On October 3rd and 4th, the Rallynotes.com team pushed the envelope of speed in their stock powered Production 2WD Dodge Neon at the 2008 Prescott Rally. Keeping up with faster Group 2 class cars, they were able to slide into tenth overall and third in 2WD for the event! Adding to their USRC points with a 1st in Production 2WD, and winning the California Rally Series ‘Performance Stock’ Championship in the process!

The car and crew were in top form all weekend. Finding the speed early on Friday night, the team set 10th fastest times on the first two stages. Service only required a small lighting adjustment for the encountered dust. This helped keep the car fast for SS3 and SS4. An overnight tire change was all that was needed to ready the Dodge Rally Neon for the next day, and Saturday only saw some minor rim damage after hitting a large rock.

The weather played a factor as it started to rain on Saturday afternoon. This kept the dust away, soaked the crews waiting in the service area, and made the last 3 miles of ‘First View’ treacherous. Driver Kristopher Marciniak explains: “We were flat out for the first five miles. It’s uphill, so we can’t afford to slow down and lose momentum. A few miles from the end, we chose to take it easy after a hard left put us sliding sideways towards the mountain. It got real slippery up there.” We would like to congratulate Brian Scott and John Dillon for their Open AWD win, Jimmy and Melissa Keeney for their Production AWD win, and George Doganis and Tom Smith for their fast Open 2WD win. The Rallynotes.com team celebrated their Production 2WD win with these teams during the champagne ceremony immediately following the rally.

At the award ceremony later that night the team was honored with the Carl Merrill Award. Organizer Michael Taylor explained why Kristopher and Christine were the recipients this year. “These two exemplify Carl’s spirit and commitment to rally and sportsmanship.” The team would like to once again thank Michael Taylor for the recognition and thank all of the organizers, workers, volunteers and competitors of the 2008 Prescott Rally. Special thanks to our volunteer crew of Vanessa & Brian Driggs, Dan Green, Jake Caler, Jared Sivinski, and Kyle Johnson. Not only helping the Rallynotes team, they offered assistance to three other teams, and the rally itself by driving the CRS scoring trailer back to the hotel while the final scores were computed.

With help from Brian Scott’s crew, the team’s tools, tires, and spares will be in New York for the final round of the United States Rally Championship. The Dodge Rally Neon is being privately shipped and the team will be flying in shortly before the event. Will the Rallynotes.com team have the speed and stamina necessary to beat the leading Eastern Production 2WD team of Hampton Bridwell and Josh Katinger in their SVT Focus? Who will be the 2008 USRC Production Class Champions? All will be decided in the final round at the 2008 International Rally New York. See you there!