Hardy Schmidtke and co-driver John Hall will be battling for third overall in the 2012 CRC standings in Bancroft. Carsrally.ca


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in Squamish, BC, and had it in the car overnight, ready for the second day. “We've been struggling with


overheating issues and we turned down the boost for the last few stages to try to take it easy on the engine,” said Richard after day one. An interesting battle had also shaped up over the first day for the places filling out the top five. Four drivers were battling for position, including Max Riddle and co-dri- ver Aaron Neumann and Hardy Schmidtke, co-driven by John Hall. Fighting for fifth place heading


into day two were relative novices. Alex Beland and Lyne Murphy were running well in what was Be- land's second-ever national event. Close behind was the pairing of 2012 Freeride Mountain Bike World Champion Brandon Se- menuk and co-driver Jen Daly. In two wheel drive, Calgary's


Eric Grochowski and Leanne Jun- nila crashed out on the Princeton Cut off stage. Despite having “the


12 WWW.tallpinesrally.com


worst crash of [his] career,” Gro- chowski began working to repair the car, hoping to start the regional portion of the event on the second day. After working through most of the night, the damage was still too much to repair in time and the pair were forced to sit on the sidelines. Ed McNelly and Ole Holter, an


American team that have been pushing for the Canadian title in their Ford Fiesta were leading two wheel drive at the end of the first day, followed by Team O'Neil teammates Verena Mei and stand- in co-driver Chris Kremer. L'Estage and Richard continued


strongly through the second day, driving to a clear victory of over nine minutes. Te Subaru pairing of Richard


and Ockwell pushed their second engine – a less powerful motor than their race power plant – but were forced out of the event when an en- gine fire melted the wiring under the hood. Schmidtke and Hall were able to hold off Riddle and Neumann


through the second day, claiming second place by a margin of just 7.1 seconds. For both teams, the finish represented the best of their respec- tive careers, and Riddle's first na- tional podium. “I think we were going into the


last stage of Helmer with a 12 sec- ond lead,” said Schmidtke. “We started the car and the turbo seals went, and we were burning a lot of oil. We didn't know whether to pack it up. Te crew told us to use the extra bottles of oil and keep an eye on the gauges. Te turbo is gone, but we're here. Battling Max all rally long was just an epic battle, the best of my career.” Setting a new high-water mark in just his third national rally, Be- land and Murphy finished fourth overall, less than three seconds back from Riddle and Neumann. Be- land's performance is a strong sign of a bright future for the young Quebec driver. “I feel really happy, I got great


support from my whole team,” said Beland. “I had a battle all day with


a couple of guys, but we made it to the finish. Tis is only the second national rally that I have finished, the third national ever.” Beland plans to contest all of the 2013 Canadian Rally Champi- onship, so travelling west to develop his skills offered vital seat time and learning opportunities. Semenuk and Daly rounded out the top five just over 30 seconds back of Beland, in a much less so- phisticated car. “I'm fired up, it was fun. I got to


drive how I want to drive,” said Se- menuk. “I didn't have any ambi- tions coming into this.” Sixth place finishers Tibor Kertes


and Spencer Armstrong brought their Mitsubishi Evo X to the top of the Production GT podium, ahead of Eric Pehota and Richard Doucet.


By the end of the second day, the


two wheel drive class was deci- mated, with just one car finishing. Krystian Ostrowski and Christo- pher Galeki finished last overall, but first in class. •


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