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02-07-2007, 01:44 PM | #1 |
Driving Sports TV Staff
Member#: 15542
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Kirkland, WA
Vehicle:2004 WRX |
2007 Sno*Drift Report
2007 Sno*Drift Report By: Jeff Zurschmeide, Subiesport Magazine For a while it looked like Sno*Drift – the first event of the 2007 Rally America season – wouldn’t live up to its name. The forest roads of Michigan were dry in the days leading up to the event, without so much as a single flake on the ground. But on the day before the rally, the weather changed. The weather service issued a short term severe weather alert – “Untreated roadways will likely be slippery. There will be a thin coating of ice on exposed surfaces.” Now that’s more like it! By the time the first car took the stages, over three inches of snow covered the roads, making both tire choice and driving skill critical for teams that wanted to stay out in front. At this point in the season, the possibilities are wide open. New cars are brought out and hopes are high. The obvious goal for 2007: to displace Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom and Subaru Rally Team USA from their comfortable positions on the podium. Leading the charge are privateer Subaru teams like Tanner Foust/Scott Crouch, Andrew Pinker/Robbie Durant, and Matt Iorio/Ole Holter. Mitsubishi Evo 9 team Andrew Comrie-Picard/Marc Goldfarb are also in the hunt, along with veterans Paul Choiniere/Mark Williams in their Hyundai Tiburon. The first day of the rally showed the potential of these challengers to upset the apple cart – on the very first stage, the Group N Subarus of Otis Dimiters/Alan Ockwell and Jonathan Bottoms/Carolyn Bosley bested Pastrana by 5 and 3 seconds, respectively. Stage 2 was also won by Dimiters/Ockwell, who left the SRTUSA cars behind by about 10 seconds. Stage 3 belonged to Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb, followed by Foust/Crouch. Stage 4 was won by Choiniere/Williams, and it wasn’t until Stage 5 that Pastrana/Edstrom made a run faster than everyone else. Before the day was over, Pastrana would win stages 5 and 6, but Pinker/Durant would take the final stage of the day. Seven stages produced 5 winners, and no one claimed more than two stages. With the first day in the books, every team in the top tier knew the podium was far from certain, and it would take a superhuman effort to get there. Pastrana/Edstrom finished the first day in the lead, but the first stage on day two showed that no one was going to be happy running for second. Foust/Crouch claimed the first stage, with second position going to the Production GT Subaru of 2006 PGT champion Matt Johnson. Pastrana finished a dismal 14th, and then third on the second stage following Foust and Iorio. Of the ten stages on day 2 of the rally, there were 6 winners and one stage that was canceled due to snowmobile traffic on the rally route. Foust/Crouch took three stage wins on Day 2. SRTUSA competitors Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino won two stages, as did Choiniere/Williams. Pinker/Durant and Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb took one stage apiece. At the service interval before the last set of stages, Foust/Crouch held the overall lead in the event, but a series of setbacks dropped them back to second by the final time control. Pastrana won only one stage on the second day, but a rally win is calculated on total stage time over two days, not the number of stages won. So in the end, Pastrana stood atop the Sno*Drift podium, but no one would say he dominated the event. The next event on the national championship rally calendar is 100 Acre Wood in Missouri on February 23-24. Look for the teams who ran at Sno*Drift to keep the pressure on Pastrana and SRTUSA. Sno*Drift was the first rally for Foust/Crouch in a new car, and they’ll be back to fight for the top spot throughout 2007.
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02-08-2007, 02:52 PM | #2 |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 22452
Join Date: Aug 2002
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Vehicle:2018 STi WRB |
Nice write up.
Here's a good article on Sno*Drift that was posted in the MWSOC. http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=10148 |
02-21-2007, 08:25 PM | #3 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 141438
Join Date: Feb 2007
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yah.....got it
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02-22-2007, 08:49 AM | #4 |
world rally chucklehead
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kewl write up
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02-22-2007, 01:46 PM | #5 |
Scooby Specialist
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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SWIC
Location: Reno, NV
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I missed it.. does anyone know where I can get footage?
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02-23-2007, 01:38 PM | #6 |
*** Banned ***
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Buffalo, NY
Vehicle:2006 WRX TR CGM |
BOYS, THE ALL WHEEL DRIVE SURE CAN HANDLE THAT
yours truly, bobby banana |
03-08-2007, 06:42 PM | #7 |
Scooby Newbie
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any video online?
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05-23-2007, 06:00 AM | #8 |
*** Banned ***
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Join Date: May 2007
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