Photo by John Wynn JPIII RALLY SPORT HONDA PRELUDE VTEC WINS AT STPR! - WINS FIRST HEAD-TO-HEAD CONTEST WITH POINTS LEADER The JPIII RS Team claimed it's second National PRO Rally victory of 1996 on the fast, smooth, and very dusty roads of north-central Pennsylvania at the 20th running of the Susquehannock Trail PRO Rally. The event was run using its traditional one-day format starting at 11:00 am and finishing around 12:00 am that night. The largest Production class field so far in 1996 showed up to contest the event including the class points leader (due to uncontested wins at two rallies on the west coast) Lon Peterson driving a Kia Sephia, 1995 Production-class champion Tad Ohtake, Grisha Trepetin in another Honda Prelude VTEC, and newcomer Jay Kowalik driving a very quick Acura Integra GS-R.

The largest Production class field so far in 1996 showed up to contest the event.

The first of 10 stages went smoothly including the traditional ending at the Stoney Fork Creek crossing. We had been quicker than all the other P-Class cars by 6 seconds on the 6 mile stage. Then, on stage 2, we were held up at a spectator area for about 30 seconds due to an earlier accident. This cost us quite a bit of time and we were scored 9 seconds slower than Peterson in the Kia.

Stages 3 and 4 were fast and definitely horsepower stages. Unfortunately, the air intake was partially blocked during these two stages (by the snorkle we had added to the air-intake for the creek crossing during the first stage. As a result. we lost almost 50 hp and gave time up to the light-weight Kia. So, after 4 stages, Peterson was up by almost 14 seconds. Ohtake was in third 30 seconds behind us and Greg Healy in the Dodge Ram was 15 seconds behind Ohtake. The rally returned to Wellsboro for the dinner break and service. The crew fixed the air intake problem, mounted the Hella lights, added some gas and we assessed the strategy for the rest of the event.

The areas of roads where direct sunlight hit became walls of dust.

The weather had be fantastic the whole rally with clear blue skies. But this would cause problems during the last 6 stages of the event. The areas of the roads where direct sunlight hit became walls of dust. We were forced to feel our way through in many places. Fortunately, I did not drive off the road in these dust clouds, and we were running well. During Stage 5, we regained the lead by besting the Kia by 27 seconds on the 11 mile run and on Stage 6, the Prelude really stretched it's legs over the 15 miles as we gained over 1 minute on Peterson.

During Stage 7, we didn't attack so much and starting thinking about the finish. This proved to be a mistake, as Peterson wasn't about to give up, and took back some 20 seconds leaving our 1st place margin at 61 seconds with 3 stages to go. So, we went back into Attack Mode, and during the next two stages, bested the second place Kia by 24 seconds and 8 seconds, increasing our lead to 1 minute 34 seconds with only 7 miles to go. Also, during these stages, Navigator Martin Dapot developed a severe case of motion sickness. Fortunately, he didn't not pass out, but did make me a bit queasy with the noises he was making trying to make it through and still call all the route instructions. The final stage proved to be a terrible 11 1/2 minutes for Martin, but we only gave up 2 seconds to Peterson, sealing the victory! Many thanks to all of the JPIII Rally Sport sponsors!