Tigard, OREGON - Primitive Racing begins the season with a win and an early points lead in the Open Class of the Western States Rally Championship! The Doo Wops ClubRally is the opening event for the new WSRC Championship and the first rallies for the NorPac Divisional Championship.

Saturday's rally was sunny and bright with perfectly groomed roads, damp from previous rain. 40 cars set off on the roads of the Quinault Indian Nation north of Hoquiam. The wide, smooth roads were very fast and allowed high-powered 2wd cars to set blistering times and reach speeds well above 100mph. Primitive Racing's AWD Subaru WRX performed well, but finished a few seconds behind the awesome Group 2 Volkswagen GTi of Scott Fuller on Saturday. Fuller's new machine features a 240hp motor and a 6-speed sequential gearbox. Scott used both to full advantage while the traction was good taking top times on most of the stages.

The Primitive team took top time on one short tarmac stage, but a high-speed spin and stall cost the team 20 seconds on stage 3. That would be the margin of victory for the day, but the Primitive Team was happy with 2nd overall and first in Open Class at the end of the first day.

Other 2wd cars did not fair as well at the extreme speeds. John Lane's infamous 500+ hp Volvo Turbo kicked the tail out while accelerating past 100mph and the subsequent rollover sent spectators scurrying and caused enough damage to knock the car out of the competition. Several other cars succumbed to mechanical maladies including Cavett with a blown motor in his Subaru.

The brothers Hintz (Dave and Rick) took a terrific 3rd overall in their Group 5 Mazda RX7 Turbo. They were fighting to stay ahead of Jay Streets in his Volvo and took the fastest time over Eklund on the last stage of the day to seal a podium finish. Hard charging Streets finished 4th for the day, but his motor would go away early the next day forcing a retirement.

5th overall on day one was Richard Buckner and Lee Shadbolt in the orange Subaru Impreza Turbo sponsored by Royal Moore Subaru. The team remained consistent and quick, taking the second place honors in Open Class.

Day two of the Doo Wops dawned drizzly and damp. The clouds would not lift throughout the day, but neither would most competitors! The days stages included the Pico Watershed stages above the town of Montesano, the famous Brooklyn Tavern Stage (run in both directions) and the Smith Creek Stage (also run in both directions).

Primitive Racing started strong with a solid win on both the Pico Stages. The stages were tighter than the day before with varied surfaces (mud, gravel and packed dirt) and included a wood bridge crossing and some elevation changes. Primitive's softer compound Silverstone tires provided excellent bite for the changing conditions. The Drummond Motorsports Suspension also helped to soak up the rough spots. Scott Fuller's hot GTi would suffer a steering knuckle failure early on, opening the door for the Hintz brothers to take top 2wd honors.

On the Brooklyn Tavern stage, Eklund set the fastest time up with a 7:12 which was a good time for the stage up giving drizzle and lots of fresh gravel. Radar had him at 104mph on one of the long straights (that's at 7100 rpm in 4th gear). Hintz was about 15 seconds behind on the stage and had a 103mph. Ross Foster in a PGT Mazda 323 GTX fought hard to get up to 2nd place behind Eklund in the sloppy conditions, but fell 10 more seconds back after Brooklyn. Then they pushed even harder and missed a corner on the Smith Creek stage. They were pulled out by sweep and continued.

The jump on Smith Creek down was a rush at 90mph, but all cars made it through without incident. By the time the Brooklyn Tavern East stage started, it was getting dark and the fog was settling in. Combined with the fresh gravel, it looked like none of the stage records were in jeopardy. Eklund took it easy with a 7:25 at 105mph and Hintz pushed on the downhill to hit 109+ mph and had a 7:21.

The day finished with Primitive Racing in first overall and first in Open Class. The Hintz's were second and won Group 5, Richard Buckner third overall and second in Open Class. Complete scores to become available at: http://www.nwr-scca.org/rally/doowop.html

Pictures available at: http://www.pdxsports.com and www.prorallypix.com

The next event for the Primitive Racing team may be the Reno Rally on April 4-5th in the USX, but they are already entered into the Rim of the World Rally (May 2-3rd) as teh second points event for the WSRC! Paul Eklund www.get-primitive.com

Primitive Enterprises, Inc
8425 SW Ashford St
Tigard, OR 97224-7501 USA
(503) 624-2139

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