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2007 Cochrane Winter Rally
March 17-18 in Cochrane Alberta
Round 1 of the 2007 Western Canada Rally Championship



Calgary Sports Car Club http://www.cscc.ab.ca

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Gopher Rally Racing Team

Cochrane Rally will be a "mulligan" for the Gopher Rally Racing Team. The team and the car had their rally debut at the Pacific Forest Rally in the fall of 2006, which came to an end on the 2nd stage with a broken ball joint after a small off road excursion. It has been a long winter waiting for the 2007 season, and we are hoping for a better result this time. The team set 3 modest goals for last rally; 1) have fun, 2) finish, and 3) try to not finish last. Well...we had fun, and hope to fulfill the remainder of these goals at Cochrane.

The Gopher Rally team is the only performance rally team from Saskatchewan and is made up of driver Chad LePoudre and co-driver Heath Hrappstead from the Saskatoon area. They compete in a modified 1988 VW Golf as novices in the Group 2 class.

The Gopher Rally team thanks MDH Engineered Solutions, Stauber Drilling, and Balance Photography for their support with our racing endeavours.

Driver: Eric Grochowski
Co-Driver: Leanne Junnila
Website: www.kamunenracing.ca

The Kamunen Racing Team proved to be competitive and versatile in 2006 in their 1996 2.0L 16V VW Golf. They showed their speed at the Kananaskis Rally, where they had their first stage win by a whopping 30 seconds, and they showed their consistency at Mountain Trials where they set solid stage times all weekend and finished on the podium in 2nd place. This year, Kamunen Racing is stronger than ever, and with a few upgrades to the car, a well-rested crew after the winter hibernation, and the confidence that each new season brings - we can’t wait to get back out there & guide our team to success in 2007!

This year, our goals include contesting the Group 2 class in the Western Canadian Championship – an exciting and competitive class, as well as attending as many events in the Canadian National Championship as possible, and competing for top points in the National Group 2 class. Kamunen Racing is excited to expand its program to National status, and would love to thank all the sponsors who support us along the way:
The Financial Guides, Motul, The Calgary Humane Society, CGGC Painting, and Concept 1.

See you at the Cochrane Rally – please stop by our tent to say hello!




Driver - RJ Carroll

RJ started rallying in late 2001, when he persuaded his dad to pick up an old 1987 Subaru RX, and they entered the Calgary Sports Car Club's "Loop Rally" (a TSD event), starting a series of three straight wins in that event.

Since then he has competed in several stage rally events including Pacifc Forest Rally, Rocky Moun-tain Rally, and Mountain Trials Rally. The target this year is to take a shot at the National Novice Title, and the title for P4 class.

This event marks RJ's return to Cochrane, the site of his debut as a stage rally driver in 2004.


Co-Driver - Michelle Mah

After multiple wins in TSD rally and receiving the Island Rally Club (IRC) Rallier of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006, Michelle is no stranger to the rally circuit.

In her frst year in stage rally she has competed in Pacifc Forest Rally and Mountain Trials Rally with RJ. With a couple of events under her belt and a steep learning curve in the car, she is ready to co-drive this team towards the National Novice Title, wearing a smile the whole time.

This is Michelle's frst appearance at Cochrane and her frst stage rally in snowy conditions.


Prescribed Burn Rally

At Cochrane this year, Mark Jennings-Bates of the Prescribed Burn Rally Team is partnering up with co-driver Kurt Schantz from Calgary to begin his attempt for the Western Canadian Championship. That is not the only new element for the team, at this event, they will driving a new vehicle, the former "team shady mobile" still sporting it's matt black shady finish! The Impreza will give the team an opportunity to step up to a better configuration for the WCRC and Mark is hoping that the team can benefit from this recent upgrade!

"Although I am excited to have the car, we'll be feeling a lot of things out, it will actually be the first time I have been behind the wheel of the car and with a stand-in co-driver there will be an element of caution throughout the weekend" said Jennings-Bates.

Team: Sea of Green

Sponsors: Sea of Green Project Managment and calgaryvolvoclub.com

We completed our first three rallies in the 2006 season, and learnt soooo much including: the volvo is damn heavy and with power to only one rear wheel winter rallies are painful! We also learnt that rolling into a tree with a Volvo is really not that bad, flip in back on the wheels and off you go! We have done massive modifications to our chariot and hope to be far more competitive in the Group 5 class. We look forward to another exciting year of Rally racing!!

Houston and Brad

URSUS Rally Team

After two barely finished rallies and one DNF during the 2006 season, URSUS RALLY TEAM (thanks to kuksshop.com and mytires.ca) is looking forward to a new and exciting year of rallying! We are impatiently waiting for our first rally in the 2007 season to face new challenges and prove our competitiveness!

Our goals for this rally include (but are not limited to...):

1. Team: have fun!
2. Car: '86 Corolla be tough and fast!
3. Driver: Voytek - tame the 21-year-old RWD "beast's" wild temper! (which should be easy with an engine under 1600cc and stages running at 1750 meters above the sea level )
4. Co-driver: Kate this race being her first rally experience her goals are to learn and enjoy the ride!
5. Team: finish and try not to finish last...
6. And finally (did we mention?) have a LOT of FUN!!!

Graham Bruce & Glenn Curtis

Graham and Glenn are back Rallying after a 30 year hiatus. Actually, it took Graham 3 decades to convince Glenn to get back in the right seat, because as we all know Rally cars always crash on the co-driver's side.

We raced a ancient (but fast) Fiat in Ontario in the late 1970s. Despite a number of unexpected trips into the forest (primarily involving the right side of the car), we managed to complete a series of races, and get to the wrap up dinners. Good fun in all.

Graham is a semi-reclusive engineer with an interest in cars and scaring Glenn. Glenn is a physician...(he is hopeful that he won't need to patch himself up).... who is prone to momentary lapses in judgement (like saying yes to Graham).

Our team goals: 1 have fun 2. go fast 3. consider equal opportunity crashing (both left and right sides). 4. make it to the wrap up dinner.

Graham may have something to say about this team profile.......but then he was too lazy to write it!!! Haha



This marks the third year of rallying for Kris and Jaclyn of Ista Rally. Kris will be competing in the Cochrane Rally for the first time, while Jaclyn did the event in 2004. Still very excited from their podium finish at the final event in 2006, they are hoping to be competitive in the large field of Grp2 and overall, but mostly just out to have some fun.

Thanks to roninracing.com, Louren Sansregret Photography and Rosche racing for the support, Maurie our service crew, and the Keatley’s for the use of their garage for the past while.

www.istarally.ca


Alliance Rally Racing (ARR) is entering its second season of competition after its inauguration last season with successful showings at both the Pacific Forest Rally in Merritt B.C. and the Kananaskis Rally near Cochrane, Alberta.

This season ARR plans to compete in the entire Western Regional Circuit, with additional plans to partake in The Rocky Mountain and Pacific Forest Rally, the two Western Canadian National events. Last season facilitated in the development of both confidence and experience for both Ken & Chris, in which ARR now aims to utilize to leverage their potential throughout the 2007 season.

Best of luck to all competitors –

Driver Ken Maydaniuk
Co-Driver Chris Maydaniuk

Team BYR

The Back Yard racers are excited for the 2007 season to start. The team competed in their first stage rally last year in Merritt at the Pacific Forrest Rally. They were hooked on the sport instantly. Driver Shane Anderson learned a lot from that rally and hopes to keep on learning this season. Shane is looking forward to the Cochrane Rally to gain more experience in winter conditions. They do not see to much snow on the west coast so this could be an interesting event for the pair! Co-driver Mike Dibblee is also looking forward to the 2007 season. Last year Mike finished up his stock season just in time to hop in the rally car for the Pacific Forrest Rally. Mike learned how to work the crazy seat of the car in a short period of time and handled it like a pro. Mike will also be pulling double duties again this year driving in the stock car series in Victoria and co-driving for the team. BYR goals for this year are to have as much fun as possible and maybe win a stage outright.

Thanks to our sponsors: Affordable Auto Repair, Six Mile tire, Surface Board Shop, MWDesigns.



Driver: Neil Wright
Co-Driver: Lorna Wright

The Cochrane Rally is the start of Four Peaks Racing’s fourth season of Rallying. It will be an exciting race as the team is unveiling its new rally car "FPR 2." This new RX-7 will be running in the competitive P3 class. Cochrane is always a challenging rally with the road conditions constantly changing. Ice and snow makes for tricky driving in a rear-wheel drive.

Team goals for the year are to be competitive in our P3 class and contest the Western Canadian Rally P3 Championship. Most importantly though, have A LOT of fun!

Rexxrally Team

Driver: Dave Sharp
Co-Driver: Rahul Jairath
Car: "Jellybean"

Dave Sharp has been involved in rallying since 1989, competing, working, organizing, crewing, scoring and as Regional Rally Director. He is currently the president of the Edmonton Rally Club. His last stage rally as a driver was in 1999, so he's really looking forward to getting back into it.

Rahul Jairath is a relative new comer to the sport, having competing in a couple of rallies as a co-driver. Rahul has been involved in the Sport Compact Car scene for many years, and has competed in many autocrosses and rallycrosses.

This is the first rally together for Dave and Rahul, who hope to compete for the P3 championship in the WCRC.

ASBO Racing


[Spectators please note this photo seems to reflect wishfull thinking on behalf of the competitor - The Editor]

Driver: John Breen
Co-driver: Josh Keatley
Website: www.asboracing.com

ASBO Racing are excited to be competing in the Rally of Cochrane, and intend to enter all events in the Western Canadian Championship. We will be racing a 2000 Ford Focus in the P3 division, and look forward to challenging all the other P3 entrants… particularly Dr. Brian who appears blissfully unaware of the advantage the new 'wing' recently installed on the Focus will give us. Apparently it's good for an additional 170 horsepower.

Good luck to all the competitors, and here's to a fun and exciting 2007 Rally season!

PolRallySport Team

PolRallySport Team has competed In Western Canadian Rally Events since 1999 and has earned its place as vice-Champion twice, in 2000 and 2001. The team commitment to promotional excellence is further enforced by their results and published material.

In 2004 we were the first rally team in North America to be using the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Edition for competition. PolRallySport has proven track of finishing events in the development year, which shows team's commitment to perfection. In 2005 our team won the Western Canadian Championship in Group 5 for modified 2 wheel drive vehicles, and finalized development of the car. This task led to achieving primary goal of winning National, and Western Canadian Championship in Group 5 in year 2006. (this was the first year for this class in Canadian National Championship) Also 9th place overall in Canadian rally Championship, 3rd in Western Canada overall.

Our goal is to improve public knowledge about safety in driving, and constant need for improvement of driving skills, and "driving culture". We would like to meet young people to introduce them to our sport, promote safe & organized competition, and to avoid the dangers of illegal street racing.

As a team, we would like to promote our sponsors & supporters not only in competition, but also increase brand recognition via car shows and various publicity media and events. So thank you:

Platinum Mitsubishi
ZZ Construction Ltd.
Delta Construction Ltd.
Traditional Hardwood Flooring Ltd.
Kuks Shop
VP Racing Fuel
Highlander Auto Body
Autowear Apparel



Cochrane Rally of the Ranchlands is the start of the 2007 season for SBD Rally Team. We are looking forward to completing the Western series in our 1987 VW Golf P-3 car named "Vicky". Rob and I are looking forward to the challenging road condition that this Rally is going to deal us!!! Good luck to all competitors and looking forward to meeting everyone. Our goals are to finish, have fun and to beat "Dr.John" and his Focus!!!!

Lastly, we would like to thank our Sponsors; Brian's Bobcat Service, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service, and Rick Johnston at www.rjmotorsports.ca

Driver/Owner: Brian Berturelli
Co-Driver: Rob Black
www.sbdrally.com

Team Get Real Rally

2006 Western Canadian P4 Champion

Driver: John Geelen Prince George, British Columbia
Co-Driver: Graham Lee Calgary, Alberta

We are planning on doing the entire Canadian Rally Championship for 2007 and doing all the Western Canadian Rally Championship Rally’s.

This is a very big commitment for the team but we are committed and love the sport and more important both Driver and Co-driver want to drive faster. Already this year after only finishing one Rally we have had several people ask how did you guys get so much faster from last year to this year…..We listen and learn and love the critiquing both good and bad… Driver John Geelen lives in Rally paradise and spent the winter practicing as much as possible. Both John and Graham have lots of energy and it is an absolute blast being in the car….. The team has only done two rally’s together and know together they can really have a great season… We are in a Classic Rally car a 19 year old Subaru RX… the team plans on using this car for 2007 and will be moving into a WRX for the last rally of the season to get the feel of it before going all out for 2008.

We want to thank all our sponsors without you this would not be possible.
REAL WATER – Prince George Subaru – Chieftain Auto Parts – Avena Originals
Harley Davidson Prince George – Hazelwood Signs – Glass Express – Pinedale Auto Wrecking

Bullit Racing

Bullit Racing just wants to have fun this year and do well, we hope to score some points in the western championship after our class win at the first national of the season, at the National in Perce-Niege Maniwaki in Quebec.

Neumann Racing

Aaron and Graham have had an extremely satisfying rally career over the past 2 years. Cochrane Rally Of The Ranchlands has been very successful for them with a 4th place overall at their very first rally in 2005 in a P2 class car, and with their first win in 2006 with the car in Group2 trim. This helped them towards their 2006 Western Canadian Rally Championship overall victory for 2006.

Volunteering in the off season of stage rally, they like to 'check point' at local TSD rallies. It gives them opportunity to team build, and get to know the competitors and help maintain the organizer’s sanity!

Aaron and Graham's goals for this season are to finish each race they start and hopefully keep the competition in their rear view mirror!

Driver: Jorge Dascollas
Co-Driver: Chris Dascollas
Webpage: www.vertigosport.com

Vertigo Racing Team will be competing in a few selective events during 2007. The team is based out of Calgary, Alberta and sponsored by Heninger Toyota, Low Cost Auto body and RCTS Canada.

Driver Jorge Dascollas has a long history of rally competition in Canada having started his driving in 1984. Since then, he won the overall Rally West Championship 3 times with a variety of cars from RWD to 4WD vehicles; he also won the P-4 Canadian Championship in 1996 with an AWD Talon. Jorge took several years off from driving and came back with son Chris, now 20, as his co-driver.

Jorge will be driving a 2WD, 1800cc Production-3 Toyota Celica, a car much under-power considering his previous rides but one that is a great trainer for son Chris to be in.

Not pursuing any particular championships, the team is mostly concentrating in Chris’s training first as a co-driver and eventually as a driver but for now they are just having fun competing together.

Tom and Amy

Tom and Amy have competed with their Group 2 VW GTI in the WCRC since 2002. As a team, we’ve had our ups and downs with a couple of podium finishes, one overall victory, several class wins, and a few dnfs for good measure. After taking all of 2006 off from the series, we hope to contest most, if not all of the 2007 WCRC series events. Hopefully our skills dust off quickly for Cochrane and we don’t lose too much time getting back up to speed. We are looking forward to seeing all our rally friends, and seeing how we stack up against the current group of competitors.

Bryan and Dustin

Bryan and Dustin make a new team, and the Cochrane Rally will be the first rally ever. The main goal of the team is to have fun, finish with all four wheels on the ground, preferrably without any unscheduled scenic tours of the bush, and keep the car and our pride intact. Good luck to all our competitors, and our aspirations of a podium finish shouldn't worry you in the least.