PoR Week 21 Highlights: Bryan and Alex T Rescue the Day

[spspears]

There wasn't a lot of action for the Press on! Rallysport stable in week 21, but that doesn't mean the team wasn't busy. In addition to WRC and Nations Cup, we added both team and family members this week!



PoR only had three drivers competing for the team this week, but Bryan Heitkotter scored very well at the third round of the Spanish Championships, Cantabria Infinita. Bryan seems to be taking to this rally thing, as he conquered highly changable conditions that included fog, rain and sun. He finished 71st overall and 13th in the N4 class in his Prodrive Impreza. An impressed PoR manager Steven Spears even offered to part with some team money to liven up the livery on Bryan's Subaru. "You know", Spears said, "Bryan had proved himself week in and week out as one of the best new talents in the RSRBR championships. The least we could do make it look like he's a rally driver instead of some kind of high-speed real estate agent out there. I mean, even a week after his parents buy it for him, the average college kid's WRX is more stickered up than that!"

Unfortunately, Spears missed an opportunity to add to the PoR coffers this week. A problem on SS1 caused him to quit Leg 1 of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Under the Super Rally rules he was able to resume the rally on Leg 2, at the bottom of the standings. Spears pressed on to finish 140th overall and 36th in J-WRC. It was a disappointing result after a good start on the first J-WRC round in Jordan.



Portugal also gave us a chance to welcome Jerry Centeno back after an absence of several weeks. Jerry had a very strong run going in his Ford Focus WRC, and was solidly inside the top 50 overall until he was forced to retire on the penultimate stage of the rally.

Having dispatched with their stable duties for the week, the three caught a flight out of Madrid to take part in Round 2 of the Nations Cup. It was our turn to host in Pool B, and Aaron DeMarre had a set up a challenging rally in the Washington Cascades for our Spanish and Dutch guests. A surprise Spring snowstorm the day of the event made the conditions even more difficult. Six PoR drivers took the start and five made it to the finish, which was a great accomplishment in itself. Alex Tomasiak, also back after a layoff, led the way for the North American team, finishing 8th in his Impreza WRC. Steven and Bryan finished 9th and 10th. Justin Cady was 12th followed by Jerry in 13th. An unfortunate accident on SS3 caused Aaron to retire on SS4 due to overheating. Because Aaron was responsible for this snowy mess, we can't help but feel it was a bit like the Frankenstein monster attacking its creator! We'll forgive him if he was a little distracted though, as he and his wife just welcomed a new daughter into their lives!



The bottom line from the second round was that despite great efforts all around we still lost ground to the Dutch. The Spanish domination continued, as they took the top 5 placings and an insurmountable lead. Dutch drivers finished 6th and 7th, and they now hold a 6 point lead over our North American team. Not really the result we wanted, but anything can happen in the last event. In spite of the fact that we've been a little down on speed, the team has a great finishing record and we are probably a bit deeper than the Dutch - those super-fast Spanish guys just need to step aside so we can get into the points!

After the Nations Cup rally (and a couple of fine Seattle microbrews) we convinced Bret (MojoFlow) Rowlinson to join us at Press on! Rallysport. Most of us know Bret from the Nations Cup effort and SimHQ, so it was good to welcome a familiar face to the team.

For the week, PoR scored 250 points. We fell one spot in the standings, to 28th out of 45 teams. We have a couple of guys back now, and with Bret joining us there's lots to look forward to as we near the midpoint of the year.