Subaru Rim of the World Rally Challenge
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Lancaster, Calif.
Press Notes – Sunday Early Evening

25. The California Rally Series (CRS) is a regional rally series for championships in various classes which includes Subaru Rim of the World Rally, Lancaster, CA; Desert Storm, Blythe, CA; Gorman Ridge, Frazier Park, CA; Prescott Forest Rally, Prescott, AZ; Quartzite Rally, Quartzite, AZ; and Seed 9 Rally, Goodsprings, NV.  The CRS events this week were separate rallies on Saturday and Sunday with the U.S. Rally Championship competitors all entered in both events.

26. For Saturday’s CRS Rally, Lisa Klassen lengthened her points lead in the Open 4WD class winning the four stages overall yesterday by three seconds.  Bill Holmes, who was second overall in the CRS results, won the CRS-5 class, while Tim Moser was third overall and first in CRS-2.  Marvin Ronquillo won the CRS GT class, and Tony Chavez won Performance Stock class.

27. While the crowds on Sunday did not rival Saturday’s attendance, everyone seemed to come back to the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds arena for the final stage to determine the overall winner for the 2007 Subaru Rim of the World Rally Challenge.  The teams were paired up from the bottom to the top of the time standings, so the two teams who were only fourth-tenths of a second apart would run head-to-head for the overall title.  As the rally has just ended (4:30 PM PDT), we would be remiss if we didn’t go right to that battle and tell you who won – other details will follow.

The drama actually started at the end of stage six, when Bill Holmes/Kevin Carter were running against Tim Moser/Dick Moser when the Mosers came to a stop on the course with fuel feed problems.  The course workers, acting on instincts for safety of both competitors, red-flagged the stage just as Holmes was going by.  Bill stopped, but then the worker waved him by to continue the stage, but he lost precious time.  The officials reviewed the incident, and, although Holmes had turned a time faster than Klassen despite the delay, they offered Holmes a chance to re-run a stage.  He and Kevin Carter thought about, and decided to take their chances – with their four-tenths of a second lead – with a head-to-head battle on the last stage.  Asked whether he regretted the decision later, Holmes told us that they could have made mistakes on the re-run, causing them to fall behind.

28. So it was Mitsubishi versus Ford pick-up, Lisa versus Bill at they took the dual curse for the last run.  Klassen had a little wheel-spin right at the first turn, trying to keep her nervousness in check.  Holmes looked like he had the lead early as he thundered the V-8 truck down the straight-away on the first of four laps, but Lisa settled the Mitsubishi down and focused on running consistent, quick laps without making mistakes.  Meanwhile, Holmes ran over a burm, did a 360-spin and then later touched the wall trying to get maximum speed from the Ford.  Those few mistakes cost him five seconds – 4:19.5 to Lisa’s 4:14.1 – and Lisa Klassen became the first woman to drive her rally car to a professional rally win in the United States since the beginning of the SCCA PRO Rally in 1972 (including SCCA, American Rally Association, Rally America, USAC, NASA, etc.). 

Holmes, a former SCCA Rally champion, thought the course was terrific, and, although he missed the forest stages, was glad he was here to experience this year’s event.  As for Klassen, it was hard for her to express her feelings after the event.

“My co-driver, Guido Hamacher; my teacher Leon Styles; my crew and everyone in the rally community really supported my effort, and I was very nervous going into the last stage.  I just focused on what I had to do and didn’t any risks.  I’m so happy – I can’t really talk,” she said.

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