SZEWCZYK POSTS FIRST
VICTORY September 26, 2000
CACHE CREEK, BC - The team of Zbigniew Szewczyk
and Piotr Krol, of Calgary Alberta, celebrated
their first ever overall victory in a performance
rally, at the Nokian Tyres Pacific Forest Rally,
in the Arrowstone hills, east of Cache Creek
last Saturday.
Despite some mechanical problems, including
substantial oil consumption and losing turbo
boost, Szewczyk kept his Toyota Celica All-Trac
going right to the end of the challenging course.
Championship leaders Komorowski and Karzynski
led the rally for the first two stages, but slid
off the road in the third stage, flattening a
tire and losing valuable time. Ignition
problems with their Mazda 323 GTX eventually
forced them to retire at the second service break.
Faulty ignition would plague two other teams:
Peter Hill and Barry Gurnsey lost 10 minutes
in the first stage, but managed to make a road-side
repair. The Toyota Celica All-Trac of Paul
Westwick and Andrew Dobric suffered deteriorating
ignition throughout the day, but still managed
to limp to the finish.
With all of the mechanical problems of the complex
four wheel drive turbo cars, the simpler two
wheel drive cars pushed well up the leaderboard. Martin
Wilson and Bill Westhead, of Vancouver BC, set
the fastest times on four of the last five stages,
to bring their 1980 Canadian Championship winning
Toyota Corolla in to a commanding second
place, only 36 seconds out of first place.
This sort of event wouldn't be possible without
the support of its corporate sponsors, Nokian
Tyres, Specialty Subaru and Wilkinson's Automobilia.
All of the teams, officials, volunteers and out-of-town
spectators appreciated the warm welcome in Cache
Creek, especially from the Desert Motel and the
Wander Inn.
Next, the Western Canadian Rally Championship
concludes with the Kananaskis Rally, November
25, based in Bragg Creek, Alberta.
Results
of the 2000 Pacific Forest Rally
Presented
by:
Nokian Tyres http://www.nokiantyres.com
Specialty Subaru http://www.specialty.subarudealer.ca/
Wilkinson's Automobilia http://www.wilkinsonsauto.com |