Los Angeles – The 2014 California Rally Series (CRS) Championship came to an exciting finish at the Prescott Rally on October 3-4.  Based in Prescott, AZ the fast, flowing stages set amongst the red rock canyons of central Arizona create a perfect backdrop for what has become a traditional end to the CRS season.  This year twenty teams competed over 110 stage miles for their last chance to earn valuable championship points.

Coming into the event, the teams of John Trucks / Christopher Fine and Todd McAllister / Trent Bateman were in a near dead heat for the Open Class driver / co-driver championships.  Both teams were competing in turbocharged four-wheel drive Subarus and it was a toss-up on which one of them would win the event overall.  By the end of Friday’s event, it was McAllister / Bateman who secured the victory over Trucks / Fine by just one minute.  The two teams continued to trade stage time Saturday morning, and were only seconds apart when bad luck dashed McAllister / Bateman’s championship hopes.  Coming out of a dip their left front wheel inexplicably detached itself from the car, leaving them stranded on stage and unable to continue.  Trucks / Fine were able to drive to a clean finish, earning second place in class points and the 2014 Open Class championship.

pr2014 2The surprises of the weekend in Open Class, however, were newcomers Duncan Smith and co-driver Katherine Lindroth-Gendron.  The team was completely new to rally, but by the end of the day Saturday you would thought they were seasoned veterans as they won a number of stages in their Subaru WRX STi.  In fact, they finished Saturday’s event first in Open Class and overall!  Hopefully we will see more of them fighting at the front of the pack in 2015.

Chuck Wilson and co-driver Brent Ellzey were able to drive a clean rally in their Subaru WRX STi, finishing in a respectable 4th place on Friday and 3rd place on Saturday in Open Class.  The solid finish locked in 3rd place in the championship for both driver and co-driver.

Meanwhile, in the small-displacement two-wheel drive CRS-2 class competition was equally as exciting.  Local driver Brian Scott and veteran co-driver John Dillon put the hammer down hard from the very beginning, setting the fastest time in CRS-2 on stage one (and beating all but one Open class car) in their classic Datsun 240Z.  However, their momentum was short lived, as the alternator in the vintage Datsun failed and left them stranded on stage 2.  They were able to rejoin the rally on Saturday, and despite winning some stages could only manage a fifth place in class finish due to continued mechanical difficulties.

By stage 2 Friday night, husband and wife team Markus and Alicia Saarinen had peddled their Mini Cooper to a slim lead over another husband and wife team Kris and Christine Marciniak.  The Marciniaks had been absent all year while building a fresh motor for their Dodge Neon, but they didn’t show any signs of rust as they consistently put down top pace stage times.  Just seconds behind the Marciniaks were son and father team Bret and Doug Robinson in their VW Golf.  Plagued by fuel issues all season, the Robinsons were happy to have the problem solved and their car running smoothly.  The Saarinens ended up with the class win in Friday’s event, followed closely by the Marciniaks and then the Robinsons, with just over a minute separating first from third.

pr2014 1Saturday started a new event, but once again these same three CRS-2 teams were dominating the leader board.  The Saarinens were quick out of the gate and didn’t slow down, winning some stages overall, including the very last stage!  The Robinsons had a quick start to the day and were in front of the Marciniaks after the first two stages.  However, the Marciniaks did not back down and clawed their way back to second with impressive determination.  Once again the finishing order was Saarinens, Marciniaks, Robinsons in CRS-2.  With the double victory the Saarinens secured the driver and co-driver CRS-2 championships.  Bret Robinson took second place in the driver’s championship, while in the co-driver championship Christine Marciniak edged out Doug Robinson for second place thanks to some points she earned while sitting with another driver earlier this season.

 

 The production based two-wheel drive Performance Stock (P-Stock) class is a CRS institution.  This rally the class saw only two entrants, both of whom were married couples.  Tony Chavez and Raquel Salas had already secured the P-Stock driver and co-driver championships at the last event, but they showed up to Prescott ready to lay down some hot stage times without worrying about championship points.  Their class competitors were newlyweds Chrissie Beavis and Matt Johnson, yet another married couple, although this time the wife was in the driver’s seat.  While a very experienced co-driver, Beavis hadn’t been behind the wheel of a rally car in years, so it unclear if she would be out of practice.  It turns out the driver was still fast, but it was their aging VW Jetta that couldn’t keep up! They suffered a flat on the very first stage, and then lost several minutes stopping to change it, only to discover their spare was low on air.  Once they got their tires sorted out at service after stage two they went back on the stages determined to recoup as much time as possible.  After the sun set behind the mountains, Beavis / Johnson were blazing through the night, setting the fastest two-wheel drive times on the last two stages!  It was not enough to catch Chavez / Salas, though, as the class champs racked up yet another event win.

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Saturday marked a new event and consequently wiped the slate clean for Beavis / Johnson.  While Chavez / Salas drove a clean rally and set some respectable times, Beavis / Johnson took the P-Stock win and finished an impressive fourth overall.  The drive allowed Beavis and Johnson to claim second place in the P-Stock driver and co-driver championship, respectively.

The normally aspirated four-wheel drive “Open Lite” class had just one entry this event: Kurt Smith and co-driver Steven Snyder.  The team proved they could be just as fast as the turbo cars though, and finished Friday’s event fourth overall ahead of many more powerful cars.  However, they ran into some bad luck on Saturday when their engine died halfway through the event, causing them to be classified as a DNF (Did Not Finish).

The 27th Annual Prescott Rally took place on smooth dirt roads outside of Prescott, AZ on October 3-4, 2014.  The rally is a favorite among CRS competitors for its flowing stages and breathtaking views.  For more information on the Prescott Rally, visit http://www.prescottrally.com/.

The California Rally Series is the premier performance rally championship in the southwestern United States.  The Series incorporates events from various sanctioning bodies in order to create a meaningful regional championship for its members.  The Series celebrates more than 35 continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United States.  To learn more about the California Rally Series visit www.californiarallyseries.com and follow @crspress on twitter.

Photo credit: Sebastian Krywult at turndriver.com