by Ron Sorem 6/6/18
Hawks Prairie WA… June 2 & 3, the 2018 No Alibi Rally prepares to venture into new territory for this venerable “brisk TSD on gravel backroads.” First off, it’s moved to the west (wet) side of the Cascades. Specifically, the southwest quadrant of the state. Gravel roads “exist”, mostly gated by timber companies, and mostly long dead-end logging access roads. A few through roads fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Interior, in this case the U.S. Forest Service. Back in 2017 Rainier Auto Sports Club (RASC) representatives began the telephone and email paperwork process for permitting a motorsports event within the National Forest. These same folks have had great cooperation with Forest Managers in South East Washington, dealing with Nor’Wester roads. No permit necessary, and “you should look at this road” suggestions. The West Side is different. The West Side wants their control of everything. Facing these USFS obstacles, an archived rally was pulled from the depths and memories of RASC route builder Roy Ward, acting as Rallymaster. “Let’s try something different for No Alibi.” And we did. Route Master Ron Sorem took the old route, found some gravel, drove to the “Beach”, and wrote something new to avoid Forest Service hassles. Shunning in-house doubts, the RASC team forged ahead, buoyed by word of mouth approvals from long-time competitors, that something new might just work.
Can we do a No Alibi without a million miles of gravel, without dust, without Eastern Washington? Yes, yes we can.
Here we go: Twenty one cars leaving Hawks Prairie on Saturday morning after a great breakfast, sunny skies for an outdoor driver meeting, a short drive on I-5 for the odo check, and into the meandering “Mima Mounds TSD”. There is some scientific controversy over the geological oddity of the Mounds. They may be the result of water movement when this prairie was under tidal action of the Pacific Ocean, or they may be the result of pre-historic rodents…Giant Prairie dogs, or gophers? Think about that for your lawn.
A brief transit, then on to the first gravel. “Brooklyn TSD” followed the stage rally roads once used by Olympus, Wild West, and Doo Wops rallies. Smooth, recently graded, and moderate speed (we’d have loved to call out no limit, sadly the county has posted other ideas). Still entertaining and certainly scenic, Brooklyn saw several checkpoints before returning to pavement and a brief stop at the Brooklyn Tavern with its decades of northwest rally history.
“Smith Creek TSD” ran more gravel from Regional and National stage events, and the WRC Olympus FIA Rallies. We didn’t have Juha or Sven or Sandro, or any other historic drivers, but for a few moments we were on WRC Rally roads.
Our first break came in Raymond, where, while the rally cars awaited their out times, the behind-the-scenes secret worker rally had a hiccup. Crews from Mima Mounds were delayed in the leap-frogging game. We were faced with no crews for the next TSD. We were working with a minimal staff. Radio, text, phone calls…“Are you going to make it?” “We’re at least ten minutes behind.” Options were a Route Control to delay the event for the 10 minutes, or 15, or more, which would have changed everyone’s calculations, or just not have any controls in the next gravel. Course Opening quickened its pace and got to the far end of the TSD assuring an open road, no downed trees or washouts, then retraced the route into the section to take up a checkpoint position, while the rest of the assigned crews tried to get to the end of the gravel via the highway (to no avail). So only one hidden control in the gravel “Palix TSD”.
Rumor has it that the gravel was pretty entertaining at double the CAST…we can neither confirm nor deny that rumor.
“Long Beach Lunch” gave teams a chance to explore. Restaurants, the beach itself, the Kite Museum, and time to relax a bit (while all the checkpoint crews scurried around to new locations). We regrouped at one of the beach access points and “Ocean View” transit took the rally to a scenic overlook – ocean views, informational kiosks, and North Head Lighthouse.
Cape Discovery marks the entrance to the Columbia River, and the end of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from Missouri to the Pacific. “Columbia View TSD” followed the river to the Megler-Astoria bridge and Rest Area. Traffic was a test for crews’ Time Allowance request skills. On course surveys, traffic was not an issue. For Checkout some traffic was encountered. Kamagra Oral viagra overnight delivery Jelly is another best option and cure for ED in older men. On the partner’s side, this pushes the partner to feel left out, depressed generic viagra sildenafil and sour in the relationship too. No doubt, doctor’s prescription is really must for the sufferers as it can save patients from generic tadalafil 20mg several unwanted health conditions. When these kind of vital organs do not affected the way female reproductive organs are get viagra online affected by external changes. On rally day, course opening had time to stop for photos and not be passed by a single car, then a few minutes later, some competitors found rush hour.
“Naselle Ridge” continued up river leading to the woods and backroads for “Deep River TSD.” This section wandered through the woods, included a narrow park-like section, a short bit of gravel, passed a scenic historic church, (and a friendly county Sheriff), then onto the highway for a brief run to more backroads. Comments from long-time northwest rallier Bob Chandler: “Surprisingly, I’ve never been on that road.” The TSD ended at the only remaining covered bridge in Washington.
Back on the highway to the next TSD. “Risk-y TSD” followed Risk Road, Elochoman Valley, Beaver, Mill, and Spruce Creeks, returning to the Columbia. Then Abernathy Creek, Slide Creek (with a recent slide…) Bunker Hill, Germany Creek and Fall Creek, past Stella to finish at Coal Creek and Highway 4. At 34.54 miles this was the longest TSD of the day including views of three peaks.
Finish and Banquet at the Kelso Red Lion was well attended and well enjoyed.
Day Two began with sections of the original RASC archived 1990 Evergreen State 1000 Rally. Twenty-eight years ago, the route continued east over Forest Service gravel and east of Mount St Helens. With the uncertainty of access (both weather and bureaucratic) the 2018 route survey turned north over paved twisty-ness, to Cougar, before returning to Woodland and Kelso, then north to “Green Mountain TSD” affording enough twists and turns to keep even a CAST 34 or CAST 28 an elbow tiring bit of fun, with views of the Columbia River.
“Pleasant Hill TSD” was another steep twist up, then rapid descent with more views of the Columbia.
A few minutes north on I-5 brought the start of “Headquarters” TSD. At 35.49 miles, this was the longest TSD of the rally. Climbing into the Toutle Mountain Range, then overlooking Silver Lake and following the north side of the Toutle River passed numerous checkpoint locations…Did you see all the crews? Did you enjoy the views of the snow-capped peaks, before the
clouds came in? The section ended just east of Toledo. A transit took the rally to Winlock.
Winlock has construction…The one access that worked well in early surveys was taken away by a new bridge building project. A simple left turn became three right turns and a detour. It would have been SO easy…
“King Hill TSD” contained the longest section of gravel on Day Two. Very scenic, several hairpins, and our first mechanical fail. Canada’s Paul Westwick and Tony Latham heard really bad noises in the downhill hairpin. Brakes seemed to have a mind of their own. Behind the wheel diagnosis and conjecture was “brakes or diff”… If it’s the brakes we can probably work
around it, but if it’s the diff we are “hooped”. Luckily it was the left front caliper wanting to leave the car. Subsequent roadside repair was successful and the mighty SAAB 96 finished the event.
“Ceres Hill TSD” was the last of the gravel-paved-gravel-paved. Beginning with a few switchbacks, topping out with tree farm pavement and mountain views, and dropping down through gravel curves (and hidden check-pointers).
The final planned TSD succumbed to progress and bureaucracy – and an overabundance of yellow paint. The Bunker Creek to Ingalls Creek to Lincoln Creek roads have been used on past rallies and are brisk and sufficiently entertaining. However, in recent years the yellow paint has grown to double yellow lines (no passing) for the entire length of the first two, and most of the third. Since we couldn’t in good conscience put checkpoints along the entire length, we determined to incorporate a RASC feature named an RTZ, a Rally Transit Zone, but more appropriately a Rapid Transit Zone – no checkpoints in the section, but one checkpoint at the end. Speculation as to the last use of this was as far back as the 1972 Nor’Wester, but a Raindrop out on the Olympic Peninsula about a decade later may have actually been the last. With great confusion over how to score it, it became just a Transit.
No Alibi scored 22 controls on Saturday, and 21 controls on Sunday
Twenty-One cars arrived at the Hawks Prairie Restaurant and Sports Bar. Scores were compiled, food and beverages consumed, stories abound, and trophies presented.
Congratulations to First Overall winners Paul Eklund and Yulia Smolyansky with 26 points; Second to Larry LeFebvre and Brandon Harer with 28; Third to Steve Roberts and Don Gibson with 30.
First in Equipped class Bob Chandler and Mark Clemmens with 59; Second
Equipped to (son and father) Keith and Bill Colisch with 76; Third to Greg
Ficker and Everett DeVlieg with 326.
First in Seat of the Pants (SOP) to (son and father) Ben and Curt Thompson
First in Novice to (mother and daughter) Korina and Stella Stark
First Historic to Morgan Hay and Robin French in the 1970 Rover
Second Historic to Paul Westwick and Tony Latham in the 1970 SAAB
RASC has a long standing tradition and goal to take our guests to scenic, less-traveled roads that would likely be ignored in your travels. To places you’d probably not go. We believe we’ve accomplished this again. Thanks for playing!
The Original Rally Master, Roy Ward, turned over the reins to Jim Breazeale months ago. Route Master (Clerk of the Course) was Ron Sorem. All three of us want to thank our resourceful and resilient volunteers for helping us present the 2018 No Alibi. Thank You!
Thanks too, to Hawks Prairie Restaurant and Sports Bar, Red Lion Kelso, Star Sportswear, and McNamara Signs. A huge thank you to RASC’s Andy Newell for the awards, and to RASC’s Rod Johnson for a generous contribution.
Complete results and detailed scoring available on our website at
https://www.rainierautosports.com/events/2018/noalibi/default.htm
Thank you to the Rainier Auto Sports Club and their Wishbone Alley Gazette, June 2018 Edition, for allowing us to reprint with RReNews!
