teams will finish with the final three
stages and finish at the Hillman Community Center at approximately 7 PM.
Forty nine teams will start today; there are thirty two in the Sno*Drift
National Rally and seventeen are in the Drift Regional Rally. The top five
starters are as follows:
#199 Pastrana/Edstrom
#20 Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb
#5 Pinker/Durant
#11 Choiniere/Williams
#34 Foust/Crouch
Sno*Drift is far from being decided!
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Things will only heat up tomorrow as the cars head into the second day of
competition in Atlanta, MI. Nearly 80 miles of stages are left to decide the
winner of the first round of the 2007 Rally America National Championship.
Teams are either anticipating or dreading the grueling 25 mile stage that waits
for them midday. Some teams have commented that this will be the stage that
will decide the entire rally. As we saw today, anything can happen and you
never know who will be in the lead after the next stage! The first car starts
the day at 9:00 am, make sure to check back to see the latest.
Pastrana leads at the end of day one
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Pastrana moves into the lead despite having no auxiliary lights on the last four
stages of the day! The team set the fastest times on two of those four stages.
“We just ran in the ruts and pinned it”, said Pastrana. Other teams in the
service area laughed that maybe they should consider running without lights next
year!
Car 70 Duplessis/Headland Fastest Two Wheel Drive
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Car 70 is currently the fastest two wheel drive car in both the Sno*Drift
National Rally as well as the Sno* Regional Rally. In addition to that, he is
also sitting in the 3rd overall position in the Sno* Regional Rally, less than
17 seconds out of the lead behind seasoned veterans Car 508 Ottey/McGarvey and
Car 44 Krolikowski/Krolikowski.
Over the past two seasons, 20-year-old driver Chris Duplessis of Duplessis
Motorsports has had great results, finishing as high as second overall in the
Maine Winter Rally. It is finishes such as this that helped win the 2005 RA
Eastern Regional Championship title.
Starting fresh in 2007 with added support from sponsors, Wilcox Industries,
Ogontz Group, Techtonics Tuning, and Team O'Neil Rally School, Chris and team
will run an abbreviated schedule in hopes of clenching their first national
title.
This is the first time that veteran co-driver Martin Headland, has ridden with
Chris Duplessis. Headland has co-driven for champions such as Jean-Paul Perusse
and Tim O'Neil and brings much experience to the young team. "We are having a
great time, Chris is doing well and he is really smooth."
For further information on the team and their season, visit their web site
www.rallygarage.com.
Dimiters loses time on stage 7
- Friday, January 26, 2007
The team of car #774, Dimiters and Ockwell, are working on some minor damage
caused on stage 7 tonight. They went off on the outside of a tight left hand
corner and ended up in a ditch. It took about four minutes, and some
assistance, to get the car back on the road. After finishing the stage they
made it into service where the damage can be repaired.
Car 523 Hanson/Hanson exceeding own expectations
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Car 523 Hanson/Hanson is currently running 2nd in PGT in the Sno*Drift National
rally. The team is excited to be running in front of reigning PGT champion
Matthew Johnson. “We are having a great ride, Pat (Moro) has us by a minute,
but the rest of the PGT cars are so close” states driver Travis Hanson.
“This is our home rally and so far, we have far exceeded our own expectations -
we are doing better than expected and are running a clean rally. We had crazy
fun on the ranch stage" Hanson goes on to say.
The team is happy to announce two new sponsors at this event. We would like to
thank TranTek Automation Systems and Team O’Neil Rally School for their support.
Travis and Terry would like to thank the TranTek employees, all of their family,
friends, and fans who are braving the cold to come out and cheer them on.
The team is taking a wait-and-see approach to tomorrow’s stages, “we will have
to see how we do tomorrow, our goal is to stay clean and consistent all the way
through especially on the 25 mile stage. I think whoever runs cleanest on that
stage will win the rally,” states Travis.
Happily, with the addition of Trantek as a sponsor, the Hanson’s are planning on
running all of the National events except the two West Coast events and while
their goal is to finish in the top three in PGT class, right now, “We are going
to play it race by race, and if we are in hunt for points, we may add
events.”
Leader Board after 7 stages
- Friday, January 26, 2007
The cars are starting to come in and the unofficial scores are being computed.
Currently, the leaderboard is as follows:
#199 Pastrana/Edstrom
#20 Comrie-Picard
#5 Pinker/Durant
#11 Choiniere/Williams
#34 Foust/Crouch
Several cars have come in with damage, to include #774 Dimiters/Ockwell and #59
Moro/Rossey.
Most of the teams have packed up and came back here to Lewiston just to check in
at the final MTC . We will get more detailed results tomorrow.
Great new things for Foust in 07!
- Friday, January 26, 2007
A new car, a new number, and new sponsors are just a few things that are new for
Tanner Foust. Foust will be running the #34 Rockstar Subaru in the Open class
of the 2007 Rally America Championship. They are out of the box quickly here at
Sno*Drift, sitting third in a very competitive field after the first set of
stages. They did suffer a puncture on the first stage, but were lucky and
estimate to have only lost about 12 seconds.
“I really want to thank Rally America for putting rally in front of a large
audience which has allowed me to gain some great support for the 2007 season”
says Foust. The team is supported by Rockstar, Syms, Hankook Tires, Tein,
Endless, AEM, and KTC Tools.
Pastrana in fourth
- Friday, January 26, 2007
"More of the same" is what Pastrana plans on for the rest of the day. Although
there was snow on the roads, the team of car #199 Pastrana and Edstrom report
that it was much lighter and fluffier that they expected. The tires dug down to
the ice quickly causing quite a bit of wheel spin and some difficult starts.
The team plans to change to a different tire for the last stages of the night
and make sure they finish. Pastrana is currently in fourth place, only ten
seconds from first.
Block in seventh in the snow.
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Subaru of America driver Ken Block started second on the road today, at a gravel
rally, that’s a pretty good place to start, but it was no advantage today.
Given the road conditions, starting further back in the field would have been
the ideal place today. The Subaru team chose to start the rally on snow tires,
which Ken didn’t feel very confident on after three stages. “We just need to
make sure we stay on the road tonight” said Ken. The team is looking forward to
the 25 mile stage run tomorrow, they believe that will be the true test of this
rally. Block and Gelsomino currently sit in seventh place, which sounds further
back than it actually is, they are only 33 seconds out of first.
Sno* Regional Rally Leaderboard
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Leading the Sno* Regional Rally, in both open and overall, is Car 44
Krolikowski/Krolikowski With a total time of 25:12.9 after SS3. In 2nd, is Car
646 Zens/Parps 23.4 seconds behind the leader. Car 70 Duplessis/Headland are 3rd
overall and 1st in G2 about 35 seconds behind the leader.
Dimiters leads Sno*Drift!
- Friday, January 26, 2007
After three stages, the surprise leader of the Sno*Drift Rally is #774
Dimiters/Ockwell. “Don’t talk to me, I don’t want to talk, it might curse me!”
laughed Dimiters. The team chose a snow and ice tire and feel that the choice
was the best one available, considering the conditions. Dimiters feels that he
was going slow and being very conservative on the first stages of the rally.
The team feels that it is an advantage to have started back in the pack; being
able to look a the mistakes his fellow competitors and avoid them has been very
helpful. After three stages #774 leads by just over six seconds.
Inclement weather likely to affect rally
- Friday, January 26, 2007
There has been a short term severe weather alert in effect...According to NOAA,
AREAS OF LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE INTO
THIS EVENING. UNTREATED ROADWAYS WILL LIKELY BE SLIPPERY. IN ADDITION...THERE
WILL BE A THIN COATING OF ICE ON EXPOSED SURFACES.
A few updates
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Car 567 Cutler/Atsma have fixed their throttle problem and have decided to
continue on tonight. They will not be scored because they did not finish the
earlier stages.
Car 690 Bartram/Hotson have decided to enter the Drift Regional Rally
tomorrow.
Car 104 Foulkrod/Gardam have been reported as leaking oil on stage. Their crew
has been notified that they are at the start of SS4, with very low oil pressure,
and need to be recovered.
Car 478 Moen/Victor have been reported as off on SS6. All are OK.
Reigning Champion in second place
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Andrew Comrie-Picard, reigning champion of this event, is currently sitting in
second place overall.
The team has a brand new car and had a few tense minutes earlier. They needed
to download a file for their new map for the ECU. Due to technical difficulties
were unable to accomplish it. Fortunately, after a few minutes, they received a
"ping" from the location in Australia and finally, were able to download it.
Since then, Comrie-Picard/goldfarb have been focused on the task at hand -
running a clean rally and being there at the end - "With only 7 seconds between
1st and 2nd, and 2 seconds between 2nd and 3rd positions, anything could happen"
states co-driver Marc Goldfarb. "We ran on the Yokohama A034's on the first
stages, and they were great and certainly help us to run clean and fast in these
conditions."
After Stage Three...
- Friday, January 26, 2007
The cars have just begun to come in from the first three stages and the
unofficial leaderboard after SS3 is as follows:
#774 Dimiters/Ockwell
#20 Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb
#34 Foust/Crouch
#199 Pastrana/Edstrom
#5 Pinker/Durant
Choiniere/Williams pressing on
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Paul Choiniere and Mark Williams had the unenviable task of starting first in
the Sno*Drift National Rally. Fortunately, it is not a new experience for Paul
as an 8 Time champion or Mark, who has partnered with the likes of John Buffum,
Tom McGeer and Antoine L'Estage and is himself, a champion co-driver.
Currently, the team is unofficially sitting in the 6th overall position and it
seems, the top starting position posed no major headaches for the team. "I can
tell that Paul is not fully committing to the notes - he is listening and doing
- but not fully committing. This is the first time that we have ridden
together, so I am not sure if it is because of that, or something else. Overall,
it is working well."
Mark went on to say "We are most concerned with the tire choice for the last
four stages. We are trying to analyze how much the roads will become polished
from the 50 cars going over them". Mark was eluding to the fact that three of
the final four stages are the same as the three stages they have just run
(except in reverse).
Cutler/Atsma out for tonight
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Car 567 Cutler/Atsma has withdrawn from the event. According to co-driver John
Atsma, they had a stuck throttle and in the interest of safety, have chosen to
pull out of this event, but are confident that they will be able to fix the
problem tonight and continue in the Drift Regional Rally tomorrow.
Just as quickly as they are on again, they are off again
- Friday, January 26, 2007
4:10pm Med sweep is going to try to get car #690 out of the woods on Stage 2.
They are off again and are okay.
At this point, net control is reporting that they will not be continuing on.
Pinker/Durant having engine problems
- Friday, January 26, 2007
It has been reported that an engine problem arose this morning for Car 5
Pinker/Durant. Apparently, the team is using a new engine management system
which may be contributing factor, but the team was unable to solidly diagnose
the problem prior to the start of the Sno*Drift National Rally, but chose to do
a few mods that they are hopeful will allow them to continue on. "We run the
risk of blowing the motor up in a big way" stated the team's manager "but we are
here and we will continue on as long as we can."
Latest information from net control
- Friday, January 26, 2007
3:56pm Car #11 Choiniere/Williams has finished stage 3
3:51pm Car #744 Koll/Seidel was reported off and now back on.
Bartram is back in!!
- Friday, January 26, 2007
We have received the following information from the local organizers:
3:14pm Car #690 Kenny Bartram is reported off on Stage 1 and is okay.
3:19pm Car #690 has been confirmed off at mile 2.87 at a very tricky narrow
bridge on Stage 1. All are confirmed okay!
3:41pm Car #690 freed itself and finished Stage 1. We think it will continue
on.
We will post more information on Car 690 Bartram/Hotson as it becomes available.
Weather for Sno*Drift
- Friday, January 26, 2007
As weather is sure to be a factor here at Sno*Drift, we thought you would like
the weather forecast for the remainder of today and tomorrow.
According to NOAA, the weather for this evening and tomorrow is as follows:
This Afternoon: Areas of snow and freezing drizzle. Cloudy, with a high near 23.
South wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tonight: A chance of snow and freezing drizzle before 1am, then a chance of
snow. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature rising to around 21 by 7pm. Wind chill
values between -1 and 9. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west. Chance of
precipitation is 40%.
Saturday: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 25. West wind between 10 and 15
mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around an inch
possible.
Start Order for Sno*Drift Rally
- Friday, January 26, 2007
In most racing series, the start order is determined by a qualifying round;
however, in rally, the start order is determined from a median based speed
factor. Those with a speed factor of 89.5 or higher will be entered into a
random drawing, also known as a seeded draw, in order to determine the order of
the top starting positions.
The process for the seeded draw starts with the competitors drawing numbers.
The driver choosing number 1 will have the first choice of road position among
those in the draw and so on. In this case, there were 4 teams in the seeded
draw and a proxy for Matt Iorio chose number 1, which meant he was first to pick
his road position and he chose 4th position. From there, the remaining three
teams chose. The other remaining teams in the seeded draw, in starting order
for today will be:
#11 Choiniere/Williams
#43 Block/Gelsomino
#199 Pastrana/Edstrom
Finally, some snow at Sno*Drift
- Friday, January 26, 2007
Sno*Drift is the first stop on the 2007 Rally America National Championship.
Historically, Sno*Drift is a full-on snow and ice event that takes competitors
through the back roads of northeastern lower Michigan; however, an unseasonably
warm and dry winter here in Michigan threatened to make Sno*Drift snowless.
This morning, the teams were happy to find that the snow was finally falling at
Sno*Drift. Approximately three inches of snow has fallen so far today and more
is expected overnight. This morning’s practice stage quickly became a session
for tire testing, although there was not a consensus on what the best choice was
going to be.
Today’s stages will take the teams to the Avery Lake, Hunters, and Meadford
stages prior to a 45 minute service. After service, they will do the McCormick
Lake, Camp 24-25, Shoreline, and The Ranch stages, with the first car finishing
up at about 8:40 PM. The total mileage for today’s stages will be approximately
47 miles.
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