Rallynotes selected to run Saturday for the North Nevada Rally on July 7th, 2012, on roads they last raced in 2008 located near Gerlach, NV. This was the first competitive stages that the Marciniaks have run since winning the USRC in 2008. This was also the first competitive stage miles the new rallynotes.com 2GN (Soon to be SRT-4) Dodge Neon would tackle. Kris tells us more: “New car, new suspension, new everything! We wanted to shake out the bugs and test the handling before adding 150+ HP. We also wanted to shake out 4 years of not competing by not jumping into a really powerful car!” The team by no means has been absent from rally; They volunteer for the California Rally Series and organize their own event – The High Desert Trails Rally.
There were 8 cars in the CRS-2 (Group 2) 2WD class at this event, which meant there was ample competition to judge stage times. Right off the bat the team set 3rd fastest overall on SS9 (the first stage on Saturday). On their second stage, SS10 “Purgatory Pass,” a small mistake over a sharp left hand turn pulled the car into a soft berm. Kris struggled to keep the car’s momentum, but they got stuck in what would become their own personal “Rally Purgatory.” Kristopher describes the scene: “Going over the berm de-beaded the front right tire. We went into the scenery a little bit and almost made it back onto the road, but got stuck on the berm coming out of the corner. It then took us 30 minutes to dig out the front right and get a spare on there, while car after car continued by us. It sucked, but the car was fine, the team was fine, and the competitive pressure was off. Now we just had to have fun and finish.” Pressure or no pressure, the rallynotes.com team proceeded to set the 3rd fastest time on the last 3 stages of the day! “The last stage we made a personal charge to be fast. The car was running great, Christine was once again used to the pace that we set in the notes, and we set a fantastic 10:03 time for SS14. We missed 2nd by only 1 second, and were 32 seconds off the rally leader Andrew Lockhart, who won the event overall.” said driver Kristopher Marciniak.
The team would like to thank Kevin Patterson for his tremendous efforts in helping to service 3 teams at North Nevada!
Our next event: The Prescott Rally in Prescott, AZ. Join us!
Husband and wife team, Kristopher and Christine Marciniak, have been rallying together since 2005. They are three time USRC Production 2WD champions. Kristopher handles technology and operations at Warm Your Floor in Laguna Hills, CA. Christine has a PhD in molecular biology and is working in the field.