Event:

Pacific Forest Rally presented by Specialty Subaru, round five of the Western Canadian Rally Championship.  Performance rally cars from around Western Canada and the Northwest United States will be racing on a tight, challenging gravel road course in BC's interior.  This event is sanctioned by the Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) and Rally Pacific Motorsports (RPM), and is organized by the West Coast Rally Association (WCRA).

When & where: September 14-15, 2001, Cache Creek, BC, at the junction of Trans Canada Hwy # 1 & BC Hwy # 97 Headquarters & Press Room: Desert Motel, 1069 S Trans Canada Hwy, Cache Creek, BC phone: (250) 457-6226

REVISED* Schedule (subject to change):

*Friday, September 14, 2001
16:00 - 18:30 Registration at Wander Inn Restaurant.
16:00 - 18:00 Scrutineering at Kal Tire, Cache Creek, BC.
18:30 - 19:30 Parc Expose at Kal Tire, teams available for interviews.
19:30 - 20:00 Mandatory seed 5 and 6 drivers' meeting.
20:00 - 20:30 Drivers meeting and introduction of officials. Saturday, September 15, 2001
08:00 - 09:00 Parc Expose at Kal Tire.
09:00  Official Start at Kal Tire.
09:00 - 13:30 First Leg.
13:30 - 14:30 Lunch Stop.
14:30 - 19:00 Second Leg.
19:00  End of rally at Desert Motel, Cache Creek, BC.
20:00  Dinner and Awards at Wander Inn Restaurant.

Format:

Events in the Western Canadian Rally Championship consist of flat-out rally racing on challenging mountain and forest roads.  No practice is allowed.  Unlike circuit racing, competitors generally see the course for the first time as they race it.  At every moment the driver and co-driver must be ready for what may be around the next curve! Performance rallies consist of roads designated as "special stages" and "transit sections".  Special stages are run flat-out against the clock and are closed to public traffic.  Transit sections are the routes linking together the special stages in which teams must obey all traffic laws. Performance rally vehicles are production-based cars and trucks from manufacturers around the world.  They compete both for the overall victory and wins within a class structure that groups together vehicles with similar performance.  Each vehicle carries a driver and a co-driver/navigator.  Using a detailed route book and a sophisticated rally computer, the co-driver keeps the team on-course and advises the driver of any hazards noted in the route book.  This role is as critical as the driver's skill, since the team is traveling at full racing speeds over roads they have never seen before.

Selected entries:

• Winners of the 2001 Cochrane Rally of the Ranchlands, and Western Canadian Rally Championship points leaders, Janusz Komorowski and Tomasz Karzynski of Calgary in a Mazda 323 GTX.
• Winner of the regional portion at this year's Big Horn Rally, and last year's 2nd overall Canadian National Novice Driver, Dave Koszegi of Port Alberni, with Bill Westhead of Vancouver, in a Subaru Legacy.
• Winners of the 2001 Mountain Trials Rally, and last year's Pacific Forest Rally winner, Zbigniew Szewczyk of Calgary, with Michael Nicols, in a Toyota Celica.
• 1st overall novice team at this year's Rocky Mountain Rally, and 3rd overall at last year's Pacific Forest Rally, the "Pocky Boys": Mark Ward and Ken Kwong of Vancouver in a Subaru Legacy.
• Winner of the 2000 Edge of the Rock Rally and 10th overall in last weekend's US National, the Wild West Rally, Scott Trinder of Vancouver, with Andy White, in a Subaru Impreza.

Additional news interest:

• There is an intense battle for overall dominance in the Western Canadian Rally Championship this year.  While Janusz Komorowski leads the overall drivers' title by a win, there are three other drivers separated by a point each in second through fourth.  Over in the co-drivers' standings things are even tighter with four points separating first place from fourth.  No doubt these competitors will be in a heated battle for valuable series points at the Pacific Forest Rally.
• This year marks the final "dress rehearsal" for the event as it seeks to join the CARS national series as part of the Subaru Canadian Rally Championship, which is broadcast regularly on TSN.  Observers will be on hand to evaluate the Pacific Forest Rally and the village of Cache Creek promises to deliver a venue well-suited to events on the national stage.

2001 Western Canadian Performance Rally Championship: