From the rally finish at the Sunday River Ski Resort...
The five money-winners for the New England Forest Rally round of the MaxAttack! Series presented by the Danza Del Sol Winery are:
1. Chris Duplessis/Karl Atkinson - Ford Fiesta R2 - $1500
2. Andrew Comrie-Picard/Jeremy Wimpey - Scion XD - $1200
3. Dillon Van Way/Jake Blattner - Ford Fiesta - $1000
4. Kevin Turner/Robert Sockalexis - Subaru Impreza - $800
5. Greg Healey/Cindy Krolikowski - Datsun 280Z - $500
-We caught up with Jeremy Wimpey, who was co-driving for Andrew Comrie-Picard in the Scion XD. He gave us the lowdown on their rally weekend. They had a good start to the rally yesterday, although Chris Duplessis slapped them around on a few stages. They lost their oil pan on the third stage, and were towed into service by the Subaru WRX of Evan Cline and Greg Dorman. The crew fixed all that ailed the car within the half-hour service time, so they did not pick up any road points. A broken downpipe melted shifter cables and boost control cables, and they finished the rally with no third gear, no clutch, and no boost. The Scion is a solid car, although they backed off towards the end of the rally as they had a five-minute cushion over the third place car.
-Dillon Van Way and Jake Blattner had no issues, and were happy to bring their Ford Fiesta home in one piece.
-Chris Duplessis and Karl Atkinson had no troubles with their Ford Fiesta R2. Chris wanted to push hard to the finish, but good judgment got the better of him and he decided to back off.
-Kevin Turner and Robert Sockalexis had no problems with their Subaru Impreza.
-Greg Healey and Cindy Krolikowski had no issues with their Datsun 280Z, they kept it on the road and everything went well.
-Luke Sorenson and Seth Strait welded a cap over their broken ball joint to keep it from blowing out, and their SAAB 99 was able to finish the rally.
-The Greasecar VW Rabbit of Justin Carven and Geoff Clark was eight minutes late leaving the Errol service as they sought to shore up the leaking gear oil. Once out on the stage, the car mysteriously died. They traced the problem to a blown fuse, and got going again. They hit the brakes, and once again, the car mysteriously died. It turned out a brake lamp had broken and was shorting out, so when they hit the brakes it killed the engine. They finally figured out what was causing the problem and removed the bulb, but by that point they had lost about 14 minutes.
-Tim Chevalier and Alan Moody broke another rim and bent three more, so they are ready to toss the stock Merkur XR4ti rims and try something else. They said the John Vanlandingham suspension worked extremely well in the rough conditions.
-The adventures of Brian Gottlieb and Patrick Darrow continued on the latter stages. They got from service to the start of the penultimate stage, and poured two-and-a-half quarts of gear oil into the Honda Civic. They filled it again between the final two stages. On the last stage they took a Right 3 too wide and center-punched a tree, which damaged the radiator. Martin Walter and Ferd Trauttmansdorff stopped and pulled them back on to the road, and they were able to make it to the end of the stage. On the final transit back to Sunday River, the Honda died due to the lack of coolant. It just so happened that where the car died, Walter and Trauttmansdorff had stopped to take a swim in an inviting lake. The Nissan crew towed the Honda all the way back to Sunday River so they could be counted as finishers, a distance of over 50 miles.
-Speaking of Martin Walter and Ferd Trauttmansdorff, they collapsed a right front strut towards the end of the rally, and were gingerly picking their way through the remaining stages; thus the willingness to help out Gottlieb and Darrow. And the nice swim.
-William Petrow and Jeremy Neyhart broke another rear skid plate bolt on their Ford Fiesta after service; then they broke a front skid plate bolt. By the time they made it back to Sunday River the skid plate was hanging on by just one bolt. They also hit something that both flattened their exhaust and dented their fuel tank. Petrow says the Fiesta is a great car, and he is looking forward to bringing it to the Lake Superior Rally in Michigan for the MaxAttack! season finale.
So ends the second round of the 2011 MaxAttack! Rally Series presented by the Danza del Sol Winery. MaxAttack! would like to thank all the rally participants and volunteers, the New England Forest Rally organizers for being so accommodating, World Rally Sport, and Rally America. We look forward to seeing you all in Michigan in October!
