Desert Storm Rally Live Text from the event

[rallyorg]

2012 Desert Storm Rally - Live Text

12:05 Wilson has bent rear suspension
Chuck Wilson appears to have a bent right rear trailing arm at the finish of the last stage (stage 6). Mike G.

11:59 Sunday Leaders
George Plsek (Super Production), Andrew Lockhart (Group 2) and Leelyn Pritchard (Open Lite) are 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall. Mike G.

11:27 Loose steering for McMahon
Shawn McMahon reports that the steering is getting looser and looser, so he won't be pushing too hard at this point. Mike G.

11:26 Zamora has a flat
Alex Zamora came into the finish of Cibola West (stage 4) with a left front flat. Mike G.

11:25 Wilson has a moment
Chuck Wilson spun on Cibola West (stage 4), but did no damage to the car. Eyes are wide open now. Mike G.

11:21 Black breaks thrid motor mount
John Black has broken his right motor mount for the third time. He also has soft right front andleft rear shocks, so he will be taking it easy. Mike G.

10:16 McMahon stopped on Cibola
Shawn McMahon is stopped on Cibola West with some sort of mechanical problem. Update: Turned out to be an ignition wire problem. They have now finished the stage. Mike G.

10:02 Johan Bjorkquist retires
Car 960 Johan Bjorkquist blew a brake line on the transit to stage one, has retired and has made it back to hotel Mike G.

09:45 Pritchard has wheel bearing problem
Leelyn Pritchard has a wobbly right front wheel bearing and is only going about 60% today. Lets hope it holds togehter Mike G.

09:42 Bjorkquist fails to start Stage 1
Johan Bjorkquist left the sedrvice area but has failed to arrive at the start of the first stage of the day. Mike G.

09:18 Plsek sets the pace
George Plsek is back and hoping not to run out of gas today, however it didn't slow him down on the first stage of the day where he bettered his time from yesterday by 8 seconds. Mike G.

08:48 Nine Cars Start Sunday
Nine of the original twelve cars will be restarting the rally today (Sunday). Alex Helton was unable to complete repairs to his car. Ken Cassidy's back is hurting so John Sundelin had to withdraw. There was a pretty good storm last night with lots of rain. Today is cool with a cold wind, but the clouds are clearing, so it may yet be a nice day. Mohave Wash Stage has been cancelled due to damage from the rain (stages 2 and 5 on Sunday). Mike G.

17:19 Speedway Stage Canceled
The speedway activities including the speedway stage have been canceled due to the increasing chance of rain. Mike G.

17:06 Lockhart leads after stage 13
Andrew Lockhart now holds a 42 sec lead over Leelyn Pritchard with only the speedway stage left to go. Mike G.

16:34 Delay in the middle of the pack
There is now a 36 minute delay between the first 4 cars and the 4 cars that were delayed by the blockage on stage 11. Mike G.

16:00 McGuire stopped on stage 11
Brian McGuire is sideways and on his side in the road on Stage 11. It appears that the stage is currently blocked and 4 cars have been blocked. Those four cars will be given the slowest representative time of the cars that preceded the blockage (namely Shawn McMahon's time of 9:58). Mike G.

15:56 Steely has sketchy moment
Cameron Steely had a soft left rear tire on stage 11, which resulted in a small off road excursion, but no damage to the car. Mike G.

14:36 Lockhart pulls into the lead
At the end of stage 10 Andrew Lockhart has pulled ahead of Leelyn Pritchard by 14 sec for the overall lead. Mike G.

14:19 Bjorkquist stopped on stage 8
Johan Bjorkquist is stopped on stage 8 and is displaying the OK sign. He had a flat tire and got stuck in the sand. He will not be continuing today Mike G.

14:15 McMahon has slight OFF
Shawn McMahon found that the road is getting soft and as a result had a slight off on stage 8 or 9, but reported no damage to the car. Mike G.

14:08 Black makes repairs
John Black replaced both a front strut and a motor mount during the service. Mike G.

13:10 Pritchard leads overall
Andrew Lockhart lost over 20 seconds on the PV College super special and in the process lost the lead to Leelyn Pritchard. Pritchard now leads Lockhart by 1 second for the overall. Mike G.

11:57 Plsek runs out of gas
George Plsek has apparently got a gas tank leak and ran out of gas on stage 6. Mike G.

11:46 Helton and Sundelin fight for 3rd in Group 2
Alex Helton / Pat Lobban and John Sundelin / Ken Cassidy are locked in a battle for 3rd in Group 2 with only 1 second separating them Mike G.

11:40 Lockhart leads overall
Andrew and Robin Lockhart now lead overall after 6 stages. And hold a commanding lead in Group 2. Mike G.

11:30 Helton limping
Alex Helton appears to be struggling with a slow time on stage 6 and we have a report that he had to be pushed out the finish control. We have now heard that he is stopped with the hood up on the transit just beyond the finish of stage 6. Update: Double zero car is towing Helton to the service area. Mike G.

11:27 McGuire stopped
McGuire is now also stuck on stage 5 (in a sandy wash). Mike G.

11:16 Plsek is OFF
George Plsek is off the road on stage 6, and is displaying the OK sign. No details at this point. Mike G.

11:06 Steely stuck in a wash
Cameron Steely is stuck in a wash on stage 5 and has been passed by Alex Helton, so he has lost at least 2 minutes at this point. Mike G.

11:00 Bjorkquist spins
Johan Bjorkquist spun on stage 4, but didn't damage the car. Mike G.

10:50 John Black struggling with rear alignment
John Black in his first drive in this car is finding the rear end rather unstable and is suspecting a rear alignment issue of some sort. Mike G.

10:38 Leelyn Pritchard has small Off
On stage 4 Leelyn Pritchard went wide on a L5/cr and lost a bit of time but didn't do any significant damage to the car. Mike G.

10:03 Plsek leads overall
After the first three stages George Plsek (Super Production) leads Leelyn Pritchard (Open Lite) by 45 sec who leads Andrew Lockhart (Group 2) by 14 sec. Mike G.

09:28 Lockhart leads Group 2 after stage 3
Andrew Lockhart is leading Group 2 by 22 sec over Cameron Steely who is 20 seconds ahead of Alex Helton. Mike G.

09:23 McGuire leaking oil
At the end of Cibola (stage 3) Brian McGuire seems to be leaking oil, probably as a result of his problem on stage 1. Mike G.

08:49 Lockhart pulls into the lead in Group 2
After stage 2 Andrew Lockhart has pulled 11 seconds ahead of Cameron Steely with Alex Helton another 14 seconds back. All in Group 2. Mike G.

08:29 Stage 1 now clear
The sweep crew was able to move Brian McGuire enough to let the other cars by. Since the road was blocked, McMahon, Sundelin and Bjorkquist will all get the time of the slowest car that preceeded the blockage. Mike G.

08:08 Brian McGuire Stopped on Stage 1
Brian McGuire is sideways in the road on Stage 1, and has the road blocked so the remaining three cars are now stopped behind him. Mike G.

08:01 Lockhart and Steely lead Group 2
After Stage 1 Andrew Lockhart is tied with Cameron Steely for the lead in Group 2, both turning times of 7:43 Mike G.

07:43 First Cars Running Stage 1
The first car started running stage 1 at 7:36, so things are up and running. Mike G.

22:33 Start Order Set
Twelve cars are set to start the rally tomorrow morning. Nine of the twelve cars are in Group 2 so there should be some real battles there. The weather is expected to be overcast with a high in the mid 70s and a significant wind (30 MPH with gusts above 40 MPH), so dust is not expected to be a problem. There is a slight chance of rain, so we'll have to wait and see what develops. Mike G.

12:00 Live Text Overview
RallyData will be bringing you "Live Text" from the Desert Storm Rally as the action unfolds during the rally. While similar to twitter updates (which we will also be doing), Live Text allows more detailed description of what's happening. So come back during the Rally (Sat, March 17) and check it out. Mike G.

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