TeamD Adventures

After three and a half rally days of temperatures around 40F the cold Alcan Rally weather finally arrived today. We have ice and snow at 3 degrees farhenheit and fresh scores on hand! Today we had only one TSD section and our second ice race but changes were dramatic. First, the TeamD news of course…

At the ice race on Fish Lake (a fabulous temporary venue constructed by Porsche as a destination for journalists to test drive the Porsche Cayenne) Eric threw his BMW 325iX around the 0.7 mile course third fastest, behind only the Subaru Baja Turbo #2 driven by hotshoe Jake Engstrom and the Subaru WRX STi #10 piloted by Greg Hightower. Not bad for a 16 year old bimmer with 240,000 miles. It is A testament to the strength and longevity of the BMW 325iX that it stands up to the shiny new technology. Oh, not to mention that it was faster than all three new BMW X3’s.

Rob Dunn was “going for smoothness” and handily drove his trusty Mazda 323 GTX to victory in the non-studded tire group at the ice race beating both brand new Mitsubishi Lancer EVO’s. Are his Hakkapellitta Q snow tires better than the Blizzaks on the EVO’s? Is he just ‘smooth’? Whatever it is he got the job done.

Dan and Jim didn’t hit their marks on the ice course and took the maximum 10 point penalty but Jim gets congratulations for confidently getting back in the saddle after cramming his Subaru WRX into the snowbank on the outside of the super slick hairpin that sat at the far end of the track.

The TSD gave all the teams a smattering of points and TeamD didn’t make major gains or take major losses during the TSD section.

The most dramatic effect today came from the score reductions each team got as they get to throw out their worst single checkpoint score from days 2, 3 or 4. That scoring benefit shaved 35 points from Eric and Steve, 169 points from Jim and Dan and 188 points from Rob and Nick.

So…overall. Eric and Steve move back up two postions to fifth overall and to first in class. Jim and Dan move up one position to 8th overall and hold at 3rd in class. Rob and Nick stay firm at 3rd in class and 10th overall. TeamD is still second team in the race for the team trophy but the gap is now very small between us and Team Challenge Driving.

Here are the full scores. Note the changes again in the top contenders. Car #4, running with no rally computer have moved into third overall. Very impressive.

1.   Car #1  Ahearns, Schneider, Webb (class II) with 31.5 points
2.   Car #3  Carlson, Joy, Kraushaar (class II) with 35 points
3.   Car #4  Eklund, Rounds, Reid, (class III) 55.2 points
4.   Car #2  Kraushaar, Engstrom, Richardson, (class II) 69.7 points (Best overall studded tire at ice race)
5.   Car #7  Horst, Willey (class I) with 73.4 points
6.   Car #10 Wallace, Hightower, Carozza, (class I) 82.3 points
7.   Car #12 Miller, Duchene, Wood (class II) with 102 points
8.   Car #11 Hogan, Comden with (class I) 135.1 points
9.   Car #8   Bornhop, Kott, (class III) 177 points
10. Car #6   Dunn, Marcuse, (class III) 234.5 points (best overall unstudded tire at ice race)
11. Car #9   Wright, Fuhrman, (class II) 521 points
12. Car #16 Brown, Morris, (class I) 574.1 points
13. Car #13 Gilland, Boyd (class II) with 592 points
14. Car #14 Weaver, Weaver, (class III) 816.3 points
15. Car #5   Elder, Elder, (class III) 847 points
16. Car #15 von Richthofen, Touring Class

Oh, and this last note for Amanda: Jake says “I actually have a slight buzz”. He had wine with dinner. Says you’ll never believe it.