Specialty Subaru Mountain Trials Rally

October 5, 2002 in Merritt, BC CANADA
Round 5 of the Western Canadian Rally Championship
Presented by Yokohama Tires

TRINDER TAKES WIN AND CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
For Immediate Release

MERRITT, BC (Oct. 6/2002) - Vancouver-based rally driver Scott Trinder won the Specialty Subaru Mountain Trials Rally held in and around the Nicola Valley near Merritt, B.C. this past weekend.  Driving a Production class RSport Rally Subaru Impreza 2.5RS, Trinder finished 12 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Janusz Komorowski of Calgary, AB who piloted a much more powerful turbocharged  Open class Eagle Talon to second place.

The win sends Trinder to the head of the pack in the tight race for the 2002 Western Canadian Rally Championship presented by Yokohama.  After five of six rounds, he has a slim lead of four points, 44 to 40, over Gord Olsen of Brooks, AB.  In fact, going into the final race of the season in Bragg Creek, AB on November 10th, there are still five drivers with a mathematical chance of claiming the 2002 title.

The championship leader before the event was Gord Olsen and he did make an appearance here in his powerful Group 2 Volkswagen Golf to try and extend his lead.  However Olsen's rally came to an end on special stage four when he encountered a grouse crossing the rally route.  "There was a loud thud and a shower of feathers across the windshield," said Kathy Olsen, Gord's wife and co-driver. Unfortunately, the pair were forced to retire with a hole in their oil cooler while running second overall.

For Trinder, who just missed a top five placing at the SCCA Wild West Rally down in Olympia, WA last month, this victory was particularly sweet.  He and his co-driver (and father) Bob were fast from the start, taking an early lead and setting a quick pace against their main rival, Komorowski.  The pair completed 141.8 kilometers of special stages - the competitive portion of the event run flat-out against the clock on gravel roads that are closed to public - in one hour, forty-two minutes and twenty four seconds.

The rally drew entries from across Western Canada, Washington and Oregon, helping to ensure a broad field of competitors.  At the finish, the podium even held a representative from three regions with a driver from B.C. in first place, followed by others from Alberta and Washington.

The Active Mountain Park just south of Merritt hosted a series of special stages on a network of private roads usually reserved for campers at the famous Merritt Music Mountain Festival.  At the Mountain Trials Rally, competitors raced one minute apart along a 6.46 kilometer section in front of several hundred thrilled spectators.

The winner of the last event held in Merritt, the Pacific Forest Rally, Mehran Arefi of North Vancouver and Dan Mclean of Victoria, rolled their Subaru Impreza WRX heavily on the second special stage.  The pair had started the day well, posting the fourth fastest time on the first special stage, but got it all wrong while traveling too fast through a series of tight corners.  Despite crashing out of the race, Mclean was later seen helping out another team at the Lordco Auto Parts service point, and showing that rally isn't necessarily about winning.

Meanwhile, another promising young team earned their first Canadian podium spot after trying hard all year. The Washington based novice team of Ross Foster and Alan Perry finished third overall in their Production class Mazda 323GTX after pushing hard all day.  They ran consistently near the top throughout the day and even posted fastest time on special stage eight.

One of the tightest battles of the race emerged as a tie in the Group 2 class for modified two-wheel drive vehicles.  Noah Third of Portland, OR, along with co-driver Jason Lane of Burnaby, BC, drove their immaculately prepared Volkswagen Golf to tie for the class win with Carey Wright and Dave Kean, both of Seattle, WA, in their Mazda RX7. The final few stages were incredibly tense for these crews as the slippery conditions of the roads favoured the all wheel drive vehicles, yet there they were locked in a fierce competition right to the end.

And, finally, in the Production under class for vehicles with smaller capacity engines, the ALS Rally Team of Martin Wilson from Vancouver and  Dennis Wende of Coquitlam brought their "trusty" Subaru Justy home in 10th place.  In doing so the pair have now clinched the 2002 Western Canadian Championship for the Production under class.  Congratulations to this determined crew for their efforts in raising awareness of ALS while "rallying for the cure".

Many thanks go out to the people of Merritt for their warm welcome, especially the ranchers and business owners who supported this event. Thanks also to event sponsors Specialty Subaru, Yokohama Tires, Merritt Lordco, Polaris Water, Merritt Tirecraft and OMP - Driver's Edge Autosport.

And with that the 2002 Western Canadian Rally Championship has come down to the final event: the Kananaskis Rally, November 10th  in Bragg Creek, Alberta.  For more details about this event and other rallies, check out the BC rally website: http://www.rallybc.com

For more information contact:

Paul Westwick paul@rallybc.com (604) 682-3296, or
Ken Kwong ken@rallybc.com (604) 808-0536.

Photography is also available, please contact the organizers.