All of our in-car video from this rally is available on YouTube!

STPR 2009 - The Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally held on June 5th and 6th

in Wellsboro, PA was our third time competing at this major Rally America event. This time, however, (and the first time since we started the team) I would not be riding with Kieran. He and a friend had just started a business together and it would have been difficult for him to get away. I was fortunate to have an experienced codriver, Dave Shindle, in his place. We had never met before but quickly fell into our respective roles and got along very well.

Dave writes:

Sitting shotgun w/ Simon

We arrived in Wellsboro PA to take part in the single pass recce of the roads. I'd read Simon a long string of linked instructions regarding the racing line from our organizer supplied stage notes and Simon would repeat the entire string and verify or make subtle changes to suit his driving style. I was impressed by his comprehension on the notes and knew he was going to use the notes we were making to his advantage during the rally and not just drive the road as he saw it.

Friday we ran just 3 short stages including a super special. Simon know his way around the super special stage so I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. The real rally started Saturday morning. The car was running well and never gave any problems beside suspension adjustments for the larger tire diameter we were running. The Finger Lakes Regional Rally ended midday and we were happy with our result of 6th overall and second in Group 2.

We increased the pace for the second regional rally and with 2 stages to go were having a great battle with the VW GTI of Gary Wiggin Christopher Duplessis but behind them by 9 seconds. Simon pulled out his secret weapon, a can of energy drink which he was saving for this very moment. It worked, because we made up the entire 9 seconds on the second to last stage and were now tied with just a super special stage at the fairgrounds. It was all up to Simon now to put his foot into it. That energy drink effect kicked into high gear and Simon beat Wiggin on the stage by 7 and half seconds and finished 5th overall and again 2nd in Group 2. A great result for just having fun, car was unscathed, made a group of new friends and accomplished our goal.

Thanks for the ride Simon.

Dave Shindle

Our crew this time was Jeff Eng, Kevin Allen and Liz Cordara. Jeff, from Wilmington, NC, came up to Raleigh and rode with me as we towed up to the rally on Wednesday and back on Sunday. We picked up Dave Shindle in Vienna VA (near DC) on the way. Kevin and Liz made their own way up to Wellsboro, arriving in the wee hours of the morning.

Early on Thursday, Dave and I head off to meet up with the other teams that are doing the NFP style recce. NFP means Notes Familiarization Pass and we were led in a parade one time through each stage so that we could verify the supplied Jemba notes and make appropriate adjustments. That took us until 4:00PM and we met up with our crew at the Tioga County Fairgrounds just as they were taking the car into Scrutinering. We squeaked under the exhaust volume threshold and passed the safety inspection with no issues.  We then proceeded to the shakedown stage and managed three passes before heading home to our lodging.

For us the STPR event is in fact two regional rallies: Sherwood Forest Regional Rally (stages 1 - 6) and Finger Lakes Regional Rally (stages 7-13) but they run over the same stages at the same time as the National STPR rally. Since we're not competing for the Rally America national championship it didn't make sense to pay the extra fees.

The first rally starts on Friday afternoon and is an exact repeat of the first two stages from last year: the dreaded Waste Management I (9.21 miles) and Waste Management II (9.16 miles) stages, built on extremely rough roads across a nearby landfill.

Having run them last year and recce'd them this year, my entire strategy was merely to finish the first day with an intact car. I ran on old stock rims and old used rally tires since the surface was so harsh. We accomplished that goal but a few other teams were bitten by the rough stages and DNF'd.

Friday's stages finish with Parc Exposé at the Tioga County Fair and then the Super Special Stage (0.83 miles) in front of a large crowd of spectators. We meet old friends (the Becze family) and make new friends. Sara and Erin pictured above seemed to have a great time. Hope to see them at a future rally.

Lots of fun on the super special stage (especially the in-car commentary from Dave) but they had watered the course heavily and it is quite slippery. The jump is bigger this year but the Focus doesn't fly too well and I nose dive into the dirt.

The first rally continues into the first 3 stages on Saturday: Asaph Run (9.87 miles), Painter (8.05 miles), and Thompson (10.34). These are the familair and fun stages that we really come to run each year. I'm running on brand new Lassa rally tires and am a little tentative as I develop a feel for them and establish the best working pressures.

They (and I) settle down and run well the rest of the day. On stage 6 (Thompson), about half way in, we come across car #600, Dillon Van Way and Benjamin Slocum, in one of the other Focus rally cars, nose down in a stream. They stop us to inform us that the stage must be closed due to the "Car in Stream" rule so that it can be extracted as quickly as possible to avoid any ecological damage. We proceed at a more leisurely pace and a few miles further on are stopped again when the road is blocked by car #69 (Evan Cline and Nathan Melnik in a Subaru Impreza) on its roof. Finally it gets cleared and we transit the rest of the stage. Unfortunately at that stop I made stupid error of leaving my HANS device on the roof of my car when we drive off.

The first service and the end of the Sherwood Forest Regional Rally is at Germania and our crew is set up and waiting. Fortunately I've kept the car in good shape and there's little to do but fix a few zip ties, clean windows, and refuel. It's only when we get ready to leave do I find that my HANS is missing and we desperately ask some of the other crews if they have a spare. Randy Zimmer is able to borrow Dillon Van Way's HANS and we're able to continue the day. As of this writing my HANS has still not been recovered although efforts are afoot to find it.

We're back out again soon, running the Lebo (10.20 miles), Randall (12.81 miles), and Mine (16.26 miles) stages which are the first stages of the Finger Lakes Regional Rally. We're doing quite well and working well together. Back to Germania for another service. Crew is fabulous as always - thanks guys!

Stages 10, 11 and 12 are a repeat of the Lebo, Randall, and Mine stages. On Lebo, 3 miles before the end, we catch up with Kihurani Gakuu and his son Alexander Kihurani in Randy Zimmer's Subaru. We get to eat their dust for the rest of the stage, there being few chances to pass.

We're really having fun and making few if any mistakes. The final run through the long Mine stage and we're flying, dropping 25 seconds off the time of our first run through despite a spin out as I try to hand-brake-turn one of the spectator turns.

Back to Wellsboro and the Tioga County Fair for another run on the final Super Special Stage (0.83 miles) in front of an even bigger crowd. I do better even though I choose not to take the jump at speed. We didn't know it at the time but we started that

last stage tied for 2nd place with Gary Wiggin and Christopher Duplessis. We beat them by 7.5 seconds!

So we finish another STPR and are well pleased. It's a bonus to find that we've placed second in Group 2 class in each of regional rallies and come home with trophies.