[Jim]

SpecialStage.com is in the field and we are proud to provide you results as soon as we possibly can get them.

SS1 has completed, there are 3 more stages (20 miles) to go. Weather is sunny and nice, high in the low 80's. Dust has turned out to be problematic so far, with both Mark and David Higgins telling us that they almost had to come to a stop during the 1st stage.

After Stage 1, here are the unofficial standings:

1. Mark Lovell 1.02
- Tom McGeer 1.02
3. Jonny Milner 1.03
4. Paul Choiniere 1.04
- Ramana Lagemann 1.04
6. Mark Higgins 1.05
7. David Higgins 1.06
- Seamus Burke 1.06

We will add to this thread as we get the news from the event.

Edit: Final results now posted on the official website of the event:

http://maineforestrally.com/mfr02-results.html

Jim

 

[MDBodnar]

Excellent reporting:

Would you like to come to Sno*Drift?

Mike

 

[Jim]

Been there the last 2 years and don't plan on stopping. My favorite rally...

 

[Jim]

No more scores as of yet, but we have some news.

David Higgins went off on SS3 and hit a tree, destroying a wheel. While jacking up the car, the jack handle somehow flipped out and hit him in the head, causing some cuts and bleeding. While he is attended to at service, the crew is hard at work getting his car ready for SS4.

Already having lost 2 minutes on stage, he may get some penalty time as the car does not look like it will be ready by his scheduled start time for SS4.

More news as we get it...

 

[Jim]

After SS4:

1. Mark Lovell 19.82
2. Tom McGeer 20.24
3. Mark Higgins 20.26
4. Paul Choiniere 20.54
5. Rhys Millen 20.66
6. Jonny Milner 20.81
7. Seamus Burke 20.94
8. Ramana Lagemann 21.11
9. Tim Paterson 21.88
10. Doug Shepherd 21.90

 

[daphne]

I suspect those SS1 times are calculated incorrectly. Lovell probably got 62/100s, not 1:02. (Likewise for the rest on that list.)

 

[daphne]

Some more info....

Mark Nelson went off on SS3, I believe. Looked like he tagged the car on SS1 as well.

Jon Nichols' Scooby died about 5 feet past the start of SS4.

David Higgins didn't have much of the co-driver's front end when he left the last service.

The roads are in excellent shape, although dust was starting to become an issue on SS4.

Apologies to the photographer sitting under the bridge on SS3...we'll be more than happy to purchase you some new underwear... ;-) (Video coming soon...or at least when we get home.)

 

[silenuskjh]

Current results are at:
http://maineforestrally.com/mfr02-results.html
Through SS4 at the time of this post.

Mr. O'Neil is 14th overall (2.65 back of Lovell) and leads GpN by 0.18, ahead of Cunningham, Mitchell, Kosmides (go Jimmy!), Farrell, Peeper, and Utecht (go Jeffie!)

Mr. O'Neil is only 0.05 ahead of Mr. Kemp in the '84 Quattro, he said, grinning.

Ken Hawley
Silenus Motorsports
Kalamazoo, MI
'84 Audi 4000Q - #577

 

[grinner323]

>Mr. O'Neil is only 0.05 ahead of Mr. Kemp in the '84
>Quattro, he said, grinning.

anyone else think that Mr. Kemp would probably be in the top 3 positions if not outright leading if he was in one of those AWD turbo monsters that are leading the pack. Put him in one of those new Tiburons and he could be leading. 15th place in an outdated and low on power Audi is quite amazing... IMHO


Philip J. Boer
[email protected]

 

[Andy M]

And he does it on any surface... But then again, haven`t many other people done well in outdated cars and not gotten a look from the manufacturer teams? I bet if this were Europe, they would. But then again, if this were Europe, they might not be able to run those cars against the manuf. teams and consequently would be watching the rallies.

 

[d2xdt2]

Correction

I'm not sure about the others, but I know Mark Nelson did not "go off" on Stage 3. Apparenlty a ball joint on his EVO broke, but as there was no hard landing or particularly rough section of road to have merited the break, it was quite unexpected and certainly a disappointment to the team, as they had to pull over and retire. Regarding the damage incurred on the first stage: Mark lightly brushed a tree (nothing like the last rally ;-)), but neither he nor his co-driver saw the tree because of the dust. Not much damage was done, but apparently dust has been a problem for most of the field today, so it's not surprisng that it caused some casualties.

 

[silenuskjh]

>if he was in one of those AWD turbo monsters

He IS in an AWD turbo monster! This may be truer than the leaders. It's a 4000 with a 5000 turbo engine, custom intercooler arrangement, modified 5000 suspension, etc. Very Frankenstein.

As for horsepower, I wouldn't bet against that either. What he does have is a hugely inferior suspension. Makes it even more remarkable on the rough stages in Maine.

BTW, looking at the stage times, Kemp actually beat O'Neil on 2 of 4.

Ken Hawley
Silenus Motorsports
Kalamazoo, MI
Audi 4000Q - #577

 

[grinner323]

>He IS in an AWD turbo monster! This may be truer than the
>leaders. It's a 4000 with a 5000 turbo engine, custom
>intercooler arrangement, modified 5000 suspension, etc.
>Very Frankenstein.

I know he is in a AWD turbo car... that was not my point... I was just saying that IF he was in a modern car, he would probably be up in the field.

Philip J. Boer
[email protected]

 

[MDBodnar]

From the stage times it looks like Lovell has the advantage of being outfront thus no dust. (I must have missed the re-seed somewhere.)

Other than Lovell's lead, the competition is amazing, positions are changing with each stage! And not just in Open class GN positions are shaping up and G2 is nearly tied!

Very Cool!

I hope TV can capture the reality of what is actually happening in the woods.

Can't wait to hear the stories from the forest.

Mike

 

[John Vanlandingham]

>IF he was in a woopie-doo so called modern car that retain the AUDIs horrible and disgusting weight balance with the whole stinking 5 cylinder LONG motor in front of the front axle maybe not.

Age of car isn't important at all, the original dimensional spec of the car generally is. And the suspention _design_ ain't that different or bad on the Audi, not enough to be a big factor.

The horrible packaging is though.

And Audi won all those years ago arguably from the huge torque the 5cyl turbo made as much as the then crude 4wd system helped.
A good Ford Escort with a BDG had about the same 280 hp, the Audi had maybe 3x the torque.

>
>I know he is in a AWD turbo car... that was not my point...
>I was just saying that IF he was in a modern car, he would
>probably be up in the field.
>
>Philip J. Boer
>[email protected]
















John Vanlandingham

 

[Jim]

RE: Maine Results... After SS8

Unofficial:

1. Mark Lovell 1:03.38
2. Tom McGeer 1:05.28
3. Paul Choiniere 1:05.76
4. David Higgins 1:06.10
5. Jonny Milner 1:06.60
6. Seamus Burke 1:08.11
7. Mark Higgins 1:08.12
8. Rhys Millen 1:08.74
9. Carl Jardevall 1:09.22
10. Doug Havir 1:09.91
11. Jon Kemp 1:10.26
12. Tim O'Neil 1:10.81
13. Martin Donnelly 1:11.99
14. Sakis Hadjiminas 1:12.16
15. Ralph Kosmides 1:12.21
16. Mark Utecht 1:12.82
17. Jason Rivas 1:13.32
18. George Plsek 1:13.46
19. Chris Havas 1:13.58
20. Scott Fuller 1:14.03

DNF: John Drislane, Shane Mitchell, Doug Shepherd, Bryan Hourt,
Jeff Field, J.B. Niday, Jon Nichols, Tim Paterson, Mark Nelson

 

[Jerry Brownell]

I haven't read the supps this year, but last year they reseeed the seed 0 drivers after the first 40 second long stage, then reseeded everyone after day 1.

 

[Mad Mike]

DNFs @ Maine

>Unofficial:
>DNF: John Drislane, Shane Mitchell, Doug Shepherd, Bryan
>Hourt, Jeff Field, J.B. Niday, Jon Nichols, Tim Paterson, Mark
>Nelson

Any idea what happened to take Field out? My OFPR press release might read differently based on what kind of shape the Celica is in.

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

 

[MDBodnar]

Granted the last two stages are long -- but what a battle! The Higgins Brothers really fought for their positions.

Good Drive by Paul! He is back on form.

Glad to see Tom McGeer have a nice run in the states, I hope to see no protests.

Millner with the 32 mm restrictor --- give him 40mm and give him a podium, was Subaru hedging their bets making sure he had just enough disadvantage to not displace one of their own...

Fantastic Racing

Mike

 

[Jerry Brownell]

RE: DNFs @ Maine

The results page says "radiator". Pretty vauge. I suppose that could mean he had the tree sticking through it.