SPECTATING THE MAINE SUMMER RALLY

Ogunquit's Carl Merrill in his
Series-Leading Ford Escort Cosworth

PRO Rallying is called the most exciting and demanding of motorsports. It is also one of the most difficult to spectate because of its normally
remote viewing points. To alleviate this we have introduced four spectator points with easy access. Safety at these points is of paramount
importance! It is really a matter of common sense, but for you people who haven't spectated a PRO Rally before, here are a few hints:
  FOLLOW THE MARSHAL'S DIRECTIONS the safer locations have been taped off and the marshals know what to expect of the rally cars.
Failure to follow their directions will force the organizers to cancel the special racing stage!
 DON'T STAND ON THE OUTSIDE OF CORNERS OR IN THE EXIT ROAD - it a car is to crash OR "go off the road," it is normally in these
dangerous areas.   BE ALERT AT ALL TIMES - the drivers often use techniques which may seem strange to you, including driving in the
ditches off the road's edge. Please expect the unexpected!   DON'T MOVE ONTO OR WALK ON THE ROADS UNLESS GIVEN PERMISSION - the marshals will
know when the cars are coming ask them before moving.  FRIDAY- 2 locations First location: Take Route 17 north from Rumford. From the traffic light
at Route 2 it's 5.3 miles to an asphalt road which cuts over to Route 120. The best place to park is Glover's Machine Shop on the right - just opposite from the
cut-over road. Walk down the cut-over road approximately 200 yards to the cement bridge. The start of the stage is on the unpaved road to your right just
across the bridge. The Spectator area is well marked just after the timing control. Be here by 4 PM. The cars will go by this spot twice.

  Second location: Immediately after the exit of all the rally cars (second passage) return to your cars. Return to the center of Rumford. The next two
stages are in-town. The only access is across the bridge on Route 108 on the SOUTH end of Rumford. First car starts stage at 7:15 PM! The cars will run the in-town
stage twice at 30-second intervals.
 SATURDAY - 2 locations First location: From Rumford, take Route 17 West (actual direction is north). Follow Route 17 about
18.9 miles (you will pass a sign indicating Franklin County). About a half-mile after the sign, turn RIGHT across a bridge onto a dirt road. Continue down
the dirt road about 1.9 miles (passing the timing control) to a right-hand turn; you will be instructed where to park. You should arrive here by 8:30 AM
since you will be driving down part of the racing stage!!

  Second location: From the General Store in Oquossoc, Go East toward Rangley and Route 16.Turn LEFT on Route 16 WEST From that point,
go: 5.2 miles Turn RIGHT on Morton Cut-off Road (dirt) after passing Cupsuptic Campground. 3.2 mi Turn LEFT at T junction 1.7 mi Turn RIGHT
0.5 mi Keep LEFT at Y 0.6 mi Keep LEFT at Y 0.9 mi Here you will encounter a road marshal. Follow his directions and park on one side of the road only.
LEAVING THE ROAD OPEN FOR THE RALLY CARS and EMERGENCY VEHICLES! You are now within 1/4-mile of the racing stage. Walk up the
road and you will find the spectator viewing area beyond the timing control. Service crews and over-size vehicles should hitch a ride with someone else
as the road is very narrow at this point and there is no place to turn a large vehicle around.  The FIRST CAR is due here at 3:30 PM. DON'T
BE LATE!
  Then, at 5:30 PM the cars will be restarting from here again to go north into another stage.The FINAL stage does NOT END HERE.
There will be no spectator opportunities after this restart at 5:30!!

  Parc Expose Prior to the start of a PRO Rally, competitors are required to display their cars at a specific location for public viewing.

  Quiet Zone Portions of the transit route where the competitors must: Drive 5 mph below the speed limit, on low beams, making minimum noise.
Penalties are assessed for violation of this rule.

Scrutineering Every PRO Rally conducts a technical inspection of the rally cars before the start to check safety and rules compliance.
  Timing Control "Marshals" are stationed at these checkpoints at the start and finish of the special stages to time the competitors and to
control public travel.

  Open Class Vehicles must be based on a model built by a recognized car company. The engine, suspension, brakes and transmission are unrestricted.
All wheel drive and turbocharged engines provide the fastest cars with traction and horsepower.

  Group 5 Cars can be highly modified as above, but must be 2 WD.

  Group 2 As above but for small displacement (under 2400 cc) 2 WD cars.

  Production Small displacement (under 2400 cc) showroom stock cars with very limited modifications, mainly to suspension and for safety.

  Production GT As above except that turbo-charged cars with 4 WD are allowed, along with larger displacement engine.

National Champion
Paul Choineire

Besides the actual hotel rooms - several hundred of them - being occupied by the rallyists, their crews and families, and by rally workers and fans,
the event pumps several hundred thousand dollars into the local economy, and cooperation between the rallyists and the community is wide-ranging.

For instance, for hot and thirsty drivers who will be finishing the Bunker Pond Stage, Pepsi will be donating a sports drink mix.

Gary Webb, owner of the Atlantic Driving Schools, has again put together a charity rally where local residents can win a set of Michelin tires,
donated by Michelin Tire Company.

The "Kids are Our Future" group from Meroby Elementary School in Mexico will be washing rally cars after the completion of Friday night's stages for
a donation of $5.00 to their playground equipment fund.

And, many of the Chamber members will be holding special sales during the rally weekend to attract both the out-of-town and local visitors to patronize area businesses.

Finally, the hospitality of the Mead Paper Company and other area forest owners to open their logging roads for rally competition makes this event a
win-win proposition for both the rally visitors and local business.

Instead of the two or three 4WD, 300-plus horsepower racers pounding their way over the fast gravel roads in the Mead, International and Seven Islands
paper forests, no less than seven of these world-class machines will fight for the overall title.

"The group of world-class race cars coming to Rumford this year is unprecedented," said Maine organizer John Buffum, a Burlington, VT resident and himself
an 11 -time national rally champion. "And it is a reflection of the status of this event that many of those drivers will bring their cars from the West Coast,
Canada and the West Indies in a sport that is typically regional in nature."

One of Maine's big attractions this year is the presence of ESPN2, and the 51 million homes that will have an opportunity to watch the action around the country.
Produced by Replica Productions, of Cambridge, Mass., the event will be telecast by "The Deuce" with half-hour broadcasts in late-August (check your local
listings or contact the ESPN Programming hotline at 860-585-2236 for times).

And what about those exotic sports cars that will comprise the field?

How about North American's only 4WD Hyundai Tiburon, producing 371 horsepower and driven seven-time PRO Rally champions Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker.
This Tiburon, built by rally legend John Buffum at his Libra Racing shops in Burlington, Vermont, got off to a fast start this year with two wins,
but fell to third place in the points after a crash in Pennsylvania last month.

Besides Choiniere, whose victories this year were a pair of wins in the Northwest, the most potent threat has to be the new 1997 Ford Escort Cosworth
of Carl Merrill, from Ogunquit, Maine. Merrill's 415 horsepower have vaulted him into first place in the current point standings, but Carl's car has
suffered nagging mechanical problems which have left him winless since the Pennsylvania rally in 1997.

David Surnmerbell, from Kingston, Jamaica, is the newest PRO Rally star in his world-rally class Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV. Summerbell finished

third behind Choiniere and Buffum in Washington state, and swept the field in California in May to win his first event in the U.S.

The only other team besides Choiniere and Summerbell with a victory this season is Frank Sprongl, from Mississauga, ONT., Canada, in his Audi Quattro S-2,
on the strength of his recent win in Round #5 in Pennsylvania. Sprongl consistently beats Choiniere (and everyone else) in the snow at the Maine winter
events, but he and his co-driver and brother Dan also spanked the Maine summer field here last July.

Other top Open class competitors include the Libra Racing Hyundai Elantra ('96 Maine winner driven by Choiniere) being driven by Noel Lawler;
the Mike Whitman/Paula Gibeault Ford Sierra Cosworth, the Garen Shrader/Doc Shrader Ford Sierra Cosworth, and the Jon Kemp/Gail McGuire Audi Quattro.

Besides the fastest, overall competitors, there are less exotic cars running in different classes which allow less modifications.

In some of the other classes, Ralph Kosmides is the favorite in his factory-sponsored, Group 5 class Toyota Supra twin turbo after his two West Coast wins.
The Group 5 class cars, the two-wheel version of the Open class (cars over 2.4-liters adjusted displacement, but with open engine, transmission and
suspension options), are not quite as fast as the Open cars, but will finish well overall in this event.

The other top contenders are in the Production GT class, which allows turbocharging and four wheel-drive, but limited suspension and almost no
engine modifications. Two former Production GT champions - the Cal Landau/Eric Marcus Mitsubishi Eclipse ('95 champions) and the Steve Gingras/Bill
Westrick Eagle Talon ('97 champions).

This year's Maine Forest Rally will begin on Friday afternoon, July 31, with a display of cars on Congress Street in downtown Rumford at 3:00 PM. Fans
can meet the drivers and look at the cars, as well as obtain a rally program with entry lists and spectator area maps. The cars will be flagged off at 4:00 PM,
but will be back at 7:00 PM to run two stages through the streets of downtown - unique in American PRO Rally.

As always, all rally activities are free and open to the public.

On Thursday afternoon, July 30, there will be a road rally (open to the public - no special experience or equipment needed) to benefit the River Valley Chamber
of Commerce. This will be a two-hour time-speed-distance rally open to anyone with a car and a driver's license, with the emphasis on reading the route
instructions and not getting lost, not on speed. Registration will be held at the Linnell Motel on Route 2 West in Rumford at 4:00 PM, with the first car
starting at the Linnell at 5:01 PM. The Rally will conclude at 7:30 PM.

Applications for the rally are available from the River Valley Chamber of Commerce office (207) 364-3241

The Michelin PRO Rally Championship is not only a contest of who is the best driver on forest roads, at high speed in the middle of the night,
but also a competition between car preparers and manufacturers. He or she whose car is sturdily built and who can avoid damaging off-course excursions
into trees or ditches, stands a chance of winning.

Tires play an important part in a winning rally effort. They must be equally reliable on many driving surfaces; the asphalt of the transit roads that
rallyists traverse to get to the competition stages, as well as varying conditions on the competition stages themselves. Stages, many of which are unpaved,
can change from sandy to clay to gravel in the space of a few hundred feet. Sometimes rain will turn a perfectly ordinary dirt road into a quagmire within minutes.

Most of the top competitors will be using specially constructed Michelin Pilot High Performance Rally tires, which not only come in various compounds for
different road surfaces, but have rugged carcass and sidewall designs to resist puncturing under the stressful rally conditions.

Michelin, which brought the radial tire to the world more than 50 years ago, is the world's largest tire company. It has 19 plants in North America and
produces tires to fit every type of vehicle, from bicycles to the Space Shuttle.

The 1998 Michelin PRO Rally Championship consists of eight events, is sponsored by Michelin Tire Corporation and sanctioned by the Sports Car Club
of America (SCCA). PRO Rally information, as well as scores, updates, membership, or other SCCA material can be found on the SCCA web site at
www.scca.com/amateur/prorally.

The 1998 River Valley Chamber of Commerce Fun & Wonder Time/Speed/Distance (TSD) Rally might be for you. The rally is being sponsored by
Atlantic Driving Schools and will be held on Thursday, July 30, at 5:00 PM. Registration is at 4:00 PM at the Linnell Motel & Conference Center
on Route 2 in Rumford. The first car out is at 5:01 PM and will finish approximately 7:30 PM. This event kicks off the Maine Forest PRO Rally weekend.

The entry fee is $25 in advance or $30 at the door. All proceeds will benefit the River Valley Chamber of Commerce and its work with local charities.

The key to winning is to coordinate time/speed/distance to stay on schedule at check points along the course. The rally will be run on local roads at normal
speeds. Those who do well follow the route instructions precisely and do not get lost.

A TSD Rally is designed for any legal vehicle and no special cars or skills are required. Cars must be inspected, registered and insured according to
the laws of their state of registration. Drivers must have a valid operator's license, while navigators must only be able to read. This makes the rally
an ideal activity for families and parent-child teams!

The rally uses "tulip" style instructions which are diagrams of each intersection that demonstrates an action (for example a stop sign or turn).
Each instruction during the rally will have a mileage. The course is designed to be very easy and since there are no tricks or traps in this type
of rally, it is intended to be fun and exciting for all. The rally is divided into classes of competitors based on prior rally experience and equipment.

One of the highlights of the event is a raffle (included with the entry fee) among the entrants for a set of four Michelin tires. The tires are donated
by the Michelin Tire Company and the retail value of the prize is up to $800 depending on the size and type of tires your car needs.

For more information about the 1998 Fun & Wonder Rally, contact the River Valley Chamber of Commerce at (207) 364-3241.