Road Rally – Kansas Rally Weekend 2013

The seventh Kansas Rally weekend was held November 9 and 10, 2013. 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 Saturday and for working checkpoints both days.
• Albert Weaver, Andrew Bireta, Jon Shipman, Dan McConnell and Deborah Hopkins for working checkpoints,
• Adam Miller and Charlie Clark for checking Sunday’s event. Adam also served as Safety Steward Sunday and worked checkpoints,
• Dan McConnell for yet another great job in pre-event promotion. Dan also worked checkpoints Saturday with Deborah Hopkins, President of the Heartland Miata Club,
• Kansas Region RE Linda Duncan and SCCA VP of Solo and Rally Howard Duncan worked checkpoints Saturday,
• SCCA National Rally and Solo Administrator Deena Rowland who handled registration Saturday.

Kansas City Region 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 who came from Oklahoma City ran with Jack von Kaenel who came from North Carolina. Jack also kindly assisted with scoring on Saturday. Chuck Hanson came from Indianapolis and ran with local partners to expose more people to the experience of competing in a computer-equipped car with a National-level competitor.

Go West Rally

A total of 25 rally teams (a full field) started Saturday’s event, the Go West Rally. The rally route used all paved roads to get from Lawrence to Council Grove. Following an odometer check that ended at the Kansa Indian Historical marker, the route went west for two checkpoints at Lake Perry followed by a long transit to the west side of Topeka where the route picked up the Kansas Native Stone Scenic Byway. The route went through the Kansas towns of Dover, Eskridge, and around Lake Wabunsee (“Gem of the Flint Hills”) to a rest stop in Alma. From Alma the route went southwest along the Mill Creek Scenic Drive through Alta Vista, south over the dam of Council Grove Lake to the finish at the historic Hays House in Council Grove. Leg 4 of the event was discarded as one checkpoint crew cancelled the morning of the event.

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 Equipped class, and first Expert class.

Congratulations to Lori Goetsch and Martin Courtois (red Mini), Kansas SCCA members from Manhattan, Kansas for winning the Experienced class. Congratulations to Adam and Christina Miller, Kansas City Region SCCA members for winning the SCCA Stock class.

Congratulations to Darrell Stevenson and Anne Marie Bireta for winning the Beginners’ Class, Georgia and Frank Fink came in second and Devon and Jon Shipman were third.

Congratulations to Scott and Melissa Wiles for winning the Best Miata award. Heartland Miata Club provided five entries this year.

Go West Road Rally Scores

Car	Crew	Region	SCCA Class	MiDiv Class	Total
1	Ron Ferris / Bruce Gezon	Philly / STL	E	A	69	2	Jim Duea / Jack von Kaenel	Ok / Detroit	E	A	77	3	Deena Rowland / Chuck Hanson	Kansas / Indy	E	A	81	4	Lori Goetsch / Marty Courtois	Kansas	L	B	143	6	Adam Miller / Christina Miller	Kansas City	S	B	199	13	Roy Loyshire / Charlie Clark	Kansas City	S	B	489	26	Theresa Thau / Bee Thau	Cal Club	S	B	529	14	Paul Moylan / Tim Mahr	Kansas City	S	B	550	8	Darrel Stevenson / Anne Marie	Bireta Guest	S	C	215	5	Georgia Fink / Frank Fink	Kansas City	S	C	219	7	Devon Shipman / Jon Shipman	Guest	S	C	227	9	Melissa Wiles / Scott Wiles	Heartland Miata	S	C	286	11	Justin Hansen / Chris Hansen	Kansas City	S	C	312	12	David Tung / Arcely Tung	Kansas City	S	C	338	27	Mark Maconbrie / Judy Macronbrie	Kansas City	S	C	408	24	Michael Kelly / Keyta Kelly	Heartland Miata	S	C	441	19	Julie Fennel / Travis Fennel	Heartland Miata	S	C	475	16	Jan Kiersey / Keith Kiersey	Kansas City	S	C	499	20	Hal Baumhardt / Dave Patton	Heartland Miata	S	C	545	25	Scott Petterson / Chris Peterson	Kansas City	S	C	674	30	Duane Wesley / Lynne Wesley	Porche Club	S	C	682	15	Doug Lau / David Hicks	Heartland Miata	S	C	708	17	Kyle Rohde / Chelsea Rohde	Kansas City	S	C	729	10	Johnathan Wright / James Wright	Kansas City	S	C	896	18	Kent Crow / Khamin Crow	Guest	S	C	1070

Go West Road Rally Leg Scores

Car	Crew	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 5	Leg 6	Total
1	Ron Ferris / Bruce Gezon	2	5	32	11	19	69
2	Jim Duea / Jack von Kaenel	0	7	28	12	30	77
3	Deena Rowland / Chuck Hanson	26	13	16	2	24	81
4	Lori Goetsch / Marty Courtois	2	26	60	16	39	143
6	Adam Miller / Christina Miller	11	21	97	36	34	199
13	Roy Loyshire / Charlie Clark	3	12	300	103	71	489
26	Theresa Thau / Bee Thau	25	14	160	300	30	529
14	Paul Moylan / Tim Mahr	7	87	300	70	86	550
8	Darrel Stevenson / Anne Marie Bireta	12	59	111	3	30	215
5	Georgia Fink / Frank Fink	81	17	44	34	43	219
7	Devon Shipman / Jon Shipman	8	5	131	47	36	227
9	Melissa Wiles / Scott Wiles	53	67	114	37	15	286
11	Justin Hansen / Chris Hansen	45	22	176	33	36	312
12	David Tung / Arcely Tung	36	46	183	54	19	338
27	Mark Maconbrie / Judy Macronbrie	16	36	286	30	40	408
24	Michael Kelly / Keyta Kelly	126	11	223	66	15	441
19	Julie Fennel / Travis Fennel	13	250	103	47	62	475
16	Jan Kiersey / Keith Kiersey	8	250	205	2	34	499
20	Hal Baumhardt / Dave Patton	14	40	153	38	300	545
25	Scott Petterson / Chris Peterson	292	20	300	38	24	674
30	Duane Wesley / Lynne Wesley	27	14	300	41	300	682
15	Doug Lau / David Hicks	30	251	300	71	56	708
17	Kyle Rohde / Chelsea Rohde	11	297	300	57	64	729
10	Johnathan Wright / James Wright	148	300	300	92	56	896
18	Kent Crow / Khamin Crow	300	300	300	104	66	1070

Kansas River Run Rally

On Sunday 11 rally teams returned for the Kansas River Run Rally. This event featured an all new route on good quality, unpaved roads. The route generally went west from Lawrence on the south side of the river to Topeka and returned to Lawrence on the north side of the river ending at the original Johnny’s Tavern in north Lawrence on the river. The rally route was rarely more than 3 miles from the Kansas River.

Sunday’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 Equipped class, and first Expert class.
• Congratulations to Theresa Thao and Bee Thao for winning the Experienced class.
• Congratulations to Lori Goetsch / Martin Courtois (red Mini), Kansas SCCA members from Manhattan, Kansas for winning the SCCA Limited class.
• Congratulations to Travis Heckes / Mike Jecklin, for winning the Beginners’ Class.

Kansas River Run Road Rally Leg Scores

Car	Crew	Region	SCCA Class	MiDiv Class	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	Total
1	Ron Ferris / Bruce Gezon	Philly / STL	E	A	5	2	2	3	0	0	12
3	Derrick Carpenter / Charles Hanson	Kansas / Indy	E	A	4	5	1	3	1	14	28
2	Jim Duea / Jack von Kaenel	Ok / Detroit	E	A	0	3	7	1	1	19	31
11	Theresa Thao / Bee Thao	Cal Club	S	B	3	22	10	36	2	0	73
4	Lori Goetsch / Marty Courtois	Kansas	L	B	29	15	181	10	0	21	256
8	Travis Heckes / Mike Jecklin	Guest	S	C	32	4	2	0	5	21	64
9	Mark Maconbrie / Judy Macronbrie	Kansas City	S	C	17	15	4	14	4	25	79
6	Devon Shipman / Anne Marie Bireta	Guest	S	C	30	12	6	3	4	29	84
5	Dan McConnel / Deena Hines	Kansas City	S	C	33	0	16	47	2	36	134
10	Deb Mitchell / Alec Mitchell	Kansas City	S	C	38	2	9	57	11	47	164
7	David Tung / Arcely Tung	Kansas City	S	C	34	12	22	21	138	59	286

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 2013 Rally Weekend.

Roses:

1. The turnout. 25 Saturday and 11 cars Sunday is a great turnout. I had to turn away entries for Saturday as 25 is the practical limit for the restaurant. Next year when we end
   in Weston the entry will be limited to 20 cars. Dan McConnell did another excellent job on getting the word out about this weekend.
2. The Kansas City SCCA turnout. For a club whose interest is primarily autocross and club racing, it was gratifying to see 12 cars turnout from the KC Region.
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.

Thorns:

1. Mileage measurement. Although I used my Timewise electronic odometer (which worked flawlessly this past summer) it malfunctioned when measuring these events leading to a disappointing level of accuracy for the top crews.
2. Saturday scoring. Scoring took longer than I would have liked. I was unable to get a head start on scoring while the event was in progress.
3. Saturday registration. A last minute cancellation by a checkpoint crew threw registration into more chaos than usual. While I had to reassign checkpoint crews and decide which leg to discard, Deena Rowland valiantly handled registration by herself.

Thanks to all the competitors who came out and the workers who made the events possible. I hope to see you at another event in 2014. I am planning a February event (including a rally
school), a summer event as well as the rally weekend in November. Keep an eye on the Kansas City SCCA Region web site and Facebook page for announcements.

~Rich Bireta