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STAGE 13 - GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 1 , July
8
This was the hardest day of the race:
Grand Championship is a mandatory score (no dropping the
highest number or DNF's permitted) and we had 40 pages
and 240+ maneuvers to perform
The terrain and weather were extremely varied:
from warm arid farmland with cattle, to the lush fruit
orchards of the Yakima Valley, to a mountain pass where
it got dark and rainy and stayed that way for the rest
of the day. This was the first steady rain the race has
faced, so we've been pretty lucky. We encountered rock
slides (some cars were hit), mountain goats, open range
cattle, and the usual assortment of farm equipment, trains,
and trucks. Everything plus the kitchen sink.
Experts and Grand Champions made some big
mistakes: fatigue after two weeks of rallying can be a
big factor, especially when your hardest day comes at the
end of all that. Cars break too: last year's champions,
GR. Pike and Bobby Hadsky, broke an axle shaft in their
Hudson while running second overall. They're out of it.
Another Hudson lost an engine. The '55 Pontiac Safari came
in with a smashed front left fender. In GR. it ain't over
'til it's over, and anything can happen with old cars.
Corky and Theresa Coker lost a generator: they found an
auto parts store where Corky threw cash on the counter
and wanted a battery NOW. They tried to get him to fill
out a warranty card and customer information! He ended
up running the car on the motorcycle battery for the speedometer:
they had a 2:00 minute late leg for a bad score, but no
DNF, which would have put them out of competition.
The instructions came fast and furious,
with Janet barely able to say them before we had to do
them. We were using everything we had learned about the
Rover to date, and since there was a maze right at the
start, the times were all over the board. No one knows
how they were doing. We were tempted to 'hack' off the
team in front of us when it looked like we were running
early, but elected to play our own game anyway.
We didn't miss a single sign or maneuver,
and as long as our Speedo calibration was correct (which
was in doubt due to a short calibration run) we were confident
that we were doing OK.
As it turned out, that was the right move.
We finished 13th overall yesterday: the
raw score, without age factor, would have been good enough
for 6th. We've moved up from as low as 50th overall to
25th, which ain't bad. The Land Rover did the job, and
we're now performing where we should with it. We beat a
lot of good teams yesterday, and had excellent scores in
the rain.
Sorry, no photos since we had left the disc
in the laptop, but check the GR. site for the official
shots: the scenery was spectacular.
Saturday's competition will be short, with
the awards presentation in the evening. If we can hold
on to 25th or pick up a spot or two, that would be great:
but it's GR., and anything can happen...
Steve & Janet
Greatrace 45
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