WCRA website promoting Stage and TSD Rally Sport in British Columbia
Thunderbird Rally 1997 Results
UBC Sports Car Club and West Coast Rally Associaton
97Tbird - Results
O/A class car # Driver / Navigator car class score
1 1 # 4 P Linde / S Carlson Audi Coupe Quattro unlim 30
2 2 # 5 J Fouse / D Wende Subaru Legacy unlim 31
3 1 # 8 S Richards / G Reid Toyota Starlet calc 49
4 2 # 9 R Lima / G Lima Honda Accord calc 64
5 1 # 16 M Wilson / J Rapson Porsche 911S hist 95
6 3 # 11 B Ward / R Sanderman-Allen Toyota Corolla GTS unlim 97
7 4 # 7 J Breazeale / C Breazeale Saab 900 Turbo unlim 112
8 2 # 15 T Wilkinson / M Matthews Ford Cortina hist 126
9 3 # 18 N Prescott / D Holdsworth Honda Civic calc 167
10 1 # 22 G Lindsay / D Leiski VW Jetta novice 177
11 3 # 13 M Welland / G Passmore Volvo 122S hist 196
12 4 # 10 M Ward / D Lough Nissan Pickup calc 291
13 4 # 14 M Viskiv / M Muir Ford Cortina hist 358
14 2 # 24 F Yee / C Stokes VW Golf novice 385
15 5 # 21 A Freisen / M Foxwell VW Rabbit calc 410
16 3 # 20 S Brown / K Brown Subaru Legacy Wagon novice 489
17 4 # 17 N Bharmal / L Villasenor Toyota Corolla GTS novice 534
18 5 # 23 G Nixon / M Burroughs Mazda 323 GTX novice 583
19 1 # 25 E Lai / F Fu Toyota Tercel paper 548
20 5 # 3 J Nispel / E Storer Toyota Celica All-Trac unlim 645
21 6 # 2 D Kokko / R Kraushaar Mazda 323 GTX unlim 646
22 6 # 19 B Martin / J Yeats Toyota Corolla Wagon novice 725
    # 12 T Davenport / R Link Saab Sonett hist DNF
    # 1 G Webb / J Kiesela Subaru Legacy unlim DNF
    # 26 P Vergera / E Villasenor Pontiac Sunbird novice DNF
It was a cold but relatively dry TBird this year, with no new snow on the route during the two weeks before the event. This left some of the sections bare gravel, instead of snow, and many others more icy than snowy.

After a short, but heavily checkpointed (7 CPs in 20 km) loop around Battle Creek, the rally headed up to Green Lake, where we did have good snow cover, and a few car-shaped indentations in snowbanks! Dean Kokko and Rod Kraushaar, of Portland Oregon, managed to get their Mazda 323 GTX backwards and on top of the outside snowbank in one icy left-hander, losing over 10 minutes and one driving light in the process, moving them from 6th place to 24th. From there, we headed up to Canim Lake, and to the dinner stop in 100 Mile House.

After dinner, we went through Spokin Lake, also well snow-covered and with high snowbanks. The middle part of this section was narrow and twisty enough to be likened to a luge track, and trapping a few teams.

On the second day, Dog Creek had some very icy sections, with several cars spinning but not getting badly stuck. In the second half, the ignition points in Teresa Davenport's Saab Sonett broke, leaving her stranded until the sweep crew arrived. The lower half of this section was snowy enough to trap the Nispel/Storer Celica in a snowbank for a good while.

Overall, it was a tight contest, with the Toyota Celica All-Trac of John Nispel and Ed Storer, the Audi Coupe Quattro of Peter Linde and Satch Carlson, and the Subaru Legacy of John Fouse and Dennis Wende running very close, never more than 5 points between them, until Sunday noon, when the Celica planted itself in a snowbank near Jesmond, losing over 10 minutes and dropping from third place to 20th. That left the Audi and the Subaru entering the last leg tied with 26 points. Peter "Sgt. Sideways" Linde managed to lose one second less than John Fouse on the twisty bits of Deadman-Cache Creek road, and squeeze out the win.

Six novice teams braved the journey this year, including several first-timers, including Grant Lindsay and Daryl Leiski, of Prince George BC, who won the novice class in their diesel VW Jetta, and managed a very creditable 10th overall.

First of the five historic entries, and 5th overall, were Martin Wilson and John Rapson, in their Porsche 911S, who came second historic in 1996. Mike Welland and Gord Passmore, in their Volvo 122S, held a slight lead over the Porsche up to the day 1 dinner stop, but lost points in a section nicknamed "the luge run", and the Porsche led from there on. At one point, both of the Cortinas (Viskov/Malcom Muir, and Wilkinson/Matthews) missed a Bear Right instruction and turned down the wrong road within sight of eachother. Each realized their mistake about the same time and desperately tried to turn around and get back on route ahead of the other. This was the first event for the Cortina of Viskov and Muir, and it broke its alternator bracket three times on the way to the start. It's always something of a miracle that so many historics actually make it through.

The reasons for the DNFs were as follows: Car 1, Gary Webb and John Kiesela, abandoned us after the first day, to the call of the North. Car 26, Pavel Vergera and Eva Villasenor, retired due to navigator distress, though Eva spent the second day navigating a checkpoint crew. Car 12, Teresa Davenport and Rusty Link, retired after the ignition points on the Saab broke. The Sonett was fixed and back on the road by about 7pm.

Page Design and Content Copyright © West Coast Rally Association