2005 Oregon Trail Rally -
Friday Stages -
Although April has been driving Rally Cross events for quite some time, she was nervous and excited as the hours wound down to her Stage Rally Debut at the Oregon Trail Pro Rally. Friday Stages were held at the Portland International Raceway in Oregon. Five Stages, including one huge Super Special Stage, waited for her. "Just don't crash" she whispered to herself as she tightened up her belts on PreGrid for the start of her very first competitive stage.
Riding along side as Co-Driver was the 2005 Oregon SCCA Regional Director, Jeff Zurschmeide. Jeff has quite a few miles under his Driving Suit as Co-Driver and is rapidly growing to become one of Rally's biggest fans and advocates. Needless to say, they were a perfect match.
Clean driving and solid skill immediately began moving the pair up the leader board in their class and as the Super Special Stage loomed in their Headlights, they found themselves first on the Road... this time in the Dark Night Air. Prevail they did and April drove to her first National Podium in her first Race... 3rd in Class!
Saturday Stages -
The trend continued with April and Jeff pushing "Lil Monster" on on three (yes, I said THREE) cylinders with a whopping 55 Horse Power through stage after stage of the twisted gravel roads surrounding forests of Vernonia, Oregon.
At the end of the Saturday Stages, the team pulled out a larger gap from 4th and found themselves solidly in 3rd place in the Production Class. Not that they felt the need to back off and maintain... they continued to push into the Sunday Stages.