Arrowhead Sports Car Club
Sno*Fall Rally
Dec. 8, 2001

Lipinski/Naughton Audi and Prater/Ostenson Mazda crossing the Kettle River

Mom Nature came through with a light dusting of new snow the evening before, so the umpteenth annual Sno*Fall Winter Rally was able to live up to its name once again. Only a couple of weeks prior the temperatures had been in the 60s (F) and rallymaster Randy Jokela was concerned that his course would end up rather boring despite the interesting roads of Carlton County. Not so.

The first leg took competitors through the Ditchbanks, a rugged road built through a swamp... er, wetlands area in the Fond du Lac State Forest. The Ditchbanks Road is generally not plowed unless the snow gets very deep. A recent snowfall of about a foot had deteriorated to slush and refrozen in recent days, making for icy ruts. In past years several cars have gotten stuck by sliding off the road, and one year Todd Larsen rolled a Renault LeCar on one of the curves. All cars made it through without difficulty this time.

Two rally teams negotiate a curve on Douglas Road.

The roads were in better shape after that, though even paved roads had a veneer of hard-packed snow, making traction questionable in some corners. The course headed west toward Cromwell and Wright, then south for awhile toward the town of Kettle River, and east to Barnum for a long break.

The course went past the family home of actress Jessica Lange, through the Holyoke area, and north again along some twisty roads over various branches of the Nemadji River, around Chub Lake and back to Cloquet.

Several drivers reported "moments" along the road when they weren't certain they would stay on the road, but none ended up in the ditches.

Winners Phyllis and Scott Carlborn enter the final control.

Phyllis and Scott Carlborn, 2001 Winter Rally Champions, were once again the winners in their Jeep Grand Cherokee. Second overall and first in Class C went to Steve Kemp and Rolf Strand in an Audi.

Dec. 8, 2001
Official Results

OA   CL   Driver            Car           1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9  Total
          Navigator         Model                                                          
 1   1B   Phyllis Carlborn  98 Jeep       0    4    3    0    0    0    4    0    0     11
          Scott Carlborn    Grand Cherokee

 2   1C   Steve Kemp           Audi       3    0    3    0    0    0    0    0   31     37
          Rolf Strand

 3   2C   Wm. Yarroch          Subaru  59+5   23   14    0    9    3    4    0  8+5    130
          Michael Yarroch   Impreza

 4   3C   Dexter Nelson                   3   18    8   31    0   44    5   31  8+5    153
          Mike McConnell

 5   4C   Matt Prater       90 Mazda     31   19   12   60   60    9   14    6    0    211
          Bryce Ostenson    626 LX

 6   5C   Joe Lipinski      90 Audi       0   36    3   60    0   54    4   60   18    235
          Brian Naughton    90 quattro

Rallymaster: Randy Jokela
Ass't RM: Diane Sargent
Checkout: Tim Winker
Control Workers: Bill Taylor, Brad Enberg, Al Kintigh, Nick Kintigh, Alex Kintigh
Course Opening: Randy Jokela, Jon Anderson
Sweep: Diane Sargent, Al Taylor