Chernis/Macnair Win Seed 9 - Round 1 of the SouthWest RallyCup Series
( Jean , Navada) Open Drivers Doug Chernis and Craig Macnair set the pace early delivering the knock out punch on SS1; their 40 second margin stage win placed the bar out of reach for top open drivers like Wolfgang Hoeck
(Lancer EVO) and Brian Scott (Subaru WRX).
Doug’s winning time of 33 minutes and 24 seconds in his Subaru WRX over the six stage event beat a field of 19 entrants in the cool, breezy Southern Nevada climes. Setting the bar still further was the team of George Doganis/ Tom Smith topping the Group 2 charts in their Nissan Sentra with a blistering pace on SS1. Keeping it close in the same class were Jeremy Brown and S. Branton Housley in their Toyota MR-2. Third went to Erik Christiansen and Amy Floyd in their VW GTI. Fifth Overall and a minute in arrears from Doganis were the team of Shawn Hudspeth and Jennifer Hudspeth (PGT class-Eagle Talon) fighting it out with the veteran Clive Skilton and his navigator Dean Schlingmann in Clive’s Jeep; they finished just sixteen seconds behind in what was to be the toughest fight in the rally.
Chuck Wilson and Keith Rudolph relied on the old wisdom that you must finish to finish first. His Nissan P/U drove without a flaw, marching to a convincing win of Jun Andrada and Ricky Dela Cuesta in their Toyota Corolla.
This years’ version of Seed 9 Rally, the eighth, scheduled for seven stages was shorten due to circumstances beyond the organizers’ realm of experience, the rally finished on a good note in the usual location, at the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings.
Full Results and Stage Times are available at www.rallydata.com
For more information please contact ….Denise McMahon at marymountdenise@aol.com
