Audi wins Maine Forest Summer Rally!

[Ramana Lagemann <elmool@tiac.net>]

July 26, 1997 -- 10:00PM EST

Today Canadian Frank Sprongl won the Maine Summer Rally in Rumford in
his Castrol liveried Audi S2, beating Carl Merrill in a 1997 Ford Escort
Cosworth by less than a minute (almost positive of this fact, but will
have to check final results). The two fought the entire rally, separated
several times by a matter of seconds, but in the end Frank won using his
usual flamboyant yet effective driving style, with the car seeming to
always point off the road, and never in a straight line.
Wathcing and working several stages, (7 of the 13) I realized how much
his S2 reminded me of Walter Rohrl in his S1... the whine of the Turbo,
the blow off valve "blowing off", the distinctive 5 cylinder exhaust
note- the sounds and furiosity of it all seemed like a small but
extremely powerful cyclone being guided by the most exact hand on the
largest leash in the world...
When this airs, there will no doubt be quite a bit of footage of
Sprongl's awesome S2, including alot from his point of view, sourced
from the roof mounted camera. This is a "must see," so mark your
calenders. 
Here are the airtimes for the rally on ESPN2-

 MAINE FOREST RALLY            Sun., Aug. 17, 1997             3:30 PM
 July 25 - 27                  Tue., Aug. 20, 1997             2:00 AM
 Rumford, ME
*Subject to change by ESPN - check local listings or call the ESPN
  programming department at (860) 585-2236 to confirm times.

Further information about ESPN and ESPN2 listings can be found at:
http://ESPNET.SportsZone.com/editors/studios/listings/. 

Also check the information on the SCCA web page at:
http://www.scca.com/amateur/michpro/tv.html. 

-Ramana

BTW, John Kemp came in 9th (almost definite) in his Shokan sponsered 10V
Turbo Audi 4000 Q after unfortunatly flatting after hitting a rather
large rock. It was quite exciting however, because when he flatted, he
stopped at the corner that my friend and I were working and we helped
him change his flat! After I put on his new wheel while he and his
co-driver strapped themselves in, he left us with his old one, complete
with shredded Michelin racing rubber! 
Even though it would have been a _great_ souvenier, we promised to
return it to him, which we did... but what an experience!
-- 
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* Ramana Lagemann		         
* Cohasset, MA			 
* mailto:elmool@tiac.net	
* 1990 Coupe Q	
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