Subaru Rim of the World Pro Rally
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Lancaster, Calif.
Press Notes – Saturday Morning

(see Friday night’s notes for previous notes)

7. The Peter Workum/Chrissie Beavis Subaru, running fourth overall and first in the CRS/WSRC class, reported that they lost their lights on Del Sur last night, and their windshield fogged up, but Workum knows it’s an outdoor sport, and this is all part of rallying. “It was a little mor slippery than I remember it, but, the course was drying as we ran it. For Saturday, we will try to stay in the game and stay near the leaders, hoping for mistakes in front of us.”

8. The Ralph Kosmides/Jimmy Brandt Subaru – seventh overall – reported they are a little behind from where they wanted to be, but, at Rim, Kosmides said he just wanted to make it through Friday night and go racing Saturday. “We’re building a Ruby’s Diner out here in Palmdale later this year, and we want to put on a good show for the locals.
Del Sur is my favorite stage, so it’s great we are running that road four times. On the Super Special stadium stages, we realize you can’t win the rally by being over-aggressive, so we’ll take it easy there.”

9. The Stephan Verdier/Allan Walker Subaru WRX, leading the Super Stock class and running fifth overall, was prepared for the worst last night on Del Sur, but reported it wasn’t as bad as he thought. Verdier, who won the production class here last year, said he can’t keep up with the open class cars, but he would like to continue to lead production and stay in the top ten. He agreed with Kosmides that you can only lose the rally at the stadium stages, not make up significant time on anyone.

10. The Wyeth Gubelmann/Cindy Krolikowski Subaru WRX, which went off the road and was high-centered on the first Del Sur stage last night, is entered this morning in the club rally. Gubelman went off the road and high-centered on a burm, and had trouble opening their door after the incident. The Wolfgang Hoeck/John Dillon Mistubishi Lancer stopped and helped them open the door, but Wyeth was unable to continue.

11. The George Plsek/Jeff Burmesiter Mitsubishi Lancer, currently eighth overall, can testify to the perils of the stadium stages, he snapped a control arm and went off the course, causing a DNF only hundred of yard from the finish. This year, he’s going to be “pretty careful.” He thinks that Magic Mountain/Messenger Flats stages hold the key to victory.

12. On Saturday morning, the sun is shining brightly, and the rain seems to be only a bad memory. One of the residual memories of the rain, however, is the muddy surface of the stadium floor. Earthmovers have been working all night to help shape the “over and under” part of the stage, and the stage is ready to run at noon. Since none of the competitors have seen the stage or received detailed route instructions, the organizer decided to make this stadium stage a demonstration. Once the teams get to see the stage by running it, the last two stadium stages will be timed and count as a full stage.

13. The Hungry Valley SVRA in Gorman was cancelled, but the Powerline stage in the same area was attacked by the field on Saturday morning, and the Patrick Richard/Nathalie Richard Subaru continues to put time on the field, leading by almost a minute coming back to the Fairgrounds for the stadium. The Matt Iorio/Ole Holter Subaru continues to run second, while the Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino Subaru is third.
Complete results are on www.rimoftheworldrally.com

14. Not everyone is having a good run this Saturday morning. The Brian Scott/David Hackett Ford Focus crashed on the stage and is a DNF, while the J.B. Niday/Dave Kean Subaru Impreza lost oil pressure and went off the course.