Tonight was the “Fan Spectacular” at the Portland International Raceway… 4 stages with about 50% tarmac, 50% gravel.  This is primarily a dog and pony show for the public and it was a cluster fuck.  Incorrect start orders, people writing shit in the wrong boxes on time cards, times on two of the stages reported incorrectly, sitting and waiting 20 minutes to start a stage while officials run around shrugging their shoulders…. is this normal for a national event?

Stage 1: Steve decided to work out the kinks right away, and got lost after the second turn.  I thought we had taken a wrong turn and slowed down quite a bit while we got back on the notes… oops… not sure how much time we lost here… 10 seconds?

Stage 2: With the kinks worked out, we had a decent time on this one… the stage ran partially through a motocross track…. unfortunately there were no jumps.

Stage 3: This was a repeat of stage one.  I think we did considerably better… Steve and I are locked in and ready to go tomorrow!

Stage 4: A repeat of half of stage 2… about 3/4 of mile  total distance… over before it even began…. we didn’t do bad.

I understand that with the fans involved, short stages, and 60+ cars, things can get a little confusing… but the regional rallies that we have done have MUCH better timing equipment, instant (and accurate) scoring, and seem to run more smoothly.  Tomorrow will be a more telling experience though, as tonight was really just a show for the crowds…. hopefully the disorganization is only temporary.  Either way, it was fun…  RALLY!