Leo and co-driver Chrissie Beavis won the event with a total time of one hour, five minutes, 28 seconds. The result gave Leo a massive 4:30 margin over his closest competitors Nick and Massimo Narini and Chris Martin with co-driver Phil Narini.

“Even though I had a lead, I still pushed,” said Urlichich of his dominating pace. “It’s an amazing rally, with all the best stuff from Tall Pines and guaranteed gravel.”

Photo: Mike Proulx

The Narini brothers shared a close battle with their friend and father pairing, Chris Martin and Phil Narini. The two teams finished just 13 seconds apart after over 100kms, having traded stage times all day.Martin lost most of his time on the first stage, and spent the rest of the rally trying to claw it back.

“I was just asleep,” said Martin.

Photo: Mike Proulx

The two teams battling for second also had to contend with Nick and Kelly Mathew, who were on pace to podium until a flat tire on SS6 cost nearly seven minutes.

“There’s nothing we could do, we  had to stop and change the flat,” said Nick Mathew.

SS6 also claimed three other teams, including Peter Reilly and Robin Fleguel. Throttle problems with their all wheel drive VW Golf forced the team to park and retire.

Patrick Rainville and Lee Silverstone were the fastest two wheel drive car, finishing seventh, despite a ten second penalty. The pair edged Martin Walter and Ferdinand Trauttmansdorf, who lost time on the penultimate stage after breaking a suspension linkage.

Photo: Mike Proulx

Alan Ryall and Bruce Leonard finished on top of the Production GT class in their 2002 Subaru WRX.

Photo: Mike Proulx

After overnight rains, the rally roads were slippery in the morning, but began to provide more grip as they dried out later in the day. A new road was used for the first two stages. Technical in nature, with a few gotchas, teams had to be careful in the slippery conditions.

Photo: Mike Proulx

]]> http://flatovercrest.com/2010/06/crazy-leo-rules-black-bear-rally/feed/ 0 http://flatovercrest.com/2010/04/thomson-wins-shannonville-stages-rally/ http://flatovercrest.com/2010/04/thomson-wins-shannonville-stages-rally/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:08:31 +0000 Dean http://flatovercrest.com/?p=460 Peter Thomson won the 2010 Shannonville Stages Rally, edging Targa regular Glen Clarke.

“I really like this event, and have a lot of fun here,” said Thomson, who was co-driven by Frank Sprongl. “We picked the right tires for last years’ rally, but conditions here weren’t right, so we ran out of tires by the end of the event and had to slow down.”

Thomson drove his Mitsubishi EVO VIII to a 28 second victory after six stages, though had to work hard to hold off an attacking Clarke. The Targa veteran entered his Porsche 911 Targa car, a serious threat on the Shannonville road course.

“We had a few issues early, but got up to speed quickly,” said Clarke. Unfortunately he and co-driver Ray Felice ran out of brakes with approximately five laps remaining on the final stage, the longest of the event.

“We were doing 170km/h down a straight and Glen pushed the brake pedal to the floor,” said Felice.

The pair had been catching Thomson, with only one second separating the two teams heading into the final stage.

After four of the stages, a strong battle had developed for third place, between drivers Nicola Narini, Chris Martin, Nick Mathew and Martin Donnelly. Narini would go on to finish third, with co-driver Massimo Narini, 1:43 back from Thomson. Chris Martin and Phil Narini finished fourth, just four seconds back of the Narini pair. Martin Donnelly and co-driver James Drake finished fifth, while Nick and Kelly Mathew finished sixth after a spin on the final stage cost precious time.

“We weren’t building boost properly and were on second hand tires,” said Nicola Narini, “but this is our second ever regional podium.”

Peter Kocandrle won the Group 2 class in his Suzuki Swift, finishing ninth overall. Alan Ryall and Bruce Leonard were the lone entry in a Subaru WRX Production GT car, finishing 12^th overall, the only team to run gravel tires on the tarmac course.

“We’re here to have fun and to remember how the car reacts,” said Ryall. Eric McKinnon and Ferdinand Trauttmansdorf won Production Sport in a VW Scirocco.

Shannonville Stages was the second round of the Ontario Performance Rally Championship, and unlike last year where rain and snow dumped from the skies, near cloudless conditions and sun kept conditions clear for the crews.



Photos from the Galway-Cavendish Forest Rally, Round 4 of the Ontario Performance Rally Championship.

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