Not fearing the new roads or impending weather, 23 competitors converged on the town to battle for supremacy of the gravel tracks among the wheat stubble fields. Smooth roads with wide vistas of the Blue Mountain foothills greeted them for an event that appears to have a revitalized vigor and the potential for an exciting future. Unfortunately some notable NW heroes were not present - Hintz/Hintz, Cavett/Perry, Thomas/Gauger, Carl Jardeval - and they missed out on a great event.

Unloading the Primitive Subaru WRX/STi and preparing for technical scrutineering Friday evening, the crew was met with colder than anticipated temps and higher then typical winds, throw in some horizontal rain and it looked to be an interesting rally weekend. Coming off the first run of the Press Stage Paul dejectedly admitted that the shifting gremlin from Olympus [recall we had issues gaining 1^st, 2^nd, and reverse at low speed or while stopped] had come back into the gearbox. After several more runs with no discernable cause, we pulled the car from the line-up and went to find the issue. Borrowing some protected space from the cattle in the Garfield County Fairgrounds' beef barn, we put the car up in the air and went searching for the cause of the shifting woes. After some cussing, a few bloodied knuckles, some clutch adjustment and bleeding, a changing out of shift linkage bushings and securing all anchor points we were out of ideas. It was then we noticed the entire drivetrain would continue to 'drive' when the clutch pedal was fully engaged..we determined from this that we had a potentially damaged throw-out bearing or shift fork which was not allowing the EXEDY clutch to fully disengage. Figuring we really only had selection issues from dead stops and knowing if we got in a bind we could select gears by shutting off the car and stopping the transmission from rotating, we went to registration to secure our entry in the event. After all, it's rally and we were there.

The Saturday start order was published and had the Primitive crew in the number one starting position - leaving us to sweep the wide graveled roads and set the tracks for all those down the start order. Sometimes an impediment, we knew this would insure we had no dust issues if the roads dried as the contest progressed.

Leg 1 started Saturday with cool temps, clouds and wind but cleared and turned beautiful - and the roads north of Pomeroy were perfect. Not wet but not dusty. We negotiated the first stage at an easy pace - not knowing exactly what the roads were going to hand us. The Primitive Subaru managed a third fastest time; it was all good from that point. Gaining confidence with each stage and realizing the rumors were true - these roads were glorious - we continued to set a rally finishing pace. At the first service break after three gravel stages, we had gained the overall lead.

Helped along the way by some carnage [two competitors met the end of their rally within 2 miles of the start of the first stage at a tricky intersection - the crumpled hood of the Wild Irish Motorsport Team was donated to the local Up & Up Bar and Grill as a momento], some mechanical failures and excessive dust on the last stage slowing the following competitors [the ever-present breezes had died when the sun settled allowing dust to hang in the canyons and draws], the screaming yellow Primitive STi forged through the remaining 7 special stages to take the Leg 1 win by 2 minutes and 21 seconds on the 66 miles of farm and ranchland roads.

Leg II [6 special stages at 36 miles due to a shortened stage] started with a chill in the air and some thin clouds tracing across the skies - wind and rain was forecast to arrive at the first service break but it did not materialize until we pulled into the final time control of the event. That perfect timing meant the special stages of the day went off without a hitch. Several of the previous days withdrawals were able to re-enter for the second day meaning 18 crews were present to test the ridge roads south of historic Pomeroy. Treated again to fast and flowing stage roads the Primitive Team added 5 more stage wins and ended the event having set 14 of 16 top stage times and taking the overall win for the weekend.

driven much less seen before. Such was the reaction of the majority of the local residents who were all new to the rally game and gave up their time and effort to support the event - it was a friendly and exciting introduction!

Next event is the Mt Hood Rally in Hood River, Oregon on October 13. Spectate, volunteer, or stop by the service parc while picking pumpkins in the area - information is on the website. This is the last event of the season for Primitive and will complete the first log book for this 2002 Subaru chassis - over 16,600 MOSTLY competition miles and a full 45 events of some of the hardest driving ever conceived - with more to come! THANK YOU Subaru!

Don't forget our friends at:

SUBARU Northwest Region

PDX Tuning

EXEDY USA

PIAA [Portland headquartered!]

WIDMER

Finally, the Rally World lost one of their best a few weeks ago - 1995 World Rally Champion Colin McRae and his 5-year old son were killed when the helicopter he was piloting went down on his home estate in Scotland. Though no longer actively participating in the WRC, McRae was known most recently here in the states from his participation [and rolls] in both of the Xgames events. Rally on Colin!