2005 Oregon Trail Rally -
Friday Stages -
Held at PIR, these "Spectator Stages" ran both around and inside the Portland International Raceway complex through a combination of Road, Gravel and Grass/Dirt intersections. Five Stages in all including a HUGE Super Special Stage linking all the earlier sections together for a side-by-side race to the finish. The Course was divided into TWO laps, an inside and an outside lane. The Drivers ran one lane and at the mid point swapped lanes to complete the other. Another exciting element was competing IN THE DARK. Todd ran hard, winning his Class and exciting the crowd with his always awe-inspiring Audi S1r and his aggressive driving style.
Saturday Stages -
The Rally moved from the relatively docile setting of PIR to the unrelenting Gravel Roads of the Tillamook Forest area surrounding Vernonia, Oregon. This day was to hold some interesting challenges for Todd Lengacher and his Co-Driver Les Green. Imagine sitting in the passenger seat of your Friend's sport car as you wind through the countryside's most enjoyable roads... while READING. 90% of the folks attempting this will get carsick. Now, imagine doing this on a mountain road, barely wide enough for the car, at speeds approaching 100 mph with a million bumps and shakes per minute... oh yeah, you're still reading!!!
The key to success and speed in Rally Competition is the communication between the Driver and Co-Driver. Les became incredibly ill midway through Saturday's stages but being the incredibly brave and strong Co-Driver he is, stayed the course and finished the day in the Passenger Seat. Due to Les' illness, they retired just three stages short of fishishing the day.
It takes time and history to build that communication and trust. It gets really interesting when you break up a successful team like Todd and Les... In most cases, it ends a Competitors Rally. Not in this case... Les did indeed get sick and had to retire from the event, but Todd was lucky enough to have a Crew Member, Laura Storke, that happened to have some Co-Driving experience. Despite the fact they had never worked together, Laura suited up and enabled Todd to start Day Three.
Sunday Stages -
With Laura firmly belted in, the new Team set out to conquer the Sunday Stages held neat Tillamook, Oregon. Sunday's roads were a bit more flowing, longer and definitely faster. Todd's Open Class Audi S1r runs considerably faster that Laura's normal Production based ride and there was a steep learning curve calling out the pace notes at a much faster rate. After a stage or two, the Team was getting along like old friends and the pace notes began to match Todd's driving. Before long, they were back in the thick of the competition taking places back they had lost yesterday.
By the end of the event, Todd and Laura had pushed the Audi S1r back up through the ranks to finish an impressive 10th overall and 7th in class. That's quite a comeback for a newly matched team, on very fast roads. Now the real challenge comes... Laura has been heard several time since Oregon Trail stating how Les will have to arm wrestle her for the seat next time around. I would buy tickets to see that one!