Pines Worker Thanks 2015
Thanks for your part in making the 2015 Rally of the Tall Pines another great success. Moving the event a week later for the last three years achieved exactly what we were hoping for, but this year was a nail-biter with the roads being wet, soft and muddy on Friday. In fact we were in danger of having to cancel the Golton Spectator stage and Landon Rd was a mess. However on Friday night, it got just cold enough to firm up the roads and the Town of Bancroft guys were out grading at 4 AM. As it turned out, road conditions were ideal and by placing a lot of pylons in Golton, we were able to make it usable. However I was awake for hours on Friday night considering what we would do with all the spectators if we had not been able to use Golton on Saturday. As it was, I didn’t make the final decision until 3 PM on Saturday.
The teamwork and professionalism of the workers was amazing. Experienced workers mentored the new volunteers and you moved quickly to fill in gaps as needed without complaint. We finished on time to minute. We had a record of 60 first-time volunteers this year and you were outstanding. Please send me comments about your experience (not just the ‘newbies’ but especially the ‘newbies’) and tell us how we can improve.
On Thursday and Friday about 100 of you helped with event preparation, competitor recce and Shakedown. Saturday saw a bit under 200. Thanks especially to the 30 of you who helped clean up late Saturday night and Sunday. I have only one negative comment about that – it was disappointing how little cleanup the Egan area workers did on Saturday night. Perhaps we were not clear enough about our expectations.
With Antoine L’Estage/Alan Ockwell going out very early with mechanical issues, it left the event wide open for 1st Overall and a close battle ensued all day. In the end, Sylvain Vincent/Simon Vincent won in their 21 year old Subaru. It was incredibly fitting, as Sylvain has rallied for over 30 years, has reached the highest Grand Master category in driver points, but has never won a National event, mostly because for most of his career he drove underpowered Production class cars. It was even more fitting, as the Pines was to be his last event.
Second Overall went to Brandon Semenuk/John Hall in a Subaru from BC and Alberta. Brandon is a young hotshoe, having come over recently from a sport even crazier than ours – stunt bike riding. John’s guidance as a highly experienced co-driver brought Brandon to his best finish yet. Third O/A was claimed by our own Ontario team of Jeremy Norris/Jeff Hagan – a fantastic finish for them. With that they also won the Ontario championship.
First 2WD was taken by the Quebec duo Simon Dube/Eric Lachance in their Golf with Martin Walter/Ferdinand Trauttsmandorff in their Nissan 240SX. I understand that Martin is also retiring.
You can check out the full Results at
http://rallyscoring.com/results/2015/TallPines/index.htm As I said above, your comments and constructive criticism of ways to improve the event are always welcome. In particular we are looking for any suggestions that would make the particular job you did easier for a new volunteer to take on.
BTW if you want regular updates on all rally activities in Ontario, you should sign up to receive the Car 0 Report. It is an excellent newsletter put out as the spirit moves its author, Bruce Leonard, RSO President. To sign up go to
http://eepurl.com/LK6AD See you on November 25-26, 2016. Please mark it on your calendar now.
Thanks again.
Ross Wood, Clerk of the Course