Team Paradox / RallyRhybuddRacing
Closes Successful Season in Houghton

Lake Superior ProRally and ClubRallies
Houghton, MI, October 19 and 20, 2001

The famous "Yump" on Brockway Mountain.

Team Paradox and the RallyRhybuddRacing program completed its 2001 competition season at the recent ClubRallies held in conjunction with the Lake Superior ProRally in Houghton, Michigan. The divisional Ottawa and Keweenaw ClubRallies were well attended, and were run over most of the same stages used by the national-level ProRally.

Friday’s Ottawa ClubRally used the first eight of the eleven ProRally stages, and started with a short spectator stage winding through a field. In such an environment friendly to the Team’s MGB, Team Paradox turned in their best single stage performance for the weekend, fifth overall and fastest in Group 2 in the ClubRally. The remaining stages were all run after dusk, and were found to be dry and fast. Team Paradox had a good run, with stage times close to class winner Seward Ogden and Casey Blust in their VW GTI. However, paperwork problems resulted in a five-minute penalty which put the Team in fifth place in Group 2, and eighteenth overall. Todd Jarvey and Richard Faber took the overall win in a Mitshubishi Galant VR-4.

On the Thayer Lake Stage

The Keweenaw ClubRally on Saturday found wetter conditions and somewhat rougher stages, and entirely duplicated the second day of the ProRally evcnt. Despite a good drive, the Team placed only somewhat better, at fourth in Group 2 and tenth overall. A highlight of the Keweenaw ClubRally and the second day of the Lake Superior ProRally is always the Brockway Mountain stage, a short hill-climb followed by a run along the mountain ridge on a rough paved road. It was on this stage that the Team turned in their best performance, with the seventh best time for the stage in ClubRally. The Keweenaw ClubRally was won by Mike Hurst and Rob Bohn in their V8-torquemonster Ford Mustang.

The Lake Superior ProRally was the last event in the SCCA ProRally series for this year, and the two ClubRallies were the last rallies Team Paradox / RallyRhybuddRacing plans to enter in 2001. At this point they are leading the Group 2 points contest in SCCA Central Division, and anticipate winning the CenDiv Group 2 championship. This, along with only one DNF (due to engine failure at the Maine Forest ProRally), can only be interpreted as a successful season by the Team. Racing against much more modern and sophisticated rally cars, RallyRhybuddRacing features a 1968 MGBGT, the oldest car actively campaigned in SCCA Performance Rally, and is the first car to compete under the SCCA Historic Class rules.

SCCA Performance Rally is the premier stage rally sport in the USA. Stage rallying involves racing against the clock over closed roads, typically narrow and twisty forest roads. The cars are all street-legal and are built up from stock cars, with special safety and performance equipment. RallyRhybuddRacing program was launched in 1997 by dedicated MG enthusiasts Phil and Dallas Smith, aka Team Paradox, to campaign an MG in the SCCA Performance Rally series. Two years were required to find and prepare a 1968 BGT for the rigors of Performance Rally. Team Paradox made their ProRally debut at the Susquehannock Trail ProRally in 1999.

For further information about RallyRhybuddRacing, Team Paradox, and the rally MGBGT, check out their website at www.rhybudd.com. Information about the SCCA Performance Rally series can be found at www.sccaprorally.org.