"Grommit"

Car #554

Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Park Rapids, MN
May 12, 2001

E-mail: mbuskirk@webstratum.com

Subject: Buskirk/Fernandez take 3rd in Group 2 and 10th overall

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The woods of Minnesota are settling down once again from all the
excitement of rallying this past weekend.  30 plus competitors took the
field with weather conditions at near perfect temperatures.  It was
a good day for a motorcar race!

Mark Buskirk and Paul Fernandez arrived in Park Rapids early in the
evening Friday with plenty of time to register and go through tech
inspection with their '87 VW GTI rally car.  Saturday morning Paul and
Mark both attended the club licensing seminar because this was to be
Paul's first prorally experience.  Paul was now ready and qualified to
lead the team through the course.

The team started the race in seed 4 and 22nd on the road.  "Our goal
is to finish this event and gain experience as both driver and co-driver",
explained Mark, "It's a great first event for Paul and great roads
for me to develop as a driver."

The first couple stages went without a hitch.  Mark and Paul were 
beginning to work together as a team.  Despite the sandy roads and
deep ruts from the 21 cars ahead of them, the team was warming up
and driving their GTI competitively against the pack.  Stage 3 was canceled
because of 12 inches of freshly applied gravel within the past 8 days.
The event organizers even had a tough time getting through the thick
sand stage.  Stage 4 and 5 were very fast roads giving the team a
feel for 100MPH speeds between the thick forest of trees.

The mid service (which consisted of a 2 hour dinner break) gave the
team time to mount the auxiliary lights for the upcoming night stages.  With
rain looming in the West, it would bring much needed dampness to the dusty
roads in the latter half of the rally.

Stage 6 and 7 could have used a little more rain to keep down the dust.  Paul
mentioned, "I had a great time, with the exception of some nervous moments
of zero visibility while driving through thick clouds of dust.".  The
team continued to drive hard through the dust.  The much needed rain
begain widway through stage 7 and visibility was increasing rapidly.

Stage 8 plagued the team with engine troubles.  The car was cutting out and
then re-firing at the worst possible moments.  "I didn't have power to
pull the car through the corner and had to resort to some fancy steering",
exclaimed Mark.  The engine held together to get back to service where
a cracked rotor on the distributor was found.  It was replaced, but still
some engine hesitation was happening.  Running low on time, the team
left for the last 2 stages hoping to baby the car to a finish.

Stage 9 found the team with a 100% working car and speeds that proved it.
Following 11th on the road, Paul and Mark were surprised to see the
front cars leaving the start line.  The final stage brought the team
closer to vistory with some of the fasted driving of the rally.  "I
knew rally cars were capable of some amazing speeds along tree-lined
roads, but after riding in one I have a new appreciation for what
rally cars can really do." said Paul.

After turning in their time cards at the last MTC, Paul and Mark found
their efforts brought a 3rd in Class and 10th overall postion.  Both
were very happy and glad to finish in such a good position.  "I think
Paul is hooked on rallying" said Mark, "He is already planning the
next rally trip".  The team moved to seed 3 in divisional seeding.

Thanks to all the workers and service crew's (Sierra Rallysport, Eric
Burmeister and Art Burmeister).  Mark and Paul had a great weekend
thanks all the efforts of those around us.