LSPR 2009

Houghton Michigan was the scene for the Ottawa Forests and Keewenaw Challenge Rallies, the final races for Gravel-spec Motorsports in the Central Regional Championship.

The stage was set for an epic Group 2 battle, the drivers title was up for grabs, navigators were left fighting for the scraps Jay Luikart left for us.

Jim Scray powers through a water crossing on Stage 3

Starting dead freaking last, the party in the back didn't last long. The engine swap turned the Datsun into a rocket propelled lawn dart, catching 2 cars in the opening stages. A reseed at the first service pushed us up to the middle of the field for the rest of the rally. The Kenton stages were good to us, even with 2 offs on Passmore we were still around to take advantage of Matt “Major Tom” Bushore's failed attempt to reach low orbit in his VW Jetta, leaving him twenty feet up a bank, 30 yards deep in the bush.



Leaving Kenton for the final two stages near L'anse we had a hold on 9th place overall, behind the Dodge Neon of Chris Greenhouse and the VW Golf of Paul Koll. In the cruise to the finish the top 3 in G2 held position, new dad Chad Eixenberger would pull ahead of Wiggan, rocketing back through the field after suffering an early tire puncture. Greenhouse captures the G2 championhship with today's beatdown.

G2 Results – Ottawa Forests Rally

1. Chris Greenhouse / Don Derose - 1:36:31.0 - 4th overall
2. Paul Koll / Tim Knorr - 1:37:54.7 - 6th overall
3. Jim Scray / Colin Vickman - 1:39:43.3 - 9th overall
4. Chad Eixenberger / Chris Gordon - 1:42:00.5 - 11th overall
5. Gary Wiggan / Kim Demotte - 1:42:14.8 - 12th overall
6. Bill Caswell / Elliot Sherwood - 1:42:21.6 - 13th overall
7. Matti Himes / Silas Himes - DNF – Stage 5
8. Matt Bushore / Andrew Bushore - DNF – Stage 5, 2nd stage failed to ignite
9. Erik Hill / Mike Yarroch - DNF – Stage 2, Mechanical

Feeling the Mountain Air...

Saturday's Keweenaw Challenge is a completely different animal, the stages are short and extremely rough. Friday is all about choosing your place to push, to win on Saturday you need to drive angry from the start, sacrifice the car, and be crazier than anyone in front of you. Stages today include three runs down Delaware Rd featuring “The Delta”, the most famous spectator point in American Rally, there are hundreds of ways to drive through The Delta, and they are all wrong. Today's stages also feature two runs up Brockway Mountain Drive, the fastest tarmac stage in the championship, with no less than 7 jumps in excess of 90 mph.

The 510 at the bottom of the Delta

Overnight Silas Himes hijacked driving duties in his brother Matti's blacked out Honda Civic, and amazingly Major Tom's Jetta 13 command module was recovered and repaired. Mike Hurst and Rob Bohn dusted off their 75 Ford Capri Cosworth for Saturday, wise to avoid yesterday's carnage.

After the first three stages we were 7th place, ahead of the other rookies but struggling to keep up with the pack led by Silas Himes. After a quick service, we ran Brockway Mountain and didn't die, found a new wrong way to drive around the Delta, and passed up Hurst's Capri in the ditch on Burma Rd.

Three point landing on Brockway

At the last service Curt Scray and Dave Hanna scrambled to replace and axle and carrier bearing and we were on our way to take off another 20 seconds on the second run up Brockway Mountain and a third run through Delaware, where we found the rightest way yet to run the Delta. After a clean drive we finished in 6th place, the Datsun proved it had the strength to tackle everything the Keweenaw can throw at it, and we can be deranged enough to push it.

G2 Results – Keweenaw Challenge

1. Silas Himes / Matti Himes - 32:15.5 - 5th overall
2. Chad Eixenberger / Chris Gordon - 32:37.2 - 6th overall
3. Matt Bushore / Andrew Bushore - 32:48.5 - 8th overall
4. Chris Greenhouse / Don Derose - 32:55.8 - 9th overall
5. Paul Koll / Tim Knorr - 33:19.1 - 11th overall
6. Jim Scray / Colin Vickman - 34:23.5 - 14th overall
7. Bill Caswell / Elliot Sherwood - 35:54.7 - 17th overall
9. Gary Wiggan / Kim Demotte - 36:22.4 - 18th overall
10 . Mike Hurst / Rob Bohn - 1:02:05.5 - 20th overall
11. Erik Hill / Mike Yarroch - DNF – Stage 4, Mechanical

This weekend's podium finish moves Gravel-Spec driver Jim Scray to 6th in the driver's standings, navigator Colin Vickman loses out the battle with Tim Knorr and slips to 3rd place in the standings.

This closes out the 2009 rally season for Gravel-Spec Motorsports, the team would like to thank our fans and families for a great year! Thanks again to this year's sponsors, Source One Security, Authentic Exhaust, and Fastenal.

This year's action isn't done yet!
Nov. 15th Gravity Park Rallycross, Chilton WI - “Rumble in the Park” Gravel-Spec Group A Challenge
Nov. 28th – Rally Paris, Roxton TX – Final event in the regional championship – Colin is jonesing for a seat.
Jan. 2010 – Lake Winnebago Ice Racing, Vinland WI - “War off the Shore” Gravel-Spec Group A Challenge