Tuesday, 30 September 2008 17:53 Last Updated on Thursday, 12 March 2009 18:20
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 as Jeremy Brown and Scott Leonard were locked in an epic battle for the Group 2 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. 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 and cutting Brown’s advantage to only 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 on SS5, 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 a
head in their tight battle with Steve Bis and Brian Moody. Unfortunately, the Kerns hit a budget support wall after developing their Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record setting Mitsubishi Evolution. In an effort focus their energies on preparing for 2009, the team decided not to enter Rally Colorado. 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.
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.
The Colorado Rally Cup winners were crowned at the Rally Colorado awards ceremony The top 3 finishers 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.