PoR Week 18 highlights: WRC, Nations Cup, and Bryan gets checked again!

[spspears]

Lots of action to report this week as four Press on! Rallysport drivers hit the stages in search of team points and international glory. Well, at least we got the points...



Week 18 kicked off the first round of the inaugural Rallyesim.com Nations Cup. Several PoR drivers are taking part in the Cup, which features 11 national teams vying for world virtual rally bragging rights. I have to qualify that by saying that all of the teams represent one nation with the exception of ours. Because we have so few North American drivers on RSRBR, the organizers allowed us to from a continental team representing North America.

In the first round, we were placed in Pool B with Spain and the Netherlands. Spain has to be considered one of the favorites to win it all, but it should be a good battle between us and the Dutch to see who else advances. The initial round consists of three rallies, with the roadbook for each rally selected by the team captain. This week's rally was set by the Spanish, who to our relief chose exclusively gravel stages.

In all, five North American drivers competed in the first rally of Round 1, including Steven Spears and Aaron DeMarre from PoR. The Spanish drivers lived up to their billing, and even at our best keeping the pace would have been difficult. Unfortunately, we weren' t exactly at our best, though four of the five of us completed the rally, while several faster drivers from other teams did not. In fact, two drivers who had scoring positions locked up were forced to retire on the 12th and final stage. This allowed Steven Spears to take 7th place and the two points that came with it. Spain claimed 6 of the 8 points scoring positions and took a commanding lead of 33 points to 4 for the Netherlands and 2 for North America. We still have two rallies to go, with a good chance to advance if we put in some solid performances.



On the PoR side of things, we had four drivers competing in four different rallies. All turned in good results to net the team's third highest weekly points total of the year. Steven Spears competed in the WRC Rally of New Zealand in the S-WRC category for Super 2000 cars. He had a very solid rally going in his Peugeot 207 until brake problems caused several incidents on the second half of Leg 2. The source of the problem never was satisfactorily determined, though he suspects that the cut-up dog ball mod on his Logitech MOMO pedals may have played a role. The problems continued intermittently through Leg 3 as well, causing more time loss. Still, he finished a respectable 75th overall and 19th in the S-WRC category.



A (hopefully) well-rested Justin Cady returned to action for PoR in the Rallye Ecureuil Drome Provencale. Justin drove his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX to 6th place in the A8 class, finishing 104th overall out of 441 starters. It was good to have him back, and his 92 points were a welcome addition to the weekly total.

Bryan Heitkotter continued to impress on the fast and bumpy La Pommaraye hill climb. Bryan was 4th in the loaded N4 class in his Prodrive Impreza N14. For the third time this year, the comissaires asked him to submit replays for the weekly control checks. Bryan gets checked by the French almost as regularly as Lance Armstrong. We are beginning to suspect that they are using said replays for instructional purposes!

In addition to coaching the North American Nations Cup team along, Aaron DeMarre took on the next round of the always challenging Hungarian Championship. This week was marked by a return to tarmac. As you can see from the photo, Aaron attacked like a wild animal in his Peugeot 205. Unfortunately, the stages attacked back. Still, Aaron pressed on to a 101st overall placing and was 6th in the N1 class.



For the week, PoR had the 18th highest points total, keeping us 30th out of 45 stables for the year. This week, five Press on! Rallysport drivers are scheduled to take part in rallies and hillclimbs in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The weather looks a little iffy, so it should be an interesting report next time!