News from Team Jardevall - 2002

Streets/Damitio win ClubRally, DNF at Rim of the World

The Rim "curse" has apparently been passed along to Jay Streets, who now drives the Group 5 Volvo 740 formerly owned and driven by Carl Jardevall. The curse took a nip out of the Volvo at the start of Stage 2 when Streets spun at the first hairpin after leaving the start, kissed the rock face, and did minor damage to the left front of the car. However, Jay and co-driver Janice Damitio were able to finish the Friday night stages with a Group 5 victory in the ClubRally.

Streets and Damitio were actually tied for first with the Nissan Sentra of Dave Coleman / Ryan Cavalier, both cars with a total time of 55:14, but the nod went to Streets with more stage wins. Third in Group 5, only three seconds behind Streets and Coleman, was the Mazda RX7 of Jim Gillaspy / Mick Kilpatrick.

The first mountain stage on Saturday was the traditional "Del Sur" stage, where the Volvo suffered terminal damage in both 2000 and 2001 with Carl driving, both times while running in the top five overall. This year a flat tire on the rear caused Streets to slow, but the vibration eventually caused the differential to fail, only 1/10th of a mile from the finish of the stage.

Carl Jardevall chose to skip Rim this year, given the luck he has had the past few years. Co-driver Amity Trowbridge was on hand at Rim... as a spectator.

Jardevall/Trowbridge 4th Overall at Oregon Trail

Carl proved once again that he can run with the Big Dogs by placing fourth overall in his first head-to-head battle with an all-wheel drive rally car. From Stage 1 Carl showed that he would be a player, taking fifth fastest time, only one second behind Rhys Millen in the factory-backed Mitsubishi. Virtually all of his times were within the top five, and he was third fastest on Stage 3.

The only real problem came on Stage 6, when they had a flat tire near the end of the stage. However, they only gave up a few seconds, not enough to affect the outcome.

They began Day Two of the rally in fourth place, but gave up nearly 30 seconds a stage to a hard charging Mark Higgins in the Hyundai Rally Team USA Tiburon. Higgins finished nearly a minute ahead of Jardevall. The demise of Ramana Lagemann's Subaru Rally Team USA WRX while running second only two stages from the finish moved everyone else up one position.

The Oregon Trail Rally victory went to David Higgins and Chris Patterson in the AV Sport Subaru, followed by Rhys Millen, Mark Higgins, Jardevall, and Mark Nelson.

The Nordic Motors Volvo 740 now owned by Jay Streets and with Janice Damitio co-driving, went out at the end of stage one with a blown turbo and no oil pressure.

First Win with Open Class Mitsubishi

Carl Jardevall, along with regular co-driver Amity Trowbridge, won the Doo-Wop I ClubRally held in Washington state, their first victory in the recently acquired Mitsubishi Evo IV. Jardevall set the fast time on all five stages and ended up winning the rally by nearly two minutes over the Subaru of Nat T-Stow and Ben Bradley.

The Nordic Motors Evo established the lead on the first stage, a 7.11 mile loop called "Failor Lake", with a time of 7:22, 21 seconds quicker than the second place car. Stage 2 was a short 0.80 mile piece of paved road, and the Subarus of T-Stow and Paul Eklund were able to equal Jardevall's time of 1:06. Stage 3 through 5 were the same piece of road, a 10.4 mile section near Tahola, run twice in one direction and once back. Jardevall bested the competition by 20 seconds, 27 seconds and 17 seconds.

Jay Streets, teamed with Chris Aksdal, dropped out after stage two when a freeze plug came out of the engine on the Volvo 740. They were able to make repairs overnight and were ready for the start of Doo Wop II.

Doo Wop I - Top 5

1. Carl Jardevall / Amity Trowbridge, Mitsubishi Evo IV, 36:54
   
2. Nat T-Stow / Ben Bradley, Subaru WRX, 38:46 (+1:52)
   
3. Paul Eklund / Scott Huhn, Subaru USX, 39:07 (+2:13)
   
4. Todd Hartmann/Shawn Callahan, VW Golf GTI, 39:44 (+2:50) - 1st Gp. 2
   
5. John Lane / John Allen, Volvo 262, 40:13 (+3:19) - 1st Gp. 5

While Carl was quick to point out that driving an all-wheel drive, turbocharged, rally-bred machine is somewhat easier than a rather heavy rear-wheel drive Volvo, it does require a somewhat different technique. He found that out the hard way about a mile into Stage 1 of Doo Wop II when he put the car off the road and it became stuck on a bank. It was nearly an hour before the team could extract themselves and continue. There was very little damage to the Evo and they were able to finish the rally, setting fastest time on the remaining five stages.

The highlight of the rally came on the famous Brooklyn Tavern Stage, when Jardevall broke his personal record, the two-wheel drive fast time which he set last year in the Volvo, of 6:49. He ran the stage this year at 6:45, only three seconds shy of the all time record of 6:42, set by Paul Choiniere in 1998.

Jay Streets was able to keep the Volvo running properly on Doo Wop II, well enough to win Group 5 and to finish fifth overall.

Nordic Motors to campaign Open Class Mitsubishi in 2002

The Nordic Motors in Motion rally team will move up to Open Class to contest the 2002 SCCA ProRally Championship following the purchase of a 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV. The car was formerly campaigned by Alec Ellsworth of Wisconsin under the "Geek Racing" banner. Arrangements to buy the Evo were made via TAD Motorsports of Illinois, who had maintained the car for Ellsworth.

Shortly after the Evo arrived in California it was given a new coat of Metallic Blue paint and bannered with the Nordic Motors in Motion logos. The rear wing was painted a bright yellow to maintain the colors of the Swedish flag, blue and yellow.

Nordic Motors Volvo 740 goes to Jay Streets

Jay Streets has purchased the Volvo 740 Turbo built by Nordic Motors and campaigned in the SCCA ProRally Championship since 1997. Streets' previous cars, a pair of Group 2 Toyotas, were bought by a team from New York, so he was in the market for a faster car. Having shared service space and crew with Nordic Motors in Motion over the past couple of years, acquisition of the Volvo seemed natural.

Streets will continue to be a part of the Nordic Motors team and will carry the Nordic Motors name on the Volvo as well as Willans harnesses, for which he is U.S. distributor. However, Jay has added a personal touch to the Flying Brick that was also on the Toyotas... flames!