Neat Drive!

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DEATONS DOMINATE FOR WARPATH REDUX WIN
June 18 2005

By Bob Strattan

   The team of Robin and Gary Deaton dominated over all others with less than a fifth of the penalty points of the second place team of Ken Frakes and Leon Bolen to win the 2005 version of the WARPATH REDUX TSD TOURING ROADRALLY.  Although there were only five teams entered, three of the five teams managed to get at least one control into the single digit penalty point range, and second and third place was separated by only 6 points in the total making it a competitive event.
   The event started and ended at the Whataburger on South Sheridan Road in Tulsa.  It wandered through rural Jenks, Bixby, Leonard and Coweta communities and farm land before returning to the Whataburger, rallymaster Ken Olinger’s favorite morning coffee spot.
   The team of Bob and Vada Strattan in their Toyota Prius hybrid-electric scored a 1 on the first of the 6 controls, but then faded fast with their only other single digit being a 3 on control 6, placing third with a total of 284.  Bob’s calculator had a lose nut on the keyboard and their attempt at a time allowance to recover from a “pondering” delay on a tricky instruction in leg 4 wasn’t done with enough finesse to beat out the Frakes–Bolen Nissan 350Z mounted team’s total of 278.  Frakes–Bolen managed a 6 on leg 3, and were never higher than a 101 on leg 2. The Deaton’s in their Ford Escort had a zero on leg 4, single digits on 4 controls, with their largest penalty of 27 being on leg 1, finishing with a total of only 53.
   The team of Ron Fleming and Cindy Bolen in a Pantera battled the team of Trent Fowler and Mercedes Millberry in a classic Citroen DS21 for the fourth and fifth positions.  Both had 4 maximums of 150 points per control, with the Fowler – Millberry team triumphing over the Fleming – Bolen team 689 to 700 for the final two places.
   The rallymaster resurrected some really interesting roads and routes from his repertoire of many years of rally experience with the old Oil Capital Auto Club and the NEOKLA divisional rallies of bygone days.  An equal dose of open controls and do-it-yourself controls provided a good mix of challenges while keeping the event on schedule with adequate rest breaks and few opportunities to get lost.

Warpath Redux Results

1. Driv/Nav Deaton/Deaton
2. Frakes/L Bolen
3. Strattan/V Strattan
4. Fowler/M Millberry
5. Fleming/C Bolen

   The next NEOKLA RoadRally event will be a night-time gimmick rally on August 13 by Tonia Peacock. A Route 66 TSD touring rally by Bob Strattan will be held on September 17. Watch the Web sites for more information.