Jeff Hendricks races through The Cut on stage one of the event.

The small sleepy mountain town in North Central Arizona of Prescott, Arizona, and the surrounding towns would play host to the 22nd annual Prescott Rally on October 2nd and 3rd. The 2009 running of the Prescott Rally, presented by Scott Roofing, was round six of the United States Rally Championship (USRC) Pacific Series and is also two events in the California Rally Series (CRS) (coefficient two Friday and coefficient three Saturday).  Production-based cars and trucks raced one at a time over graded county roads (stages) with the lowest elapsed time winning.

The team of Jon Rea and Shawn McMahon tear through stage six.

The course wound its way through the scenic high desert outside the towns of the tri cites. By rally standards this was a fairly smooth high-speed course, and by desert racing standards it was a paved freeway. Friday was 38.4 miles over four stages and Saturday had 60.79 miles, which was also over four stages. There were 223.2 miles of transit stage miles that were also part of the rally. The rally featured an eclectic mix of cars of trucks, everything from fully race prepped Subaru WRXs, old school Datsun 510s, mini pickups, a F100 Prerunner and even a Pontiac Fiero. There were also a handful of motorcycles entered in the event.

Tim Moser races through The Cut on stage one.

Some top drivers from around the country made their way to Prescott for the race to mix it up with local hot shoes. The event started with registration and Scrutineering (tech) at Tim’s Subaru in Prescott Valley on Friday. After a short demonstration stage laid out with cones setup in the parking lot of Tim’s Subaru, the racers made their way over to Jerome to start the first stage, First View North. This was the most technical stage of the rally, as half of the 11.5 mile stage was on very narrow roads with 200-foot drop offs just inches from the roadway; the course was also very tight and technical with sharp hairpin corners.

Daniel O'Brien and co-driver Bredan McCabe race through stage five of the Prescott Rally.

Keith Jackson and co-driver Marra Estep took an early lead on stage one, driving their Subaru WRX in the Open all-wheel-drive class finishing in 10 minutes and 11 seconds. Also in a WRX a mere 28 seconds back was Daniel O’Brien and co-driver Brendan McCabe. Third overall and first Open two-wheel drive was Aurimas Bakchis with co-driver Amy Bakchis, with the team 56 seconds behind Jackson in an Eagle Talon.

Stage two, Witty Tom North, while slightly rougher was also faster due to the lack of cliffs, more gradual corners and wider and more forgiving roads. O’Brien/McCabe finished the 7.7-mile stage in 7 minutes and 4 seconds, beating out Jackson/Estep by 31 seconds. Bakchis/Bakchis finished third again 56 seconds back.

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Desert racers Trent Beaver and Brad Mack raced their '79 Ford F100 at the rally.

After the completion of stage two, the racers drove to Paulden for a 30-minute service.  Regular rally racers were in for a bit of a shock at the first service, as PMC racing setup its mobile pits. PMC should be familiar to desert fans as the team races the #15 Trophy Truck and a Stock Full in Best In The Desert. Trent Beaver and Brad Mack were racing a 1979 Ford F100, which normally serves as the team’s pre-runner in the Open Two-Wheel Drive class. The team arrived with three fully stocked chase trucks plus other support vehicles and setup as if they were at the Mineral Wash pit during the Parker 425.  This level of support is not normally seen in grassroots rally racing.

“We just did what we would normally do,” Dan Beaver said after the race. “Like in a desert race we wanted to be prepared for anything so we brought all the support equipment; we even had chase trucks spread out around the course in case there was a problem.”

Racers runs through the corners on stage three.

After the service, the racers returned to the course to run the previous two stages backwards under a full moon. Stage three was the scene of four DNFs, as several racers had trouble. Chuck Wilson and co-driver Guido Hamacher crashed their Nissan and ended up sitting upside down in the middle of the course.

The front-running team of Jackson/Estep also suffered a small crash in Stage 3 that forced them out of the rally. Their exit left the door open for O’Brien/McCabe to run away from the rest of the field, as they won stage three in 7 minutes 57 seconds and stage four in 11 minutes 16 seconds. Bakchis/Bakchis were again second on stage three, 30 seconds behind the leaders, but they dropped back to fourth on stage four.

Tim and Dick Moser sat in second overall at the end of day two. They finished third overall.

At the end of day one, O’Brien/McCabe were in first, Bakchis/ Bakchis were second (1 minute 24 seconds back) followed by Tim Moser and Dick Moser (2 minutes 2 seconds back). Desert racers Trent Beaver and Brad Mack finished ninth overall for the day.

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Murat Okcuoglu and Hakan Okcuoglu on stage five of the rally.

Day two opened in Chino Valley with stage five, Perkinsview. The stage traveled east before merging with stage four from day one (First View) south to finish in Jerome. It was run backwards for Stage 6. The final two stages were repeats with Witty Tom South (stage seven) and First View South (stage eight) to finish the rally in Jerome.

The Irish duo of O’Brien/McCabe continued their dominance on day two winning all four stages by a comfortable margin, which gave them the overall win for the rally with a total time of 1 hour, 31 minutes and 2 seconds. The rest of the field would have to fight it out for second place. However, the team did have some problems.

Daniel O’Brien runs over a bridge on stage seven en route to the team's victory.

“On the third stage we got a puncture and lost a minute,” co-driver Brendan McCabe said. “The flat tire also took out our brake lines so we had to drive stage four at night with no brakes. The car also started heating and got into the red on stage five and six, but we changed a thermostat and that solved the problem.”

Driver Daniel O’Brien said the event was a good one.

“I thought it was an enjoyable event,” he said. “The roads were fast but very loose. There was minimal grip. The two-way traffic on the course created two lines, and when you cut across the lines you lose grip. It was scary at first but the roads are wide and gave us room to recover. Back east we are used to much tighter courses with trees lining the roads.”

Shawn Nelson in The Cut.

On stage five, the team of Will Hudson and Brian Szykowny took second followed by Tim Moser and Dick Moser in third. Hudson was also second on stage seven and third on stage eight, but the team had a disastrous stage six finishing second to last. Moser stayed more consistent with a third and two fourths on the final three stages. Moser’s performance was enough to take second overall for the rally in his VW Golf GTI and first in Open Two-Wheel Drive.

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Robert Pendergrass almost hit the bridge on stage seven after going wide in the previous turn.

Third overall and first Production Two-Wheel Drive was Shawn Hudspeth and Jennifer Hudspeth. Desert racers Trent Beaver and Brad Mack finished a respectable tenth overall and third in Open Two-Wheel Drive in their first rally race.

“PMC racing has been in off-road for 33 years and this was our first rally,” Beaver said after the race. “It was really enjoyable, and I think a lot of what I learned this weekend will transfer over and help my desert racing. I learned a lot about car control and where the edge is when sliding and drifting corners.” 

Beaver felt running a desert truck has some advantages as well.

Overall winners Brendan McCabe (left) and Daniel O'Brien (right) sporting their Irish pride.

“The course was mainly graded dirt roads, and what they consider rough we can run wide open on and never think twice about it,” he said. “Our desert tires helped too; we had no issues with flats and we could run right over the rocks with no fear.  We spoke with Goodyear and went with a lower tire pressure and it helped a lot with hooking up coming out of the corners. That combined with our big V8 gave us a lot of exit speed.  We were slower in the tight, technical sections but were able to make up time on the straights and the rough with suspension and horsepower.”

The rally also featured a Rally Moto class for motorcycles which had five entries. The class was dominated by Tim Hillsamer on a 990 KTM Adventure, as he won every stage except stage two. Hillsamer had a scary moment on Stage six when he came very close to high-siding in a hairpin corner. 

“On that part of the stage you are a little tired going into some high-speed hairpins,” he said. “I came in a little hot and it hucked out and on the steering lock and I caught a rock wrong that picked the rear end up, so I tilted the bike in to avoid a high side and when I tilted I dragged the tank. The Adventures have a tilt sensor and the bike thought it was on its side, so it killed the motor and stood back up.  It made for an interesting moment for sure.”

Tim Hillsamer almost lost it when he hearly high-sided in this turn, but he held on for the win.

This was Hillsamer’s first rally race and he is intrigued by the challenge. 

“Rally is new to me,” he said. “My previous bike racing comes from trials, enduros and hair scrambles. I have raced the Baja 1000 a few times and Vegas to Reno as well. At the end of the longest stage is when I felt like I got in the groove. You have to be on your game the moment you start the stage. There is no time to warm up and get comfortable.  The first thing you do is overcook the first few turns because you are all antsy. It took some getting used to mentally and a lot of mental effort to do well.