shadowrally.com

Team Wins BIG Check at LSPR

Houghton, MI, October 17 - 18, 2008

This weekend, Team Shadowrally headed to the northern woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to compete in the Lake Superior Performance Rally. It was the team's first experience competing in the Max Attack Rally Series . Max Attack is the premier North American Rally Series dedicated to two-wheel drive vehicles.

To get ready for LSPR, the team acquired some used Michelin Z-Series Asymmetric rally tires from the team of Doug Sheppard and Karen Wagner. Thanks again to Doug and his team for supporting their fellow Dodge rally competitors. These are bigger tires with more tread in different patterns than we have ever run before. Other upgrades to car 680 were a rebuilt front suspension including new ball joints, tie-rod ends, and driveshafts.

In preparation for the event, Crew Chief Jon Wickens and Co-Driver Tom Woodside left with the service vehicle and race car in tow on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning Jon and Tom registered the team and ran the car through technical inspections. The rest of the team including service crew members Peg Woodside, Fabienne Woodside, and Torie Woodside (along with Baby Woodside to be) as well as Driver Greg Woodside left from Detroit after work on Thursday afternoon. After a long drive, the team rejoined in Houghton, Michigan.

Friday morning, the crew completed final registration and met up with friends Lisa, Alan, and Matt up from Chicago to spectate and support the team. Thanks to Alan's mom Phyllis, the team stayed warm with their embroidered Team Shadow Rally hats. The race started with the cars on display in downtown Houghton before running the Jeff Moyle memorial spectator stage. The team started the first few stages cautious before driving at maximum attack through the night stages. The Z-Series Michelin tires are proving to make a big difference and be a big asset to the team. The team was charging harder than ever before and was going through brakes at an unprecedented rate. At the fifteen minute service in Kenton, the team found itself with no thickness remaining on the front brake pads and was forced to do an emergency front brake replacement. To make matters worse, this was done with flashlights as the bulb in the drop light was shattered and no replacement bulb was available. The brake replacement was completed and the team made it back to main time control with less than sixty seconds remaining until late penalties would have been applied. A special thanks to Jon, Fabie, and Peg for being a huge help during those frantic fifteen minutes!

At the end of the night, the team had locked in its best ever overall rally finish with 2 nd place in the Ottawa Regional Rally! The team finished second behind the blazingly fast team of Mark Utecht and Robert Bohn. Congratulations to Mark and Robert on their first place win.

After only four hours of sleep, the team awoke to service the rally car prior to Saturday's stages. Maintenance included a brake caliper change, exhaust hanger repairs, and tire changes.

On Saturday's stages, the team found itself in a battle with the team of Josh and Jeremy Wimpey for fourth place and an eight hundred dollar check in the Max Attack Series. Team Shadowrally started the day with a seventeen second lead over team Wimpey but Josh and Jeremy were consistently reeling us in at the rate of a few seconds per stage. Car 680 opted not to use the official stage notes which turned out to put them at a disadvantage when competing in such a tight race. At the end of the day, Josh and Jeremy secured fourth place in Max Attack but Team Shadowrally was extremely happy with a fifth place finish and a five hundred dollar prize. Thanks to Josh and Jeremy for some of the best competition we have ever had and a special thanks to Eric Burmeister, Matt Himes, and all the other supporters of the Max Attack Rally Series.

At the end of the weekend, the team headed back to Detroit having secured a second place overall finish in the Ottawa Regional Rally, second place in Group 5 for the Ottawa Regional Rally, second place in Group 5 for the Keewana Regional Rally, and a fifth place finish in the third round of the Max Attack Rally Series.

LSPR Photos and Video

Thanks to the huge turnout of shadowrally supporters for sending me copies of thier photos and videos from LSPR. Below are a few highlites that we have recieved since the race. THANKS!

PHOTOS BY Alan Schwab - PHOTOS in race recap above also by Alan