- Mr Martin didn't compete?
SCCA think he was:
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Martin Leads Opening Day of SCCA ClubRally Championship
Written by: Curtis Kitchen
Ellington, Mo. ? 2/21/2004
With only six stages scheduled to make up the 2004 edition of the Trespassers Wil rally, competitors serious about winning the first day of the 2004 SCCA ClubRally Championship had to get out fast early.
Dennis Martin, of Green Bay, Wis., and co-driver Alan Perry, of Bainbridge Island, Wash., started first on the road Friday and then did one better than that as Martin earned his first event win of his career.
Turning in top stage times on four out of five stages and overcoming a long delay which resulted in a dropped Special Stage Four, the duo leaped to the front of the 32-car field in Martin?s 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV to earn the Trespassers Wil victory.
Steve Gingras, of Elk River, Minn., and co-driver Bill Westrick, of Royal Oak, Mich., in a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX, wound up runners-up 21 seconds behind, while Piotr Wiktorczyk, of Chicago, Ill. (who posted the other fast stage time of the day), and co-driver Mark McAllister, of Woodside, N.Y., in a 2000 Subaru Impreza WRX, finished third.
Trespassers Wil was delayed at the start of SS4 for about two hours as medical crews were summoned to a car off at the back of the field about six-tenths of a mile into SS2. Both competitors in car no. 372 (driver Sean Otto and co-driver Daniel Nichols, both from California) suffered injuries and were taken by helicopter first to a local hospital in Ellington and then on to St. Louis for observation. At last report, both were expected to be OK.
After the rally was cleared to continue, rally officials decided to throw out SS4, turning the 10.95-mile stage into a transit so teams could get back to service.
The Trespassers Wil victory means Martin and Perry (who have never rallied together before) are halfway to claiming the overall 2004 SCCA ClubRally Championship with only Saturday?s 100 Acre Wood rally left in their path.
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- Looks like the Club Run-Offs were a bigger mess I thought..... if SCCA's own press guy doesn't know what's going on how can sponsors, spectators and so on?
1. Shouldn't ONLY qualified drivers compete there? Insn't it by "Invitation Only"?
2. It's so unfair for those, like real champion Gingras, to be stolen "The Glory and Fame" by some super fast Pro guys. The Club Run-Offs should be the high light for club rallyist. Period.
- To have some fast Pro to drive "0" car/cars would be good. People like Dennis Martin should get free entry, motel and meals, and drive course opening car without being scored.
- Maybe those who get paid to mend the store should do their job and not play.....