News from the first service of Day 2 at the L'Anse High School
An important piece of news is that the six cars who had their time cards yanked on Bob Lake 2 last night were given a time and are continuing on with MaxAttack!. So the field is not as decimated as was reported last night.
-Jan and Jody Zedril say that "today's stages are to die for," very predictable. There are no issues with the #708 Mitsubishi Lancer. They beat Burke by six seconds on the first stage, and five seconds on the second. They are just trying to manage their lead today.
-Dillon Van Way is back in for today, even though it is not for MaxAttack!. The #600 Ford Fiesta has a new (old) clutch, and he and Jake Blattner are back in action.
-Joseph Burke says that this is his first rally without doing recce, so the Jemba notes are not quite what he's used to. He and co-driver Alex Kihurani are holding down second place in their #115 Ford Fiesta, but the Zedrils are extending their lead on every stage.
-Matt Himes says that it is nice to have grip again. So far so good with the #535 Honda Civic driven by Silas Himes.
-Billy Mann and Mary Warren, in the #37 Honda Civic, put in a new control arm after severely bending one last night. The front end is still tweaked, but it drives pretty well, and the stages are much more enjoyable.
-Chris Czyzio and Jeff Secor in the #244 Volvo 240 report that Menge Creek was phenomenal, and suits the Volvo very, very well. It was not good for porcupines, as they almost hit one at speed. Baraga Plains was good too, but it was quite sandy.
-Mark and John Huebbe in the #242 VW Beetle are suffering an ignition problem. At the final MTC last night the tach went crazy. They've changed plugs and checked the wires. They are now thinking that it is something internal in the distributor. It is still unresolved, and it is giving them very intermittent power.
-The #551 VW GTI of Krisofer Yahner and Tony Benusa elaborated on their problems from Friday. They think that an injector was stuck and was causing the engine to flood every time they turned it off, and it would take it quite a while to re-start. There were also some shifting problems.
-Steve Brockelman and Dustin Masters, in the #262 GMC Sonoma, say that the old truck is loving the stages. Steve says he is "speechless to be doing so well in their very first rally." They had a good couple stages today.
-Chris Greenhouse and Brian Johnson are out of the rally. It is rumored that they ventilated the engine block of the #319 Plymouth Neon.
-Cameron Steely and Josh Buller, in the #824 Focus, are going again with operable brakes (they ripped off a right front hose last night). They were working on solving a coolant problem in service.
-Erik Hill and Oliver Cooper, in the #864 Eagle Talon, would like to thank Erik's father and uncle for the work on the car last night to get them back in today's rally.
-The RX-7 of Mychal Summers and Ryan DesLauriers is running well today. They were happy to be able to work on their car in a nice warm garage.
-Ian Seppanen, in the #240 Nissan 240SX, says that compared to last night the roads today are fabulous. He and co-driver Daniel Clark are happy to be back in the MaxAttack! rally.
-Bryan Holder and Tracy Payeur, in the #696 Plymouth Neon, were on the transit to the first stage today when their suspension let go. They were forced to withdraw from the rally.
Here are the MaxAttack! scores following the first two Saturday stages:
1. Zedril/Zedril (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1:46:07
2. Burke/Kihurani (Ford Fiesta) 1:48:47
3. Mann/Warren (Honda Civic) 1:57:24
4. Himes/Himes (Honda Civic) 1:58:43
5. Czyzio/Secor (Volvo 240) 2:08:43
6. Huebbe/Huebbe (Volkswagen Beetle) 2:11:28
7. Brockelman/Masters (GMC Sonoma) 2:18:27
8. Chernick/Conte (VW GTI) 2:19:47
9. Seppanen/Clark (Nissan 240SX) 2:20:06
10. Steely/Buller (Ford Focus) 2:24:08
DNF - Greenhouse/Johnson (Plymouth Neon) motor
DNF - McCorison/Johansen (Hyundai Tiburon) unknown
DNF - Holder/Payeur (Plymouth Neon) suspension
DNF - Van Way/Blattner (Ford Fiesta) clutch
DNF - Grenwis/Burkholder (VW GTI) unknown
DNF - Summers/DesLauriers (Mazda RX-) mechanical
DNF - Donlin/Tinsey (Ford Escort) belt
DNF - Scray/Vickman (Datsun 510) unknown
DNF - Bushore/Bushore (VW Jetta) transmission
DNF - Hill/Cooper (Eagle Talon) transmission
DNF - Yahner/Benusa (VW GTI) mechanical
This just in... Rally radio reports that the #841 VW GTI of Daryn Chernick and Matt Conte is on its roof half a mile into Stage 12. Both driver and co-driver are OK.
