Silverstone Tires Tabor Rally Team

Rim of the World Rally 2003   Event Recap

The 20th annual Rim of the World Rally lived up to its reputation as one of the best organized, toughest, most unique event in the United States.  A late winter storm was set to bring torrential rain, high winds, and general havoc to the 80 competitors gathered in Palmdale, California.

Of those 80 competitors, 12 were in the Production Class, with the two Tabor Rally Team Nissan Sentra SE-Rs.  Mark Tabor/Kevin Poirier in the #232 car and Bruce Tabor/John Elkin in the #222 example.  Both cars are identically prepared,  but this would be the first attempt for car #222 at the Rim of the World.

Mark and Kevin have had mixed results in their 4 previous attempts at Rim.  Kevin has finished in 1999 with Jon Tabor, in a Nissan SE-R, but DNF'd in both 2000 (with Jon Tabor), and again in 2001 (Mark Tabor, driver).  Mark and Kevin both came into the 2003 event aiming for a solid finish to continue their persuit of the Western States Rally Championship Production class title.  

Bruce and John came to the 2003 Rim with goals in mind.  One, was to finish the event.  Two, was to have fun doing it.  Three was to enjoy the unique flavor of roads that Rim has to offer.  

Friday night saw torrential rains, heavy winds and fog, which gave the teams an extra challenge.  Normally fast tarmac, turned into very slippery and unpredictable road surface. When the fog outside wasn't a problem, fog on the windscreen hampered competitors.

Both Tabor cars set out at a steady pace, knowing that you could only lose the rally on Friday.  Bruce and John enjoyed the "waterbars", where the forest service has cut across the road to allow water to drain.  Mark and Kevin took things easy, as the team needed to complete the Saturday event in order to continue their persuit of the Western States Rally Championship.

In the end, Friday's stages were cut to just 3, as the last 2 stages were cancelled, due to a medical emergency involving an event worker.

Mark and Kevin had finished the Friday event 11th overall, proving that smooth, consistent driving can get the results that are desired.  "I really thought I was taking it too easy, especially on Special Stage 2, but once we saw the results, we had won that stage.  We were really just trying to get to the finish, so we can go out and really push on Saturday, which counts towards the Western States Rally Championship" Mark commented.

Bruce and John found themselves at the finish, 34th overall, but with virtually no problems.  "We had some extra items to complete to bring this car here, but managed to make it through and have some fun in the process" Bruce said, of his Nissan example.  "These roads really are to my liking, as they are technical and really count on the team to work together to get to the finish" he commented.

A quick, but thorough check of both cars revealed no significant damage from Friday nights stages.  The start was then delayed by one hour, to allow for some re-routing of the crews, due to landslides on some of the stages.

The first two stages were a turnaround stage, where crews raced up the road, known as the Del Sur Stage, then turned around and raced back down.  The proved to be quite a feat for most, due to the massive amounts of mud on the course.  Times were slow for this stage, but gave the teams a glimpse of what the day had in store.

Once at the top of the turnaround, organizers knew they had to make some changes to the rest of the event.  Three stages were cancelled, some which were to be run twice, and the rally was called after just three stages.

Car #232 of Mark and Kevin stormed up the Del Sur stage, winning the stage over the other Production cars, by over 4 minutes.  On the return trip down the stage, there were many delays with stuck competitors, which held up most competing cars.

On what was to be the last stage of the rally, Mark & Kevin became stuck trying to avoid the Mazda Protege of Eric Burmeister and Joe Andrieni, who had been trapped by a particularly sloppy section.  "I could have made it past Eric, but it would have meant coming into contact with him and it wasn't worth it to me to do so" commented Mark.  After several attempts to drive out of the quagmire, Eric and Joe pulled off and pushed Mark & Kevin's Nissan out of the mud so they could continue.  It was a true showing of the rally spirit! 

Unfortunately, the time spent on the third stage cost the team about 5 minutes.  But, in the end, Mark & Kevin won the event by only .20 of a minute over the Toyota team of Jun Andrada

In the #222 Nissan, Bruce and John had mixed results for Saturday.  The team's Del Sur times were hampered by a collection of stuck cars on the return trip, causing them to have a very long stage time on SS #2.  But, the team turned around and set fastest Production Class time on the Leona Ridge stage. 

With the completion of this stage, Bruce and John achieved their goals!  A finish at Rim! 

The Tabor Rally Team's car #232 of Mark & Kevin are now in the lead of the Western States Rally Championship, in the Production class.  The next event in the series is the Dryad Quest on June 7th & 8th. 

The Tabor Rally Team would like to thank the following people and sponsors:

Tim Maples, Gerald Koellermeier, Duane Owens, Janice Tabor, Kristen Tabor and crew chief Matt Tabor.

Silverstone Tires:  www.taborrallyteam.com

America's Tire Co:  www.americastire.com

Enviro-Pak Co.:  www.enviro-pak.com

Tabors Pacific Foto: www.taborspacificfoto.com

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Nicky Grist next to driver Mark Tabor