Rally Results : Cascade Geargrinders Road Rally

Rallymaster Marcus Gattman delivered a tricky-trappy fun-to-drive romp through the Bull Run, Larch Mountain, and Corbett area, including a stop at Crown Point. The route offered spectacular scenery and great road rally roads!

The trickiness started on the first checkpoint slip which introduced a NOTE: R on MERSHON. Remember that. You’ll need to know it later. The first actual route following trap was set up by a route instruction that placed you ONTO LUSTED. If you failed to stay on Lusted Road, you continued on the off course route which short-cutted the on course route, giving you penalty points for being early.

The real fun happened after the transit to Crown Point, on the fifth leg, with a series of OR instructions. The first one – R at STOP OR OBSERVE second “MILE 1” – looked easy enough. Which ever side comes first, the intersection with a stop sign or the second mile 1 sign, is the side you execute.

You see a mile 1 sign. Then you see a stop sign coming up at a T intersection. You’re ready to execute the R at STOP when you notice the road name; it’s Mershon Road. You remember to execute the NOTE: R on MERSHON and soon after you see a second mile 1 sign. You correctly check off the second half of the OR instruction as complete.

A couple more OR instructions along with reappearance of the NOTE created several routes through this loopy part of the rally. Even if you got the traps wrong, the route resolved for both on and off course contestants and everyone made it to the next checkpoint.

We heard stories of some off course excursions, but as best we could tell they were self-inflicted. Arriving at a four-way intersection with the instruction to pause, why would you go right? Or left? For some, the instruction TURN was apparently elusive – it was at the first opportunity but it was a bit hard to see. Time allowances were generously used.

Congratulations to the winners! First overall and first Unlimited was the team of Paul Eklund and Yulia Smolyansky. Larry Anson and Fran Hanchek took first SOP honors. Dave and Sherry Wilson finished first Novice. A big thank you to rallymaster Marcus Gattman and all the checkout and checkpoint workers.

July Road Rally Results
Car #	Driver / Navigator	Class	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	R/C A	Total
5	Paul Eklund / Yulia Smolyensky	UNL	0	3	9	2	30	1	0	45
8	Larry Anson / Fran Hanchek	SOP	3	282	4	15	46	120	0	470
10	Dave Wilson / Sherry Wilson	SOP	28	300	114	25	79	76	0	622
6	John Elkin / Karen Jankowski	SOP	11	279	66	41	235	8	0	640
3	Austen Knight / Denae Murphy	SOP	19	230	15	25	300	89	50	728
7	Simon Levear / Valerie Frank	SOP	300	12	112	70	300	9	0	803
11	Eric Olbricht / Katie Olbricht	NOV	300	172	69	75	7	300	0	923
2	Marty Lawrence / Mike Nagle	SOP	93	300	300	75	300	11	0	1079
4	Jim Pott / Bill Cohnstaedt	NOV	300	247	63	300	300	18	0	1228
9	Ed Frank/ Jo Su	NOV	300	177	147	300	300	300	0	1524

It was the third event, mid-point of the Saturday Rally Series, and the sun broke out of its doldrums to present a pleasant day for rally. Twelve teams of the future lost departed Lowe's parking lot headed for Clark County unaware of what fate had in store.

The first half-dozen teams arrived at the first checkpoint, in order, at about one-minute intervals. Seemed all the rallymasters’ preplanning was paying off. Then chaos! Some cars missed the checkpoint entrance, entered at the exit, and got in line – out of order – with teams who’d entered on course. Out of sight of the checkpoint crew (large hedge) local police activity had blocked the checkpoint sign from view on approach, causing all sorts of disruption to arriving teams. Leg one was prudently discarded from scoring.

The next three legs were do-it-yourself checkpoints and went on without any unplanned incidents. Teams drove through the Washington hills and valleys enjoying scenic views and fun-to-drive roads. A pause at the Hantwick Road Trailhead provided a brief visit with nature. It was in the last leg that the fates decided to once again intervene. Between the time the rallymasters drove the route, but prior to the arrival of the first car, a wayward local crashed into and knocked down a power pole.

Oh no! It's a road closure!

Teams scrambled. Some bailed for the finish while a few struggled on, rejoined the route and found the final checkpoint. And thus ended any chance for scoring leg five. With the first and last legs sufficiently waylaid by the whims of fate and local authorities, the rally was scored on the three DIYC legs.

Congratulations to the first overall and first Unlimited team of Simon Levear and Ben Bradley. First SOP went to John and Robby Elkin. First Novice was Derek Johnson Love and Kate Love Johnson, an excellent finish for their first CSCC rally. We hope we see them at future events.

And a big thank you to rallymasters Kasey Klaus and Torm Kelsey Green for their first CSCC rally!

June Road Rally Results
Car #	Driver / Navigator	Class	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Total
10	Simon Levear / Ben Bradley	UNL	0	1	2	2	0	5
12	Kevin Poirier / Chris Hale	UNL	0	3	1	4	0	8
9	John Elkin / Robby Elkin	SOP	0	68	20	0	0	88
13	Sean Andersen / Tonia Andersen	SOP	0	49	35	17	0	101
5	Marcus Gattmen / Kerrie Steffenson	SOP	0	82	30	31	0	143
11	Lawrence McCartin / Christy Temple	SOP	0	153	10	15	0	178
4	Derek J. Love / Kate L. Johnson	NOV	0	165	33	27	0	225
3	Jim Pott / Bill Cohnstaedt	NOV	0	116	57	143	0	316
7	Dave Wilson / Sherry Wilson	NOV	0	65	233	23	0	321
6	Chris White / Twyla Blanksma	NOV	0	165	67	173	0	405
2	Betsy Blackie / Michael McCauley	NOV	0	243	69	127	0	439
14	Madelaine Olbricht / Michael Karber	NOV	0	300	33	300	0	633

The sun came out early Saturday morning making for a pleasant drive through the Clark County hills for the twelve teams of road ralliers that had assembled for the start of the May event. Flashback to last year and it was heavy rain and high winds with checkpoint signs blowing over.

Rallymaster Kevin had constructed a lengthy event with 7 controls covering about 120 miles. Scenery was top notch with gorgeous views of Mt. St. Helens and the Columbia River. Roads were 100% paved with many a twist and turn. But this was no walk in the park. On the Saagerpaloosa difficulty scale, we rate this one a challenge. The first couple of legs were pretty straight forward.

The third leg included several opportunities to execute a NOTE to “PAUSE at each YIELD”. However, since all the opportunities were at railroad crossings which are not intersections, if you paused at the three crossings, you earned 30 penalty points. The fourth leg offered a mileage trap (CAST 41 for 0.75 miles at “NEXT 1 ½ MILES”) worth 24 points.

Leg 6 spelled doom for most teams. The leg opens with an ONTO GREEN instruction, followed by an ITIS instruction to TURN on SHIRLEY GORDON. The trap is sprung when your first encounter with Shirley is as an opportunity to drive straight on SHIRLEY GORDON. We all know you can’t TURN by going STRAIGHT, so you refuse the ITIS (at that encounter) and continue to stay ONTO GREEN. You max early if you miss this – and some did. Those who did this trap correctly still had to make it through some confusing intersections, following GREEN wherever it went, eventually finding the correct opportunity to TURN on SHIRLEY GORDON. Half the teams that maxed Leg six also maxed Leg seven.

Only the second rally of the season and teams were working on regaining their skills. With longer legs, scores tend toward the higher side with nearly one-third of the leg scores timing in over the three minute max. Many of those came from the last two legs with every team getting at least one max with one exception. The Novice team of Twyla Blanksma and Chris White scooted through legs six and seven with a combined total of 192 about half of the next closest team.

The SOP team of Bill and Kelly Ferber also displayed the agony and the ecstasy with maxes on legs four and six but a zero on leg five.

Storming to victory by more than a minute and a half was Sean and Brandon Andersen in the SOP class. Well done gents! Paul Eklund and Yulia Smolyensky took first in Unlimited and Mark and Mike Heriford took first in Novice.

May Road Rally Results
Car #	Driver / Navigator	Class	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	Leg 7	Total
12	Sean Andersen / Brandon Andersen	SOP	37	14	18	67	79	300	56	571
2	Marcus Gattman / Kerrie Steffenson	SOP	46	14	18	23	25	300	300	726
10	Paul Eklund / Yulia Smolyensky	UNL	5	2	26	6	88	300	300	727
1	Larry Lefebvre / Simon Levear	SOP	6	20	29	15	138	300	300	908
7	Larry McCartin / Christy Temple	SOP	237	102	24	227	31	300	117	928
5	Mark Heriford / Mike Heriford	NOV	233	77	6	86	96	255	300	1053
11	Bill Ferber / Kelly Ferber	SOP	300	129	12	300	0	300	32	1073
6	Dave Wilson / Sherry Wilson	NOV	298	27	6	84	106	300	300	1121
8	Larry Anson / Fran Hanchek	SOP	157	77	19	300	300	300	7	1160
4	Twyla Blanksma / Chris White	NOV	300	91	300	300	88	112	80	1271
9	Kathleen Ellis / Bob Ellis	SOP	300	123	6	244	32	300	300	1305
3	Jordan Green / Carol Green	SOP	190	27	106	95	300	300	300	1318

Rallymaster Simon Levear delivered a great season opener with the April 13 Saturday Road Rally.

The course offered beautiful scenery and fun-to-drive roads, including a lap around Hagg Lake, ending in Cornelius. Although the route was easy to follow, the TRAP TRANSIT section was tricky. Six route instructions offered two optional actions: A or B. One was correct (zero points) and one wasn’t (50 points).

First overall was the Unlimited team of Rebecca Ruston and Russ Kraushaar. Second in Unlimited and second overall was the team of Paul Eklund and Brandon Harer. Larry Anson and Fran Hanchek finished third overall and first place in the SOP class. Eric Olbricht and Alexander Olbricht took first place Novice.

Did I mention the TRAP TRANSIT was tricky? NRI 50 made the difference between the top two teams. At a four-way intersection, the road straight ahead had a back-facing stop sign, the road to the right had a back-facing stop sign, and the road to the left did not have a back-facing stop sign. MRD 3.3 PROTECTION directs you to take the “single road which leaves the intersection without a back-facing stop or yield sign on it”. If you went left you correctly executed part B of the instruction for zero penalty points.

Most teams tripped on NRI 53, also a main road trap. You are on an unpaved road, when you encounter an intersection with three apparent choices: straight ahead is paved, the road on the right is marked “dead end” (not a rally road), and the road on the left is unpaved. MRD 3.4 SURFACE says, “The main road is the obvious continuation beyond an intersection of the road with the same type of surface as that which you approached the intersection on." If you went left to stay on the unpaved surface you correctly executed part B of the instruction for zero penalty points.

April Road Rally Results
Car #	Driver / Navigator	Class	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Traps	Total
1	Rebecca Ruston / Russ Kraushaar	UNL	2	2	5	7	0	16
10	Paul Eklund / Brandon Harer	UNL	2	3	5	7	50	67
8	Larry Anson / Fran Hanchek	SOP	19	37	57	51	0	164
16	Sean Anderson / Tonia Anderson	SOP	30	15	19	63	50	177
14	Marcus Gattman / Kerrie Steffenson	SOP	11	14	62	8	100	195
17	Tom Kreger / Cynthia Bushell	SOP	4	21	21	197	100	343
13	Eric Olbricht / Alexander Olbricht	NOV	70	44	114	47	150	425
9	Torm Kelsey Green / Kasey Klaus	SOP	63	194	192	96	0	545
15	Dave Wilson / Sherry Wilson	NOV	109	55	80	251	100	595
7	James Pott / Bill Cohnstaedt	NOV	109	25	220	129	150	633
6	Madelane / Tyson Boatman	NOV	9	72	180	300	150	711
3	Larry McCartin / Christy Temple	SOP	249	99	277	72	50	747
4	Besty Blackie / Laura McKean	NOV	300	228	188	33	150	899
5	Chris White / Twyla Banksma	NOV	163	69	300	300	100	932
12	John Elkin / Robby Elkin	SOP	300	92	300	300	100	1092
2	Jordan Green / Carol Greer	NOV	300	300	300	300	200	1400
11	Alexander Villarreal / Case Hiatt	NOV	300	300	300	300	250	1450

Primal Scream!

PRIMAL SCREAM

The Con Game

THE CON GAME

A Mother of a Rally

MOTHER OF A RALLY

Mr. D Loves Company

MR. D LOVES COMPANY

PAST ROAD RALLY SEASONS