Colorado Rally Cup Announces 2008 Inaugural Season

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 18, 2008 - Rally Colorado hosted the final event of the Colorado Rally Cup Series and crowned the first champion in its inaugural season. After a year of record breaking performances (6 of 8 Hill Climb records were broken with at least one record being set at each event) and tight competition, Jeremy Brown and Scott Leonard were locked in an epic battle for the Group Two championship as well as for the Colorado Rally Cup Championship.

At the conclusion of the Colorado Rally Cup Series, Jeremy Brown became the champion at Rally Colorado after surviving a hard charge from Scott Leonard. Jeremy Brown, in his 1992 Toyota MR2, jumped out to an early lead in Group 2 with a 10 second lead over Scott Leonard. On SS2 Brown kept charging but Leonard began to close the gap finishing just 6.4 seconds adrift of Brown keeping Brown from building an early lead. By SS3 Leonard was up to speed and beginning to match the pace of Brown with less than 2 seconds separating the teams over the 5.22 mile test. On SS4 Leonard took the initiative and fought back into Browns lead taking the stage by 13 seconds cutting Brown’s advantage to 5 seconds heading into the last stage of the morning loop. Unfortunately the rough nature of the Elkhead Loop and Leonard’s maximum attack on SS4 ended up damaging the shift linkage leaving the team stuck in first gear with no ability to select gears. After loosing 20 minutes stuck in gear the team was unable to repair the vehicle in service and withdrew from the Middle Cog 1 Rally handing the Group 2 and Colorado Rally Cup Championship to Brown.

In the Colorado Rally Cup All-Wheel Drive class, Dave and Allison Kern were beginning to edge ahead in their tight battle with Steve Bis and Brian Moody. In Group 5 John Conley’s dominance at the events had delivered him a commanding lead. In the Co-Driver championship Adam Kniepp and Simon Branton-Housley were locked in as tight of a battle as their drivers with Allison Kern and Brian Moody close behind. The advantage however would lie with Branton-Housley as Kniepp had missed an event earlier in the year costing him precious bonus point eligibility.

Unfortunately Dave and Allison Kern hit a budget support wall after developing their Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record setting Mitsubishi Evolution and decided to not enter Rally Colorado so they could better focus their energies on preparing for 2009. This left Steve Bis in position to win the All-Wheel Drive classification by simply starting Rally Colorado by the way of the bonus points for entering all of the points scoring events.

The Colorado Rally Cup winners were crowned at the Awards Ceremony and the top 3 in each class received a 24 ounce mug for their effort. Jeremy Brown was awarded with the traveling Colorado Rally Cup, which he proudly gets to carry for the next 12 months, and defend next year. All eligible competitors were also awarded a $100 start fund for Rally Colorado.

August 20, 2008 - The Land's End Hill Climb was held last weekend in Grand Junction, CO. The event was a stunning success for the Colorado Rally Cup, with a Parc Expose at Grand Junction Subaru on Friday night, followed by a weekend of spectacular racing. Red Bull brought along their large tent and supported the Colorado Rally Cup for the entire weekend. Both AWD and 2WD records were broken on race day, with Dave and Alison Kern slaughtering the AWD record by over 10 seconds on their final run with a time of 4:52.89 in their E85 powered 2005 Mitsubishi Evolution 9. John Conley and Chris Herlache also beat the 2WD record in their Dodge Neon SRT4 with a time of 5:33.96. Full results will be posted soon! Also make sure to check the Video page for insane on board footage with the Kern's!

June 27, 2008 - Results and standings are posted following the Gold Camp Hill Climb this past weekend. Keep an eye on the gallery/video pages in the coming weeks as photo galleries and videos from the event will be posted soon!

June 12, 2008 - The second rallycross at CORE was held this past weekend. Though many competitors were absent, the points race is heating up none the less. Group 2 competitors Scott Leonard and Jeremy Brown are tied for the Group 2 and Overall at 92 points. Steve Bis and Dave Kern in AWD have only four points seperating them and both are preparing for a season long battle. Group 5 has John Conley leading Grant Hughes by 12 points, with both Tom Kilpatrick and Mike Kilpatrick not far behind Grant. Any four could easily take the championship lead next weekend, June 21-22 at the first Gold Camp Hill Climb set in the stunning Cripple Creek/Victor area.

May 22, 2008 - The Monarch Hill Climb has been cancelled by the CHCA. The amount of snow fall this winter combined with the high elevation has resulted in a road that is still covered in snow and will not be cleared by next weekend.

May 12, 2008 - Twenty one drivers showed up for the second CRC event and first high speed event of the year this past weekend at the Temple Canyon Hill Climb. Jason Waples took the AWD win, John Conley won Group 5, and Jeremy Brown took the Group 2 win. See the standings page for full results and current standings.

April 14, 2008 - The Colorado Rallycross scheduled for June 8th will be held out at CORE again. The initial rallycross schedule was for that event to be in Fountain, but the final schedule from the SCCA had that day's event at Fountain. This is exciting news as CORE allows the opportunity for fun runs in rally cars on CORE's Sprint course for some of our fans and spectators.

April 1 , 2008 - The first event was held over the past weekend and turn out was fantastic. The Colorado Rally Cup had a total of seventeen drivers participate in the rallycross at CORE. Six weeks remain for the competitors to prepare for the next event, the Temple Canyon Hill Climb in Canon City, CO. Stay tuned for coming pictures and video of the first event. Results have been posted to the Standings page.

Jan 10, 2008 - Profiles are now online. Any competitor who wishes to update any info in their profile, such as adding sponsors, website, etc. please contact Grant Hughes via the email address on the contact page. Codrivers profiles are currently being created as well.

Jan 7, 2008 -  A group of rally enthusiasts and rally companies based in Colorado have announced a multi-organizational regional rally championship that combines scores from local SCCA Rallycross, CHCA Hill Climbs, and Rally-America stage rallies to reward the top rally competitors in the region across all racing bodies.  Steve Bis, of Salta Motorsports says, "We wanted to devise a single championship that would help to maximize entries and show support to all the rally organizations in our state and hopefully help grow the sport by increasing exposure and encouraging participation."  The championship consists of two SCCA Rallycross events, five CHCA hill climb events, and one Rally-America stage rally event.  Awards, including a genuine, excessively large silver cup, will be given out for both drivers and codrivers in three classes, AWD, Group 2 (2wd, Naturally Aspirated < 3.0L), and Group 5 (Open 2wd, Turbo/Large Displacement).  Additional benefits and awards for participation are currently being negotiated and shall be announced later in the season.  For complete rules and regulations please visit http://www.coloradorallycup.org

2008 Schedule