Press Notes

MEDIA ALERT
SCCA ProRally Championship Round #9 - Lake Superior

DENVER, CO: Ninth and final round of the 2000 season. This year's Lake Superior event is one of it's largest ever, with well over 70 entries, continuing the record breaking entry level trend set at most events in this year's season. A fast, long event, with nearly 500 total miles in the route, this grand tour of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is a demanding test of endurance, with the fickle Lake Superior late fall weather nearly always playing a significant role in the events outcome. This performance rally event is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America.

When & Where:
20-21 October 2000; Houghton and Calumet, MI; approx. 180 miles northeast of Duluth, Minnesota.

Headquarters Hotel - Friday/Saturday Press Room; Event and Media registration
Best Western - Franklin Square, 820 Shelden Ave, Houghton, MI 49931
Hotel Main: 906.487.1700

Complete Event Schedule: (subject to change)
Thursday, 19 October, 2000
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Press Stage Entrant & Media registration, 7th Floor Franklin Square Inn
1:00 PM - 4:30 PM Scrutineering - Press Stage cars only - CCISD Learning Center
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Press Stage - location TBA - caravan leaves Franklin Square at 4:45
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Press Reception - Press Room - 6th floor Franklin Square Inn

Friday, 20 October, 2000
8:00 AM - 2:00 PM Entrant & Media registration - 7th Floor - Franklin Square Inn
8:00 AM - 2:30 PM Scrutineering - Press Stage cars only - CCISD Learning Center
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Parade & Parc Expose - D&N Bank, CenturyTel parking lots, Houghton
4:01PM Start of Lake Superior SCCA ProRally Leg One - D&N Bank
7:15 PM - 12:00 Midnight Press operations at Kenton Service
1:00 AM Press Room open - Franklin Square Inn
2:00 AM (approximate) First car arrival - Finish of Leg One - Houghton
3:00 AM (approximate) Press room closes

Saturday, 21 October, 2000
9:30AM - 10:30 AM Parc Expose - D&N Bank - Calumet *
10:31 AM Start of Lake Superior SCCA ProRally Leg Two - D&N Bank - Calumet
6:00 PM (approximate) First car arrival - Finish of Leg two - D&N Bank - Hancock *
8:00 PM - 8:30 PM Reception MTU Memorial Union Building - Houghton
8:30 PM Buffet dinner and Awards Banquet - MTU Memorial Union Building
* Recommended time and location for media interviews.

Press Credentials & Operations:
Event Press/Photo credentials will be available at registration on Thursday and Friday only. Access to press-only photo areas will require a press pass. Credentials are available only to members of the working press. Identification and/or work assignment required. Press access to the Awards Banquet will be extremely limited. Please inquire. Due to the large scale of this event, press operations will be primarily at the service areas on Friday evening and Saturday. Only limited information will be available at the Press Room during event operations.

Thursday Press Stage:
Thursday's afternoon Press Stage is open to all members of the working press and VIP's directly related to the teams that are invited to the Press Stage. For members of the press that will be covering this stage only, and will not be in attendance for the Friday/Saturday event, Event Press Credentials are not required - however, a waiver and release signing will be required at the Press Stage.

Visuals, Interviews & Media information:
During the event, action photography will be possible from spectator and select press-only viewing areas along the rally course. Drivers, co-drivers and crew will be accessible throughout the event, including the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning Parc Expose. Media relations will be able to provide driver and co-driver interviews, event results and other information via telephone and Email.

Event Rank:
This rally is a full points SCCA ProRally Championship event. Drivers earn points towards the national championship, and supporting manufacturers (Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi) earn points towards overall and class Manufacturers' Championships.

Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Marketing and Media Manager
Pre-event: 303.779.6622 (country Code: 1)
Direct inquiry Email: werace4u@aol.com
Press Room: 20-21 October only. Call the Hotel and ask for Press Room. (room 625)
Time zone at event: Eastern Time (GMT - 6 hours)
website access:
• SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/
• SCCA Lake Superior ProRally: http://up-plaza.com/lspr/home.html

Selected entries (driver/co-driver):
• Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker; SCCA Open Class 2000 Hyundai Tiburon - Multi-time overall SCCA ProRally National Champions Choiniere and Becker arrive at Lake Superior with five overall wins in the 2000 season. The dynamic duo wrapped up their bid for the Overall Drivers and Co-Drivers Championship at Prescott last month, as well as securing the Overall Manufacturers Champion title for Hyundai. For this unstoppable team, this is an 'icing on the cake' event.
• 1999 Overall Manufacturer, Driver and Co-Driver Champions Noel Lawler & Charles Bradley; SCCA Open Class 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. A season filled with triumph and heartbreak, last months DNF at Prescott ended Lawler and Bradley's bid for a repeat Drivers and Co-Drivers Championship.
• 1999 Rim of the World overall winner Garen Shrader with 1998 overall co-driver champion Michael Fennell; SCCA Open Class 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV. Shrader and Fennell are going from strength to strength, with another strong podium finish at Prescott. While not in contention for overall Driver's Championship, Shrader does have shot at the 3rd place overall podium position, so expect the team to apply pressure to Lawler/Bradley right from the start.
• Canadian hotshoe Patrick Richard returns to the US to complete the American half of his two-nation championship season, with veteran navigator Ben Bradley back in the co-drivers seat. Bradley will be protecting his GT Co-Drivers championship bid from Bill Westrick, in Steve Gingras' Eagle Talon.
• Group 5 duelers Bryan Hourt and Mark Utecht will be at it again at LSPR, with Utecht back in his rebuilt Dodge Omni GLH turbo, and Hourt back with long-time co-driver Jay Kowalik. Tied for first place class points after Prescott's battle of the variables, with Utecht in an unfamiliar car, and Hourt with an unfamiliar co-driver, this will be one of the races to watch.
• Also in the must watch viewfinder is the Group 2 battle between the local favorite team of Bob Nielsen and Brett Corneliusen, who lead the class by a mere 1.8 points over Californians Jay Streets and Bill Feyling. Streets totaled his Toyota Corolla at Prescott, and has built another just for this event, as has Nicholas Robinson, who also destroyed his very quick Honda Civic at the Arizona event.

For immediate release
19 October, 2000

Start Order & Late Breaking News:
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship Round # 9 - Lake Superior

Houghton Michigan: The final round of the 2000 SCCA ProRally Championship starts tomorrow afternoon from this mining and college town located in the center of the Keweenaw Peninsula - a long finger of land that juts into the largest fresh-water lake in North America. The Rally starts at 4:00 PM, immediately following a one-hour downtown Parc Expose. An additional, one-hour Parc Expose is scheduled just prior to the Leg two restart of the rally on Saturday morning, at 9:30 AM. In addition to being the season-ending ProRally of the SCCA Championship, the event is also round 13 in the North American Rally Cup - a series of events that includes performance rallys in both the US and Canada.

Selected Late Entries, News
This weekend's event is the largest in the history of the Lake Superior ProRally, with nearly 80 entrants now on the list. Included are the Overall Championship winning Hyundai Tiburons of Choiniere/Lawler; a five-pack of hard-charging Mitsubishi Lancer Evos including the Group N Championship team of Scheible/Hughes (now running in Open class), and Open Class podium contenders Shrader/Fennell, and a 6-pack of world-class Subaru Imprezas, featuring a pair of turbocharged 2.5RSes Peterson/Ryther, and the return of the Krolikowski Group N Prodrive WRX-Sti.

With the all-wheel drive dominated classes (FIA Gr N, Open, Production GT) championships fundamentally decided going into this event, the battles will remain focused on the 2nd and 3rd place podiums for those categories, and the tight races for Group 5, Group 2 and Production Class honors.

Returning for a 'second shot' at Performance Rally is "Titans" television star Perry King, in a 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. No stranger to auto racing, King has successfully competed in numerous road-racing venues before, but his first crack at the sport of performance rally (at this summer's Maine Forest) ended with a up-close view of a tree. On-board with King will be Mark Williams, a seasoned competitor that currently leads the Canadian co-driver championship with Tom McGeer, and is one of the SCCA ProRally Championship's series bosses.

The Lake Superior ProRally (LSPR) organizers will be attempting something new this year - "near real-time" stage time/score posting plus audio press notes (MP3 format) on the event website. See the link below. Postings should begin at approximately 9 PM, Eastern Time Friday night.

"LSPR" is known for its fast but rocky stage roads, and it's always popular and crowd-pleasing Saturday "Brockway Mountain" tarmac stage - one of the very few such stages in the US Championship. Heading south and east of Houghton on Friday, the rally heads to the tip of Keweenaw Peninsula, due north of Houghton, on Saturday, starting in the historic town on Calumet.

Weather forecast: Despite a 10 inch snowfall over much of the area last week, the weather prediction for this weekend is very good - clear skies and moderate temperatures are expected, which will play well for the two-wheel drive teams, making those battles all the more interesting.

Press Room Reminder: Due to the large area this rally covers, press operations will be manned out of the remote service areas, and not the hotel press room for Friday evening, and Saturday morning. All developing news will be posted electronically, accessible from the event website. There will be our standard Leg One and Leg Two results releases posted via our regular e-mail distribution.

Contact: Kurt Spitzner - SCCA ProRally Championship Marketing and Media Manager
direct inquiry Email: werace4u@aol.com
Time zone at-event: Eastern Time (GMT - 5 hours)
Press room phone: (906) 487-1700 (hotel operator will transfer call to room 625)
Web sites:
SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/
SCCA Lake Superior ProRally: http://up-plaza.com/lspr/home.html

Information regarding the start order list:
Car # = number on vehicle. Car # under 200 are ProRally entries. Car # over
200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first digit denoting
their home division (2,3 = West coast, 5 = Central US, 8,9 East coast).
Class = Open - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications; P
(Production) - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock configuration. GR
5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; GR 2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower
cars; GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars. Pro seed only shown for
clarity. Cars with no seeding listed are entered in the ClubRally support
events only.

Start Order (subject to revision)
Pos Car# Seed Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 2 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
2 1 FIA Open Noel Lawler Charlie Bradley 00 Hyundai Tiburon
3 61 FIA Open Karl Scheible Russ Hughes 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
4 52 1 Open Doug Shepherd Peter Gladysz 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse
5 4 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 95 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
6 6 1 Gr N Henry Krolikowski Cindy Krolikowski 95 Subaru Impreza WRX-Sti
7 12 1 GT Steve Gingras Bill Westrick 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
8 16 1 GT Gail Truess Patti Hughes 88 Mazda 323 GTX
9 148 2 Open Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
10 162 1 GT Patrick Richard Ben Bradley 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
11 115 2 FIA-N Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
12 71 1 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt John Dillon 97 Honda Civic
13 21 2 GT Chris Czyzio Eric Carlson 90 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
14 94 2 GT Brian Pepp Jerry Stang 90 Eagle Talon
15 168 2 GT Celsus Donnelly Barry Smith 90 Eagle Talon
16 82 2 Gr 5 Mike Hurst Rob Bohn 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
17 83 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 VW Golf GTi
18 567 2 Gr 5 Steve Nowicki David Stone 85 Mazda RX-7
19 51 2 Gr 2 Jay Streets Bill Feyling 85 Toyota Corolla GTS
20 116 2 Gr 2 Thomas Lawless Lawless 93 Honda Civic
21 107 3 Open Tim Paterson Scott Ferguson 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
22 501 3 Open Todd Jarvey Richard Faber 92 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
23 551 3 Open Mark Sarnecki Rick Hansen 98 Subaru Impreza
24 971 3 GT Brendan Cunningham Paul McClean 90 Eagle Talon
25 122 3 Gr 5 John Daubenmier Stanley Rosen 88 Chevrolet S-10
26 73 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic
27 97 3 GT Paul Dubinsky Yvon Dubinsky 92 Eagle Talon
28 98 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf GTi
29 165 3 P Dennis Chizma David Weiman 73 Porsche 911
30 55 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beets 88 VW Golf GTi
31 33 4 Open James Warren Charles Binder 83 Audi quattro
32 132 4 Open Robert Burtis James Burtis 85 Audi coupe quattro
33 950 4 GT Shane Mitchell Paul Donnelly 90 Eagle Talon
34 601 4 Gr 5 Michael Halley Emily Burton-Weinman 87 Dodge Ram 50
35 65 4 Gr 5 Don Rathgeber Jimmy Brandt 87 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
36 42 4 Gr 2 Eric Burmeister Mark Buskirk 86 VW Golf GTi
37 512 4 P Jouni Pohjolainen John Matikainen 91 Nissan NX 2000
38 59 5 Open John Rek Robert Dupree 95 Audi S2
39 104 5 Open Martin Donnelly TBA 90 Eagle Talon
40 149 5 Open Jonathan Ryther Janice Damitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
41 173 5 Gr N Patrick Lilly Mark McAllister 95 Subaru Impreza
42 232 5 GT Mark Tabor John Elkin 89 Mazda 323 GTX
43 555 5 Gr 5 Colin McCleery Jeff Secor 85 Merkur XR4ti
44 15 5 Gr 2 Brad Hawkins Adrian Wintle 96 VW Golf GTi
45 58 5 Gr 2 Roland McIvor TBA 93 Nissan Sentra
46 84 5 Gr 2 J.B. Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf GTi
47 137 5 Gr 2 Phil Smith Dallas Smith 68 MGB GT
48 937 6 Open Patrick Farrell John O'Reilly 91 Eagle Talon TSi
49 914 6 Gr N Noel Nash Farrell 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
50 TBA 6 GT Aidan McCormack Enda McCormack 90 Mitsubishi Eclipse
51 194 6 Gr 5 Wiktor Biegalski Marcin Korneluk 90 Mitsubishi Eclipse
52 575 6 Gr 5 Jeremy Butts TBA 88 Ford Mustang GT
53 904 6 Gr 5 John Drislane TBA 87 Mitsubishi Mirage
54 69 6 Gr 2 Charles Sherrill Chris Rea 89 Honda CRX Si
55 41 6 Gr 2 Art Burmeister Bob Martin 87 VW Golf GTi
56 967 6 P Perry King Mark Williams 00 Hyundai Tiburon
57 133 6 P Tom Young Jim LeBeau 95 Dodge Neon ACR

Start Order ClubRally support event (subject to revision)
Pos Car# Class Driver Co-driver Car
58 527 Open Chris Gilligan Joe Peterson 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse
59 553 Gr 5 Jerry Brownell Jim Windsor 83 Chevrolet Citation X-11
60 505 Gr 2 John Hamilton Josh Westhaven 81 VW Rabbit
61 507 Gr 2 Micah Wiitala Josh Prusi 92 Saturn SC2
62 522 Gr 2 Jonathan Butts Gary Butts 85 Dodge Omni GLH
63 557 Gr 2 Damien Crane Stephanie Adams-Graf 90 VW Jetta
64 544 Open Dan Malott Matt Malott 90 Eagle Talon
65 518 Open Dennis Martin Chris Plante 90 Mitsubishi Eclipse
66 217 Open Michael Reeves Don Reeves 91 Toyota Celica All-trac
67 531 GT Steve Nielsen Doug McCready 92 Plymouth Laser
68 563 Gr 5 Gary Starr Bill Tifft 86 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo
69 548 Gr 5 John Zoerner John Shepski 85 Dodge Omni GLH turbo
70 528 Gr 2 John Adleman Jason Lajon 85 VW Golf GTi
71 546 Gr 2 Steve Irwin Phil Schmidt 87 Toyota MR2
72 591 Gr 2 Peter Beaupre Tim Ballon 91 Suzuki Swift
73 550 Gr 2 Aaron Hatz Brendan Higgins 89 VW Golf Gti 16V
74 574 Gr 2 Mark Kleckner TBA 74 Dodge Colt
75 571 Gr 2 Kurt Winkelmann Drew Ritchie 89 Pontiac Fiero
76 568 P Phil Macy John O'Neill 97 Plymouth Neon
77 573 GT Terry Lahti Connie Karpinen 90 Eagle Talon
78 558 P Jim Cox Kaari Cox 89 Chevrolet S-10

SCCA ProRally Championship - Round #9 - Lake Superior
Leg One Results, Key Notes

More Bad Luck for Lawler, Choiniere, Shrader, Burke shine

Houghton, Michigan - Perfect weather and road conditions added considerable speed to several stages of this year's Lake Superior SCCA ProRally, an unfamiliar circumstance for many teams accustomed to the Upper Peninsula's often wet or otherwise adverse conditions. For teams with their Championships already in the bag, this made for a fun and refreshing change - smooth and fast yet challenging roads that several call the best in the nation. For the teams still fighting it out, particularly those in Groups 2 and 5 - it called for absolute concentration and determination - a tough work assignment as the temps dropped to near freezing, and the rapid fire rally schedule pulls them on into the early morning hours.

At the end of last night's lengthy 10-stage Leg One activity, overall series points leader Paul Choiniere has a substantial, nearly 2 minute lead over Doug Shepard, who himself is nearly two minutes ahead of third place Garen Shrader. Don't expect these margins to be easily maintained - the entire leg two of the rally is held in the daylight, and all teams in the top 6 are podium contenders.

Noel Lawler's hard luck season finished up this weekend with yet another DNF, this time caused by engine failure just after completing stage 2. At the time he was running a close 2nd overall to teammate Paul Choiniere, and he went out with style - the engine let go 3 miles from the finish of SS2, and Lawler still set fastest time on the stage - 11 minutes, 93 hundredths, to Choiniere's 11:98.

In the overall standings, the big winners in this long night of rally include the relatively unknown team of Shane Mitchell/Paul Donnelly, who picked up an amazing 26 positions and now sit in ninth place overall. Also doing well despite some bad luck early on are Karl Scheible and Russ Hughes, who had a tire failure in SS3, and had to run all of SS4 on the right front rim. Thanks to the smooth stage roads, Scheible was able to get the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V back to service with minimal damage to the car, and rapidly worked his way up the leaderboard, finishing his night in 4th position overall.

In the 'bad rally luck - but still running' column include Bryan Hourt, who had a minor electrical glitch part-way into SS1. Pulling over to the side of the stage road, he found the loose connection and repaired it in under 2 minutes, got back in the car, and promptly slid the car into the swamp he was unknowingly parked right next to. Those kind of 'scenic details' aren't generally listed in the route book - and on this clear and moonless night, there aren't many places in North America darker than Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Hourt finally got unstuck an agonizing 14 minutes later, but the delay has the unfortunate consequence of virtually ending his Group 5 title chase with Mark Utecht.

Also in that column include Patrick Richard, who suffered two tire failures on SS2. As with most rallyists, Richard only carries one spare, so he placed that one up front, and continued on, only for the 2nd tire to go flat shortly thereafter. Richard, who drives a Subaru Impreza, did have a little luck - the flat occurred at a viewing area, and a rally fan volunteered his temporary spare from his own 2.5RS, easily one of the most common cars at most performance rally spectator areas. The really bad luck, however, came later - the delays cost Richard a whopping 13 minutes in road points. While this isn't too bad for Richard - he's already sewn up the Production GT Drivers and Manufacturers Championships, Ben Bradley, his co-driver is the big loser - now effectively written out of the PGT co-driver's championship points chase.

Road Penalties in general are running rampant this year, with several front running teams earning points, with 14 teams picking up anywhere from a relatively inconsequential 1 minute to several being assessed 10 or more - enough to knock any entry from the leaderboard.

Leg two of the lake Superior SCCA ProRally begins at 10:30 AM, following a 1-hour Parc Expose in downtown Calumet. Also featured in Saturday's leg is a special spectator stage, the long-time favorite tarmac hillclimb up Brockway Mountain the early afternoon, prior to the rally's finish in downtown Hancock.

Leg One Finish Order (unofficial) times are in hours:minutes: hundredths of seconds

St Fin Car# Time Seed Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 1 2 1:34:08 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
4 2 52 1:36:04 1 Open Doug Shepherd Pete Gladysz 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse
5 3 4 1:38:01 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
3 4 61 1:41:19 FIA Open Karl Scheible Russ Hughes 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
6 5 6 1:41:20 1 Gr N Henry Krolikowski Cindy Krolikowski 95 Subaru WRX STI
8 6 115 1:42:03 2 Gr N Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
19 7 567 1:42:14 2 Gr 5 Steve Nowicki David Stone 85 Mazda RX-7
10 8 12 1:43:32 1 P GT Steve Gingras Bill Westrick 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse
35 9 950 1:43:33 4 P GT Shane Mitchell Paul Donnelly 90 Eagle Talon
15 10 94 1:44:03 2 P GT Bryan Pepp Jerry Stang 90 Eagle Talon
22 11 107 1:44:57 3 Open Tim Paterson Scott Ferguson 99 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
25 12 971 1:45:49 3 P GT Brendan Cunningham Paul McClean 90 Eagle Talon
18 13 83 1:45:57 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 Dodge Omni GLH turbo
23 14 501 1:46:06 3 Open Todd Jarvey Richard Faber 92 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
29 15 98 1:46:52 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf Gti
13 16 20 1:47:32 1 Open George Plsek Alex Gelsomino 90 90 Audi S2
31 17 165 1:47:41 3 P Dennis Chizma Claire Chizma 73 Porsche 911
17 18 82 1:48:55 2 Gr 5 Mike Hurst Rob Bohn 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
21 19 116 1:49:09 2 Gr 2 Tom Lawless Brendan Lawless 93 Honda Civic
14 20 21 1:49:53 2 P GT Chris Czyzio Eric Carlson 91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
11 21 16 1:50:08 1 P GT Gail Truess Patti Hughes 88 Mazda 323 GTX
38 22 42 1:50:57 4 Gr 2 Eric Burmeister Mark Buskirk 86 VW Golf Gti
33 23 132 1:51:53 4 Open Robert Burtis James R. Burtis 85 Audi quattro coupe
46 24 15 1:51:55 5 Gr 2 Brad Hawkins Adrian Wintle 96 VW Golf GTI
30 25 55 1:52:36 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beels 88 VW Golf GTI
24 26 551 1:52:51 3 Open Mark Sarnecki Rick Hansen 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5
28 27 97 1:52:59 3 P GT Paul Dubinsky Yvon Dubinsky 92 Eagle Talon
42 28 149 1:55:16 5 Open Jonathan Ryther Janice Damitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
44 29 232 1:55:44 5 P GT Mark Tabor Kevin Poirier 89 Mazda 323 GTX
43 30 173 1:56:08 5 Gr N Patrick Lilly Mark McAllister 95 Subaru Impreza
34 31 11 1:56:17 4 Open Ivan Orisek Olga Orisek 84 Audi Quattro
12 32 71 1:56:32 1 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt Mike Dunn 97 Honda Civic
37 33 65 1:57:16 4 Gr 5 Don Rathgeber Jimmy Brandt 87 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
47 34 84 1:59:11 5 Gr 2 JB Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf Gti
58 35 967 2:04:13 6 P Perry King Mark Williams 00 Hyundai Tiburon
27 36 73 2:05:18 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic
56 37 69 2:09:16 6 Gr 2 Charles Sherrill Mark Rea 89 Honda CRX Si
57 38 41 2:10:20 6 Gr 2 Art Burmeister Bob Martin 87 VW Golf Gti
9 39 162 2:11:29 1 P GT Pat Richard Ben Bradley 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
54 40 575 2:49:58 6 Gr 5 Jeremy Butts Jonathan Vrzal 93 Ford Mustang GT

*complete results will be posted on the Lake Superior website:
http://up-plaza.com/lspr/home.html

ClubRally results were unavailable at press time

Leg One Retirements - unofficial
Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Make Stage Retirement cause (unofficial)
19 Rodney Dean Nichole Dean GT 91 Eagle DNS Unknown
58 Roland McIvor TBA Gr 2 93 Nissan DNS Unknown
914* Noel Nash Bernard Farrell Gr N 97 Mitsubishi DNS Withdrawn - engine
110 Mark Nelson TBA Gr N 97 Mitsubishi DNS Withdrawn
148 Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmann Open 00 Subaru SS2 Electrical - fuel pump
512 Jouni Pohjolainen John Matikainen P 91 Nissan SS3 Tree
555* Colin McCleery Jeff Secor Gr 5 85 Merkur SS3 Gearbox
59 John Rek Bob Dupree Open 95 Audi SS4 Engine management
601* Michael Halley E. Burton-Weinman Gr 5 87 Dodge SS4 Roll-over
166 John Daubenmier Stanley Rosen Gr 5 88 Chevrolet SS5 unknown
51 Jay Streets Bill Feyling Gr 2 85 Toyota SS5 Unknown
104 Martin Donnelly Gavin Coyle Open 90 Eagle SS5
133 Tom Young Jim LeBeau P 95 Dodge SS5
168 Celsus Donnelly Barry Smith GT 90 Eagle SS4 Accident
194 Wiktor Biegalski Marcin Korneluk Gr 5 90 Mitsubishi SS5 Tree
904* John Drislane Paul Geary Gr 5 87 Mitsubishi SS5
926* Aidan McCormack Enda McCormack GT 90 Mitsubishi SS5 unknown
137 Phil Smith Dallas Smith GR 2 68 MGB SS7 Engine
33 James Warren Charles Binder Open 83 Audi SS8 Unknown

* indicates teams that have the option of re-starting Leg 2 as ClubRally entrants only.

For immediate release 22 October, 2000

SCCA® ProRally Championship - Round #9 - Lake Superior

Choiniere/Becker Cruise to 5th Consecutive Overall Season Victory

Houghton, Michigan: The final round of the 2000 SCCA ProRally Championship season came to a satisfying conclusion today for team Hyundai, as Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker cruised to their 5th consecutive overall win of the season, and Choiniere's eighth Overall Driver's and Becker's seventh Overall Co-Driver's Championship in the SCCA ProRally Series. In an emotional acceptance speech at the event's award's banquet last night, Jeff Becker dedicated the win to his wife Tess, who passed away late in the 1999 season, and who, said Becker continues to 'support and look over us.'

While the Choiniere/Becker victory tonight came relatively easy to the eight-time Champion, but there were some concerns. The roads used on the second leg featured the re-addition of a few classic stages from when the forerunner of this event was conceived over 20 years ago. Well known in their previous incarnations as rough on equipment and fast, but technical, Choiniere was relieved: "The roads today seemed so amazingly wide and fast that it is difficult to believe that these are the same roads that we use to run a few years ago."

Karl Scheible and Russ Hughes overcame a multitude of problems from Leg one to crawl their way back up the leader board. Languishing in 22nd overall position at the end of day one, the team came back to finish fourth overall, "A career best - the most positions I've ever made up in one day of rallying" said the 2000 Group N Champion, adding, "the car was just perfect."

Garen Shrader and Michael Fennell continued to demonstrate their ability to remain consistent regardless of pressure applied as they finished their third event in a row with a podium finish since the addition of Michael Fennell to the team as the co-driver. Said Shrader; "It was flat out or back off all day long. I just followed Michael's lead."

Brian Hourt's misfortunes in the early going yesterday; when his car developed a minor electrical problem that lead to a slide into the swamp; gave his Group 5 competitor Mark Utecht a chance to back off his pace for the remainder of the event. Utecht played a wise game, conserving the car and solidifying his grasp on the 2000 Group 5 Championship and the coveted Woodner Cup for the top finishing two wheel drive driver. "Brian was a great competitor all year, it is a shame that we had to finish this way without a big battle." The pair came to Lake Superior tied in the points chase.

In Group 2, Bob Nielsen, a long-time entrant who first started to contest this event in the late 1970's, used all of that experience to his advantage as he held off the other Group 2 teams in the closest battle this season for a National Championship. Bob spoke of the chances in the event, "Today, not only the cars are becoming fast and strong, but the drivers and teams are stepping up too."

Doug Shepherd's weekend long battle to fend off the other teams behind him while trying to catch Paul Choiniere summed up, "I was down by about two minutes, but if Paul wanted, it could have been four. He was just uncatchable."

This concludes the 2000 season of the SCCA ProRally Championship. The 2001 season of the SCCA ProRally Championship kicks off in Michigan's Lower Peninsula on January 26-27, 2001, with the aptly named Sno*Drift event. As in 2000, Sno*Drift will be a full points Drivers and Manufacturers Championship event.

Final Finish Order (official)
times are in hours:minutes: hundredths of minutes

St Fin Car# Time Seed Class Driver Co-driver Car
1 1 2 2:05:42 FIA Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 00 Hyundai Tiburon
4 2 52 2:08:08 1 Open Doug Shepherd Pete Gladysz 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse
5 3 4 2:10:14 1 Open Garen Shrader Michael Fennell 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
3 4 61 2:12:20 FIA Open Karl Scheible Russ Hughes 98 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
6 5 115 2:12:32 2 Gr N Seamus Burke Frank Cunningham 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
8 6 6 2:13:28 1 Gr N Henry Krolikowski Cindy Krolikowski 95 Subaru WRX STI
19 7 12 2:15:40 1 GT Steve Gingras Bill Westrick 94 Mitsubishi Eclipse
10 8 567 2:16:01 2 Gr 5 Steve Nowicki David Stone 85 Mazda RX-7
35 9 107 2:17:35 3 Open Tim Paterson Scott Ferguson 99 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
15 10 94 2:17:38 2 GT Bryan Pepp Jerry Stang 90 Eagle Talon
22 11 971 2:20:22 3 GT Brendan Cunningham Paul McClean 90 Eagle Talon
25 12 501 2:20:56 3 Open Todd Jarvey Richard Faber 92 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
18 13 83 2:21:25 2 Gr 5 Mark Utecht Brenda Corneliusen 86 Dodge Omni GLH turbo
23 14 98 2:21:51 3 Gr 2 Robert Nielsen Brett Corneliusen 87 VW Golf Gti
29 15 20 2:21:52 1 Open George Plsek Alex Gelsomino 90 Audi Quattro
13 16 82 2:22:43 2 Gr 5 Mike Hurst Rob Bohn 93 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
31 17 165 2:23:14 3 P Dennis Chizma Claire Chizma 73 Porsche 911
17 18 116 2:23:20 2 Gr 2 Tom Lawless Brendan Lawless 93 Honda Civic
21 19 575 2:23:44 6 Gr 5 Jeremy Butts Jonathan Vrzal 93 Ford Mustang GT
14 20 21 2:25:13 2 GT Chris Czyzio Eric Carlson 91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
11 21 551 2:25:43 3 Open Mark Sarnecki Rick Hansen 98 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
38 22 16 2:26:22 1 GT Gail Truess Patti Hughes 88 Mazda 323 GTX
33 23 15 2:27:01 5 Gr 2 Brad Hawkins Adrian Wintle 96 VW Golf Gti
46 24 97 2:27:41 3 GT Paul Dubinsky Yvon Dubinsky 92 Eagle Talon
30 25 132 2:28:50 4 Open Robert Burtis James R. Burtis 85 Audi quattro coupe
24 26 71 2:29:52 1 Gr 5 Bryan Hourt Mike Dunn 97 Honda Civic
28 27 55 2:31:25 3 P Brian Vinson Richard Beels 88 VW Golf Gti
42 28 149 2:32:40 5 Open Jonathan Ryther Janice Damitio 00 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
44 29 11 2:32:50 4 Open Ivan Orisek Olga Orisek 84 Audi 4000 quattro
43 30 65 2:33:44 4 Gr 5 Don Rathgeber Jimmy Brandt 87 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
34 31 173 2:33:55 5 Gr N Patrick Lilly Mark McAllister 95 Subaru Impreza
12 32 84 2:36:38 5 Gr 2 JB Niday Al Kintigh 86 VW Golf GTi
37 33 73 2:39:35 3 Gr 2 Nicholas Robinson Carl Lindquist 97 Honda Civic
47 34 967 2:45:03 6 P Perry King Mark Williams 00 Hyundai Tiburon
58 35 41 2:48:52 6 Gr 2 Art Burmeister Bob Martin 87 VW Golf Gti
27 36 69 2:52:16 6 Gr 2 Charles Sherrill Mark Rea 89 Honda CRX Si
56 37 42 2:58:19 4 Gr 2 Eric Burmeister Mark Buskirk 86 VW Golf Gti
57 38 232 3:09:04 5 GT Mark Tabor Kevin Poirier 89 Mazda 323 GTX

*complete results will be posted on the Lake Superior website:
http://up-plaza.com/lspr/home.html

ClubRally results were unavailable at press time

Leg One Retirements - unofficial
Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Make Stage Retirement cause (unofficial)
19 Rodney Dean Nichole Dean GT 91 Eagle DNS Unknown
58 Roland McIvor TBA Gr 2 93 Nissan DNS Unknown
914* Noel Nash Bernard Farrell Gr N 97 Mitsubishi DNS Withdrawn - engine
110 Mark Nelson TBA Gr N 97 Mitsubishi DNS Withdrawn
148 Lon Peterson Bill Gutzmanm Open 00 Subaru SS2 Electrical - fuel pump
512 Jouni Pohjolainen John Matikainen P 91 Nissan SS3 Accident - Tree
555* Colin McCleery Jeff Secor Gr 5 85 Merkur SS3 Gearbox
59 John Rek Bob Dupree Open 95 Audi SS4 Engine management
601* Michael Halley E. Burton-Weinman Gr 5 87 Dodge SS4 Roll-over
166 John Daubenmier Stanley Rosen Gr 5 88 Chevrolet SS5 Mechanical
51 Jay Streets Bill Feyling Gr 2 85 Toyota SS5 Rear differential
104 Martin Donnelly Gavin Coyle Open 90 Eagle SS5 Mechanical
133 Tom Young Jim LeBeau P 95 Dodge SS5 Fuel tank
168 Celsus Donnelly Barry Smith GT 90 Eagle SS4 Accident
194 Wiktor Biegalski Marcin Korneluk Gr 5 90 Mitsubishi SS5 Accident - Tree
904* John Drislane Paul Geary Gr 5 87 Mitsubishi SS5 Mechanical
926* Aidan McCormack Enda McCormack GT 90 Mitsubishi SS5 Mechanical
137 Phil Smith Dallas Smith GR 2 68 MGB SS7 Engine
33 James Warren Charles Binder Open 83 Audi SS8 Mechanical
* indicates teams that have the option of re-starting Leg 2 as ClubRally entrants only.

Leg Two Retirements - unofficial
Car # Drivers Name Co-Drivers Name Class Make Stage Retirement cause (unofficial)
165 Patrick Richard Ben Bradley GT 98 Subaru SS13 Suspension
950 Shane Mitchell Paul Donnelly GT 90 Eagle SS11 Unknown
937 Patrick Farrell John O'Reilly Open 91 Eagle SS11 Unknown