Colorado Rally Cup Crowns a Champion

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rally Colorado hosted the final event of the Colorado Rally Cup Series and crowned the first champion in its inaugural season. After a year of record breaking performances (6 of 8 Hill Climb records were broken with at least one record being set at each event) and tight competition, Jeremy Brown and Scott Leonard were locked in an epic battle for the Group Two championship as well as for the Colorado Rally Cup Championship.

At the conclusion of the Colorado Rally Cup Series, Jeremy Brown became the champion at Rally Colorado after surviving a hard charge from Scott Leonard. Jeremy Brown, in his 1992 Toyota MR2, jumped out to an early lead in Group 2 with a 10 second lead over Scott Leonard. On SS2 Brown kept charging but Leonard began to close the gap finishing just 6.4 seconds adrift of Brown keeping Brown from building an early lead. By SS3 Leonard was up to speed and beginning to match the pace of Brown with less than 2 seconds separating the teams over the 5.22 mile test. On SS4 Leonard took the initiative and fought back into Browns lead taking the stage by 13 seconds cutting Brown’s advantage to 5 seconds heading into the last stage of the morning loop. Unfortunately the rough nature of the Elkhead Loop and Leonard’s maximum attack on SS4 ended up damaging the shift linkage leaving the team stuck in first gear with no ability to select gears. After loosing 20 minutes stuck in gear the team was unable to repair the vehicle in service and withdrew from the Middle Cog 1 Rally handing the Group 2 and Colorado Rally Cup Championship to Brown.

In the Colorado Rally Cup All-Wheel Drive class, Dave and Allison Kern were beginning to edge ahead in their tight battle with Steve Bis and Brian Moody. In Group 5 John Conley’s dominance at the events had delivered him a commanding lead. In the Co-Driver championship Adam Kniepp and Simon Branton-Housley were locked in as tight of a battle as their drivers with Allison Kern and Brian Moody close behind. The advantage however would lie with Branton-Housley as Kniepp had missed an event earlier in the year costing him precious bonus point eligibility.

Unfortunately Dave and Allison Kern hit a budget support wall after developing their Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record setting Mitsubishi Evolution and decided to not enter Rally Colorado so they could better focus their energies on preparing for 2009. This left Steve Bis in position to win the All-Wheel Drive classification by simply starting Rally Colorado by the way of the bonus points for entering all of the points scoring events.

Established in January 2008 the Colorado Rally Cup was formed to promote the sustainable growth of rally sport as well as develop talent in the state of Colorado. Formed as a multi-organizational rally sport championship the Colorado Rally Cup is compromised of RallyCrosses, Hill Climbs, and the Rally Colorado Performance Rally. Championship points are awarded in four classifications, three for drivers/teams and one separate category for co-drivers. The drivers classifications are based on vehicle configuration and utilize Rally America Group 2 and Group 5 class structures for two wheel drive vehicles in addition to a single class for All Wheel Drive vehicles. Drivers and co-drivers are scored based on their finishing position relative to the class they enter. Co-driver points are however not divided between classes in an effort to encourage co-drivers to ensure their participation at events should their regular driver not be able to compete. For more information please visit www.coloradorallycup.com.