Tuesday, 14 July 2009 23:28 Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 July 2009 23:37 Written by Kevin

Durring the summer break in the 2009 Colorado Rally Cup Presented by Subaru, Flatirons Performance, and Flatirons Subaru, many teams have taken the opportunity to compete in events outside of the calendar.


Open Class leading driver, Mitch Williams of the Checkpoint Racing/Suba Performance Rally Team, along with 2008 Colorado Rally Cup Overall Champion Jeremy Brown, and contender, Scott Leonard, all headed to the Idaho Rally, based out of Mountain Home, ID. For the two wheel drive teams this event represented a chance to compete in the nation wide, Max Attack Two Wheel Drive Rally Series, against some of the best two wheel drive rally teams in the country.

Unfortunately Idaho proved to be a mixed bag of expereinces for the Colorado teams. Leonard started the event off with a great time on the opening stage, proving his ability to compete with any two wheel drive team in the country, only to have his differential fail him on stage two slowing the car so badly he was forced to withdraw. Williams came storming out in the Checkpoint Racing Suba Performance STi with an eye on the event's overall victory, only to end up failing to finish day one and unable to continue. With Williams and Leonard out, Brown was left to fly the flag for the Colorado teams. Despite loosing time on the last loop of stages on Friday, Brown and co-driver Simon Branton-Housely, finished the event, 8th overall and as the 6th two wheel drive car.


The Colorado Rally Cup also headed to the Corona Rally of Nations Mexico outside of the colonial city of Guatalaro in support of the USA 2 Rally Team. The Rally of Nations is a new rally that is put on by the organizers of the WRC Corona Rally Championship on the rotating years that the event is not a part of the World Rally Championship. In its first year the Corona Rally of Nations attracted teams from Austria, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, USA 1, USA 2, Great Britain, and Sweden. Representing their respective countries was, former WRC factory Ford and Skoda driver, Toni Gardemeister of Team Finland, former WRC factory Austin Rover, Ford, Lancia, Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, SEAT, Peugeot, Škoda and 1994 World Rally Champion, Didier Auriol of Team France, 2007 Junior World Rally Champion Per-Gunnar Andersson and 2006 Junior World Rally Champion Patrik Sandell of Team Sweden, 2002 Junior World Rally Champion Dani Solá of Team Spain, as well as Xavier Pons also of Team Spain, former factory SEAT, Peugeot, Skoda and Mitsubishi driver Harri ROVANPERÄ of Team Finland, 2008 Production World Rally Champion Andreas Aigner and 200o Production World Rall Champion Manfred Stohl of Team Austria, 2004 Production World Rally Champion Nial McShea of Team Great Britian, as well as many other national championships representing their respective countries.

In addition to the Colorado Rally Cup Team USA 2 was also supported by Rising Sun Tuning, Flatirons Performance, Salta Motorsports, Checkpoint Racing, Diebold Autosport, SISU RallySports, Exedy, Performance Friction, Deacon Labs, and Stickerdude Designs. When the event came to an end, after 300+ KMs of grueling, technical, and challenging roads, the Colorado Rally Cup supported Team USA 2 car of Matthew Johnson finished 9th overall.


In the coming week Colorado Rally Cup teams will take to the world famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb lead by the AMS NOS Energy Drink Rally Team of Dave and Allison Kern as they look to win the Pikes Peak Open class with an eye on the class record of 11:21.