Photo by Mary E. Daniel JPIII RS VTEC PRELUDE DOMINATES AT 25TH SUNRISER 400 PRO RALLY - MOVES INTO THE POINTS LEAD WITH TWO FULL NATIONAL EVENTS REMAINING The JPIII RS Honda Prelude VTEC took its second consecutive Production-class win and finished 8th overall at the 25th running of the Sunriser 400 PRO Rally based in Chillicothe, Ohio held September 27-29. This rally is the only event on the SCCA/Michelin PRO RaIIy Series calendar that has a significant amount of asphalt roads, allowing the Prelude VTEC to take advantage of its superior horsepower and suspension instead of having to fight off the lighter and less powerful cars in the class on slippery surfaces the entire rally.

This is the only event that has a significant amount of asphalt, allowing the Prelude VTEC to take advantage of its superior horsepower.

The weather started out badly with a steady rain the night before the start of the rally, but it tapered off after the 3rd stage keeping dust from becoming a problem. A total of 400 miles made up this rally with 120 of them on 15 special stages. The event ran a 1 day format for the first time in recent memory, so it would be a long day. The rally started from the Kroger parking lot in Chillicothe at 9:00 am Saturday and we handed in our final time card at 1:18am Sunday morning.

Martin Dapot returned to the right seat while two new faces Steve Sherman and Mike Grumble of Honda R&D Ohio (loaned to us from the Team Honda Research rally team) did a superb job in the service crew department. Other Production Class entries included points leader Lon Peterson in his Kia Sephia, A. K. Kaumeheiwa in his Dodge Neon, Greg Healey in a Dodge Ram 50, Canadian Peter Watt in a Suzuki Swift and debuting there new '96 Civic was Team Honda Research's Jay Kowalik and Jeff Wheeler in the nimble 4 door. A total of 23 cars started the National event - again a relatively small field, but also again, a high quality field with only 5 drivers being seed 4 or below. The first 2 stages were more challenging to the driver with both asphalt and gravel sections on each stage making it difficult to adjust to the conditions and get into a rhythm - you get your butt calibrated to the high grip and quick response on the asphalt just in time for a turn onto gravel - and a completely different feel and driving style needed to go fast and stay on the road. Mud, leaves, and debris on the asphalt also made for some "interesting" moments - especially on stage 3 which was 100% asphalt and we had switched to slicks.

The final four stages were full of narrow, nasty off-camber hairpins.

We were moving fairly quickly through the stage when we spun in a tight right hander. Fortunately, we stayed in the road and only lost about 10 seconds. But we still were leading the class at the end of the first leg by over 2 minutes. We were attacking hard now while I felt comfortable on these roads. I knew the final four stages were narrow, nasty off-camber hairpins that I would be losing time to the field on, so I needed to build a big lead early in the event.

The next 5 stages were 100 % gravel, but we went well and stretched our lead considerably. Behind us, the field had problems of there own. Both Dodges had gone off the road and gotten stuck, losing 15 minutes. Peterson's Kia lost its rear brakes all together and was now limping to the finish. This left us with a 4+ minute lead over the THR Civic on its maiden event, with the Suzuki another 2.5 minutes back. This gave us the cushion we needed to cruise through the final tight, twisty 4 stages to a 7 minute win! Peterson collected 6th place points, but it was not enough to keep us from bumping him from the points lead by 2. However, Peterson has now scored 5 events to our 4, and only the best 6 count. We have to finish the next two events and beat the Kia at one of them to win the title. The championship will come down to the last two events - Lake Superior in Houghton, MI October 18~20 and Pacific Forest November 8~10. As usual, many thanks to all of the JPIII Rally Sport sponsors! Without their support, we would have no chance at the title. Special thanks to THR for their help before and during the rally!