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Press Releases by Jamie Thomas
July 15, 2003
Subie
Gal Racing Earns 1st in PGT at Oregon Trail Pro
Hillsboro,
OR-Subie Gal Racing team trekked south into Oregon to once
again compete in the Oregon Trail Pro Rally and Club Rally
events.
This
2-day event began with frustration and much learning to be
done. Since the in-car engine fire at the Reno ClubRally,
the team’s Subaru WRX had not been running correctly.
The car suffered a ton of heat and internal damage leaving
no less than 3 engine codes and a load of sensor and wiring
issues. Friday night prior to the event, finally… at
approximately 1am the team and their crew of supporters and
technicians were able to clear the codes and had the car running
nearly up to specs. This was a huge relief to the team as
the car has been well underpowered for 2 events now. “Power”
was needed as Oregon Trail is known for its hilly-climbing
stages.
The
next challenge for the team was the patience-trying task of
learning to use stage notes which are available for purchase
at every Pro Rally. These notes differ from the organizer
route book in that every bit of the stages is detailed, VERY
detailed. Neither team driver Jamie Thomas, nor co-driver
Matt Gauger had previous experience with stage notes. Quite
the struggle - by the end of the rally, the team had made
progress in the notes and were working out how to utilize
them in an attempt to be dependant upon them. This challenge
brought the team to the ragged edge of their concentration
and patience levels, but they persevered in the end.
“Notes
are REALLY tough to learn at first… this cost us a lot
of time on some of the stages“ Subie Gal Racing team
driver Jamie Thomas stated, “But, Matt stuck with me
on them, even though frustration levels were at their peak
& in the long run I truly feel we will go much faster
because of them. ”
“Racing
with Jamie can be a challenge, but ultimately its great.”
stated co-driver Matt Gauger, “I think we can learn to
go fast with the notes and have even more fun!”
The
team battled on to earn 3rd place in PGT in both ClubRally
events, as well as earning their FIRST 1st place finish in
the SCCA ProRally PGT class. Jamie and all of Subie Gal Racing
would like to dedicate this significant first win to the memory
of fellow competitors Mark Lovell and Roger Freeman who passed
away during the early stages of this event. They will be missed
dearly – yet their memories will live on as we press
on, and rally on in their honor. GodSpeed Mark and Roger…
Next
Event (tentative) – Gorman Ridge - http://www.wsrally.org/events/gorman.html
- Aug 16th OR Ojibwe Forests Pro Rally - http://www.ojibweforestsrally.com
- Aug 22/23rd
Subie
Gal Racing team thanks season sponsors: Carter Subaru, www.allsubaru.com,
StonGard.com, PerformanceGraffix, AVSport.net, Dave Clark
Motorsports, Smart Service, IonPerformance.com, Hurrikainracing.com,
Rallitek.com, WRXtra.com, Grillcraft.com and the Subie Gal
Supporters
Special
Thanks to our Crew: Nick Snow, Curt McConnell & Mike Leonard,
Luke and extra special thanks to Jeff Sponaugle for helping
to remedy the car’s electrical issues at 1am in the morning…
our crew is the best!!!! J
Member
of the NorthWest Region SCCA - http://www.nwr-scca.org
SCCA Regional Achievement Award Winner (1996-2002) an SCCA
RECORD SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW!!!
For more information contact: Info@subiegal.com
www.subiegalracing.com
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