PikaSports – Great Speeds at Prescott Rally 2011

Prescott, AZ (Oct 1, 2011) –Driver Katianna Pihakari (Anaheim Hills, CA) joined by co-driver John Dillon (Thousand Oaks, CA) took the PikaSports team to another great finish at the Prescott 2011 Rally last weekend. This event, held in the surroundings of Prescott, AZ, on September 30^th and October 1^st, was sanctioned by National Auto Sports Association (NASA). The Prescott Rally 2011 was the final round of the United States rally Championship’s (USRC) Pacific Division Series. It also consists of two events for the California Rally Series (CRS). “We had a great weekend,” commented the PikaSports driver Katianna Pihakari. “The roads were fast and fun and the event was really smoothly organized. The volunteers made our day as their support and smiles made us fly through the stages.” “The Streetwise crew did a wonderful job preparing the car for this race. The car just could not have worked better,” Katianna continued. “We did hit a large rock during the roughest section of the stages on Saturday morning. This damaged the left rear wheel bearing but our crew did a wonderful job and changed the parts in less than 20 minutes during the service break.” “We were determined to bring our overall speeds up during this rally and I am very pleased to see that we obtained our goal,” explained the crew chief Doug Nagy from Streetwise Motorsports www.streetwiseparts.com. “This specific rally is quite demanding for the whole team. The race starts with night stages and the visibility is often limited by the standing dust in the desert. The huge exposures (drops next to the roads on the sides of the mountain) are quite unsettling for most drivers and this will reduce the overall speeds. The long 21-mile stages on Saturday morning are demanding for the drivers and it will be difficult to focus through the longer stages. This is approximately twice the length of a typical stage here on the west coast. ” “The long straights might be the fastest here on the west coast. We, for example, obtained speeds of 93 mph on loose gravel!” continued the co-driver John Dillon. “This team is a true pleasure to work with and I am impressed to see how quickly Katianna is improving as a driver. Also, because we can fully trust the quality work of Doug and the crew, Katianna and I can fully focus on our jobs within the team. We were lucky to have Steve McNaughton, Ken Shaver, Jon Coltrane and Ralph Kosmides (a former national rally champion) turning wrenches with Doug when we needed help replacing a wheel bearing. They are a big part of our success.” “We, the whole team, were hoping for slight rain for Friday night to keep the dust down in the darkness and sunshine for Saturday,” mentioned Katianna. ”Luckily the weather man granted our wishes and we had a wonderful weekend at Prescott Rally 2011.” PikaSports campaigns a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX built and prepared by Streetwise Motorsports (www.streetwiseparts.com). Lights are provided by Anzo USA (www.anzousa.com). PikaSports races in partnership with the Widget Rally Team www.widgetracing.com. Photos courtesy of Motorsports Memories www.motorsportmemories.com