Morris, Pennsylvania -- John Drislane of Carmel, NY and Ronan Burke of Avon, CT finished first in a field of 55 starters at the Sawmill ClubRally held Saturday May 11, in Morris, PA. Driving an Open class Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI the team had their work cut out for them as the entry list looked like a "who's who" in Rallying in the Northeast. Drislane, the 2001 National and Northeast ClubRally Champion seems to be still the man to beat in the Northeast.

Second overall and second in the Open class saw a rare tie in stage rallying. After eight stages of competition, Peter Malaszuk - Bridgeport, CT and co-driver Adam Pelc - Middle Village, NY in a Subaru WRX were tied with the New York City based team of Celsus Donnelly and Mark McAllister in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV. The finish was a reward for perseverance for Donnelly as the 1999 Sawmill overall winner had to overcome transport problems getting to the event on Friday.

Rounding out the top five were two more New York City teams, Patrick Lilly with Aidan Denby and Patrick and James Farrell driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV and a Subaru WRX.

Drive of the day should go to the team of Luis Teixeira - Mansfield, MA and Morgan Segal - Somerville, MA. Driving a 2-wheel drive Nissan Sentra, Teixeira and Segal finished 9th overall and first in Group 2 in a sea of much more powerful equipment. Teixeira has switched seats this season after co-driving at the ProRally level for the past few years.

Todd Bourdette and Michael Brown from nearby Millerton, PA also had a great run at Sawmill, finishing 1st Group 5, 12th overall in their Dodge Omni GLH Turbo.

In Production GT, Don Kennedy - Shillington, PA took home the honors driving a Subaru Impreza. Rick Davis traded his organizer's hat for for a helmet for the afternoon and sat in the co-driver's seat. Davis, a semi-retired rally driver from West Chester, PA also worked Friday until 10:30pm at the technical inspection all rally vehicles must pass before competing.

Bill Tremmel - Rieglesville, PA and Jeff Coleman - Perkasie, PA finished 1st in Production class, 19th overall in their VW GTI. The win moves the team to the top of the class for the Northest Divisional Championship.

For complete event results go to http://www.rallyright.com/sawmill/sawmill02-res.html

The Sawmill ClubRally is organized and sanctioned by the Blue Mountain Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The event has been run since 1988 as part of the RallyRight School and is a 2002 Northeast Division (NEDIV) Championship event.

In a ClubRally, each team consists of a driver and a co-driver (or navigator), and the exact course is kept secret until just before the event - different from World Rally, where practice is allowed. The cars start at one-minute intervals and race against the clock over stages (competition sections) which range in length from one to twenty miles. The team achieving the fastest combined times wins.

For information on the NEDIV SCCA ClubRally Series, go to the NEDIV Website. To find out more about the SCCA, go to www.scca.org.