Lake Perry on a cold Sunday

The sixth Kansas Rally weekend was held November 10 and 11, 2012.  The Sports Car Club of America is the premier grass roots motor sports organization in the world.  Events like the Kansas Rally Weekend can not occur without a significant volunteer effort on the part of many people.  I mentioned these folks after the events, but a “Thank You” bears repeating to:

Derrick Carpenter for serving as safety stewards for the

Events, working checkpoints and loaning me his windbreaker on Sunday;

Albert Weaver for working checkpoints and scoring;

Bruce and Charlene Bettinger for running the start of the event in an orderly manner;

           
Dan McConnell for yet another great job in pre-event promotion;

           
Andrew Bireta for working checkpoints Saturday;

           
KCR SCCA and the Heartland Miata Club for a great turnout;

National SCCA competitors Ron Ferris from St. Louis and SCCA national points keeper Bruce Gezon, who made the trip from Murraysville, Pennsylvania, Jim Duea and John Pearsall who came from Oklahoma City, Jay Nemeth-Johannes who came from Milwaukee and John Sears who made the trip from Arizona;

A total of 20 rally teams started Saturday’s event, the East to Weston Rally.  The rally route used all paved roads featured some new rally roads.  Following an odometer check, the route went north through McLouth, Kansas, and then to checkpoint 1 just south of Easton, Kansas.  Leg 2 featured a drive by of the Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth before ending south of Atchison.  Following a break, the route crossed the Missouri River and ran through the river bluff roads for legs 3 and 4.  Competitors enjoyed dinner and drinks at the Weston Brewing Company.

Andrew Bireta blew the whistle at three checkpoints Saturday, here at “LIMIT”.

(Well equipped with iPod, earphones, whistle and radio.)

(One of his older brothers is a grad student in Austin)

Six years of Road Rally Weekends don’t happen without these guys.  Albert Weaver, Derrick Carpenter and Dan McConnell in Weston.

Saturday’s Winners

Congratulations to Ron Ferris, St Louis Region SCCA, and Bruce Gezon, Steel Cities Region SCCA, for winning First Overall, first in the SCCA Limited class, and first Expert class.

Congratulations to Jim Duea and John Pearsall won second overall and the SCCA Equipped class.

Congratulations to Lori Goetsch / Martin Courtois (red Mini), Kansas SCCA members from Manhattan, Kansas for winning the Experienced class.   (Shameless plug:  Marty uses rally software on his handheld device to perform the time-speed-distance calculations.  See www.richtarally.com for more details).

Congratulations to Doug Paterson and Phillip Ohlemeir, Kansas City SCCA members, for winning the Beginners’ Class.

Congratulations to Doug Lau and David Hicks for winning the Best Miata award.  Heartland Miata Club provided three entries this year.

East to Weston Scores

Doug Lau and David Hicks took home the hardware for “Best Miata”. 

Thanks to the Heartland Miata Club for bringing three entries to this year’s event.

Bruce Gezon (Pennsylvania) and Ron Ferris (St. Louis) took First Overall and First in SCCA Limited Class both days.

John Pearsall and Jim Duea (Oklahoma) won the SCCA Equipped Class both days.

Lori Goetsch and Marty Courtois, Kansas Region SCCA members, won the Experienced Class both days.

Doug Patterson and Philip Ohlemeir, Kansas City Region members, won the Beginners Class both days.

Lake Perry Rally

Leg 2 Went over the Dam Sunday

On Sunday 11 rally teams returned for the Lake Perry Rally.  This event featured a figure eight course around a cold and windy Lake Perry, northwest of Lawrence.    

Following a start at the Grant Township Community Center, the odometer check went to the town of Perry before heading down the spillway at the base of the dam then up and over the top of the dam to Checkpoint 1.  Leg 2 crossed the middle of the lake before heading north around the lake to checkpoint 2 just south of Valley Falls.  Following a break in Valley Falls, the rally teams visited Checkpoint 3 before crossing the lake again and heading into Checkpoint 4 on the Spillway Road.  The last leg went south on a do-it-yourself leg to the original Johnny’s Tavern location in Lawrence on the Kansas River.

It was colder Sunday – Derrick at Checkpoint 4.

Sunday’s Winners

Sunday’s winners were identical to Saturdays.

Congratulations to Ron Ferris, St Louis Region SCCA, and Bruce Gezon, Steel Cities Region SCCA, for winning First Overall, first in the SCCA Limited class, and first Expert class.

Congratulations to Jim Duea and John Pearsall won second overall and the SCCA Equipped class.

Congratulations to Lori Goetsch / Martin Courtois (red Mini), Kansas SCCA members from Manhattan, Kansas for winning the Experienced class.  

Congratulations to Doug Paterson and Phillip Ohlemeir, Kansas City SCCA members, for winning the Beginners’ Class.  You guys are officially no longer Beginners.

Lake Perry Rally Leg Scores

Sunday’s scores were accurate the first time thanks to Albert’s review.

(Photo: Doug Patterson, OpenPaddock.net)

Measuring with a GPS odometer is not accurate enough for the competitors using wheel driven, .001 mile reading electronic odometers.  Here, Rich and John Sears discuss the “wandering mileages” at Johnny’s. (Photo: Doug Patterson, OpenPaddock.net)

Chelsea and Kyle Rhode from the Kansas City SCCA figured out how to use the Richta Rally Calculator on leg 3 Sunday.  Result:  8 points over the final 3 controls.

Sunday’s Event ended at the Original Johnny’s Tavern in North Lawrence

(Yes, it’s last year’s photo)

Thorns and Roses

It’s a tradition in the Boy Scouts following an adventure to review the areas that have gone well (roses) as well as some items that could be improved for the future (thorns).  Here is my list for the 2012 Rally Weekend.

Roses:

1. 1. The turnout.  20 Saturday and 11 cars Sunday is a great turnout.  We filled the restaurant (again) on Saturday.  The capacity of the finish location may well be the limiting factor on the number of entries.  Dan McConnell did another excellent job on getting the word out about this weekend.
3. 2. The Kansas City SCCA turnout.  For a club whose interest is primarily autocross and club racing, it was gratifying to see 8 cars turnout from the KC Region.
5. 3. The Miata Club.  I think that if rallying is going to grow in this area, its participation is going to come from the participation of clubs like the Heartland Miata Club, whose members are looking for some fun roads on which to drive their cars, with some sporting competition and post-event socializing thrown in for good measure.
7. 4. The start.  Thanks to Charlene and Bruce Bettinger from the Wichita Region SCCA for stepping in at the last moment to send the cars off from the start in an orderly manner.  It would have been chaos without the help from them.
9. 5. Speed of scoring:  Though still some room for improvement.
11. 6. Registration was better this year.  With a full field Saturday I think we’ll have to continue the requirement for pre-registration.
13. 7. Checkpoint procedure, especially Saturday.  We had the luxury of three people per control and this prevented competitors from having to leave their cars.

1. Thorns:
3. 1. Mileage measurement.  Although clearly spelled out in the flyer, the fact that I measured the course with a 0.01 mile-reading GPS odometer caused some consternation to the Expert crews using electronic, wheel-driven odometers.  My events are simply not long enough, measured accurately enough and timed accurately enough to provide significant differentiation between these National-level competitors.  I may have to buy a new sending unit and tune up my electronic odometer for next year.
5. 2. Saturday scoring.  Scoring took a little longer than I would have liked and we had to re-award First Beginners. 
7. 3. Two teams mentioned having Sunday’s event finish near the airport would ease travel plans.
9. 4. Next year I may add some unpaved roads to one of the events.
11. 5. Next year I may add a Seat-of-the-Pants (SOP class) to differentiate between those doing the math and those not.

Thanks to all the competitors who came out.  I hope to see you at another event in 2013. 

~Rich Bireta

Photos

My pictures from the rally weekend can be found at:

http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/rbireta1/library/Kansas%20Rally%20Weekend%202012

Dan’s photos:

Saturday: http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w48/mcconned_bucket/SCCA%20Saturday%20Nov%2010%202012/

Sunday:http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w48/mcconned_bucket/SCCA%20Rally%20Sunday%20Nov%2011%202012/