Here are some more photos from the 2009 Rocky Mountain Rally. Enjoy.

The second day of action played out in
the Porcupine Hills, Southwest of Calgary. Hot, dry and windy
conditions made for beautiful scenery and fast roads.

The rally truly belonged to the brother
sister team of Nick and Kelly Mathew. The pair started 11th on the road, and finished third
overall, a career best.

“I'm astonished,” said Nick. “We
just tried to stay clean and everything worked for us.”

The pair ran their first rally at the
Rallye Perce Neige in 2008. A little over a year later, and the two
have won their second regional event and earned their first national
podium. The team has also taken the award for top novice.

Second place went to Andrew
Comrie-Picard. Prior to the event, Comrie-Picard and co-driver Robbie
Durant were realistic about their chances. The Mitsubishi Evolution X
had very little development prior to the rally.

“Basically everything that was
undeveloped, we developed today,” laughed Comrie-Picard, who went
on to detail some of the part failures the team had to fight through."We had brake problems, driveshaft problems, diff problems."

On the first stage of the day, Bruno
Carre crashed out of the rally. Though the car sustained heavy
damage, the crew are fine and spent the rest of the day as
spectators.

“We're not used to the Jemba notes
system, and so we made a mistake,” said Carre. "We found the notes too busy, and tried to simplify them. Obviously, we didn't do that right."

Antoine L'Estage was hoping to make up
time after a slow start on Friday, but came into the midday service
unsure if he would be able to continue.

“We've broken something, I don't know
what yet,” said L'Estage while waiting to check into service.

Minutes later, the crew found the rear
diff had suffered heavy damage, and no spare was available. Though
the two were able to get out of service, the rear diff failed before
finishing the next stage, ending their rally.

The Zedrils crashed off the road in their newly upgraded Mitsubishi Lancer, but they did collect a nice Christmas tree for their efforts (see photo!). The ever
smiling Jan Zedril was grinning when he and the damaged car
returned to service.

“I've never done a somersault
before!” said Zedril.

With both teams out, the VW of Eric
Grochowski and Leanne Junnila moved into first place in the two wheel drive championship, but
it would hardly be an easy rally. The two were fighting off Carl
Barrell and Aaron Neumann, also in a VW Golf. On the final stage,
Grochowski suffered a major failure. The right rear spindle failed,
and the wheel, along with much of the brake system left the car.

The two crawled through the rest of the
stage with just enough margin to claim top two wheel drive. Only nine
seconds separated them from Barrell.

Neil and Lorna Wright rounded out the
two wheel drive podium in third place with their Mazda RX-7.

On stage 9, the rally stopped after a
grass fire started beside the road. The first few teams didn't see
the fire, but Gord Olsen and Todd Patola were unable to
see anything but smoke.

“Todd and I became firefighters
today!” said Olsen. “We stopped cars and got out our fire
extinguishers – we must have used six or eight – to control the
fire.”

Water trucks arranged by event
organizers sprung into action, and the fire was contained, but a bulk
of the rally traffic had been stopped, creating a force majeure. Results from the stage were scrubbed and organizers met to discuss what of the remaining
four stages could be run.

Once the fire crews cleared the road,
the rally organizers sent the cars out to do just two of the
four remaining stages.

Simon Losier was running strong in what was only his second Rocky Mountain Rally.

“We wanted to finish in the top seven
so I could get my seed two,” said Losier. “If I can do that it
means better start positions in future events.”

Losier accomplished his goal, finishing
fourth overall, just a few seconds ahead of Colin Armstrong.

Chad LePoudre and Christa Monasch have
had a tough season, but pulled through a strong performance to finish
fourth place in two wheel drive, and edged into the top 20 overall.

Pat Richard and Antoine L'Estage are
now tied in the championship points standings. The next round of the
Canadian Rally Championship is Rallye Baie-des-Chaleurs, in New
Richmond, Que.

Atop the regional podium was the Mathews, followed by Colin Armstrong in second and Gord Olsen in third. 

]]> http://flatovercrest.com/2009/05/richard-wins-lestage-fails-to-finish-at-rocky/feed/ 1 http://flatovercrest.com/2009/05/richard-leads-dusty-rocky-mountain-rally/ http://flatovercrest.com/2009/05/richard-leads-dusty-rocky-mountain-rally/#comments Sat, 30 May 2009 06:15:02 +0000 Dean http://flatovercrest.com/?p=32
The Subaru Rally Team Canada pairing of
Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell took an early lead during the first day
of action at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Rally in Calgary. The pair head
into tomorrow's stages with a 17 second lead over Antoine L'Estage
and Nathalie Richard.

L'Estage and Richard started the day
first on the road in their Mitsubishi Evolution X. The pair were
slowed by having to sweep the loose gravel from the surface of the
road and quickly lost time to Richard and Ockwell.

After two stages, the teams were
reseeded with the Richard Ockwell pairing out front. The tables were
turned, and Antoine was able to claw back some time.

“It's not a huge difference between
first and second on the road,” said Pat Richard.

The Rocky Mountain Rally is the only
event in the Canadian Rally Championship where organizers provide
notes rather than letting teams create personalized notes.

“We could be a lot faster with our
own notes,” said Antoine L'Estage, “but we just can't commit the
same way with the notes we have here.”

The top five teams are all running on
two minute intervals, as opposed to the one minute gap given to teams further down the order – something that made a huge difference for
the brother sister team of Nick and Kelly Mathew. The pair started the
day in 11^th, but moved up to fifth after the reseed

“The two minute window was a huge
difference for us,” said Nick. “Partway through one stage, we
caught the dust of Warren Currie, but after the reseed, it was fine.”

The Mathew car finished the day in
fifth place, and are the top ranked novice, well ahead of second
place novice, Piotr Kadlubowski who sits one minute, 20 seconds
adrift.

Andrew Comrie-Picard and Robbie Durant
maintained a third place through the day. The Mitusbishi Evolution X
the pair are running is still in development, and has only been used
for the 2008 Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft, Ont. Durant has
been co-driving for Comrie-Picard in the US as part of the Rally
America and they are enjoying success they hope will translate across
the border.

For Pat Richard, this event represents
a milestone – ten years from his first rally.

“If you'd told me back then that I
would be leading this rally and working with such a great team, I'd
never have believed you,” said Richard. “I remember everything
from that first event.”

[1999: Rocket Rally - complete with roof rack!]

After three stages run on Powderface
trail, teams returned to Calgary for head to head racing action at
the Race City superspecial. Organizers opted to cancel the second
running, and the final match was that of L'Estage versus Richard. The
two were nearly even over the first interval, but Richard ultimately
won the stage.

In two wheel drive, the Mitsubishi
Lancer of Zbigniew Szewczyk is leading. In Group 2, Jan and Jody
Zedril are leading rivals Eric Grochowski and Leanne Junnila.

The lone retirement was Mark
Jennings-Bates, whose Subaru suffered a blown engine on the second
stage of the day.

Teams will trailer to the Skyline Ranch
service park in the morning, and the first stage starts just before
10am Mountain Time