Trunkmonkey Racing has been hard at work preparing the Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza for Maine Forest Rally 2006, Round 5 of the Rally America National Championship. The team will again be competing at the Regional level in Production GT and has made many improvements to the car and service vehicles to make life easier for the Driver, Co-driver, and Service Crew.

Sean Sosik-Hamor and Andrew Hobgood will again team up to traverse the Special Stages while Sabrina Vollers has stepped up to the plate as Crew Chief to coordinate team logistics and Service Crew movements. Chris Brenton, Brian Knapp, James Mackey, and Kelly Sosik-Hamor will join Sabrina as Service Crew to help keep the Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza running smoothly over the two days of racing.

We’d like to thank our sponsors for the 2006 season:

Finer Touch Auto Body (603-668-4713)

SubaruProParts.com

RallyHo Motorsports

RallyDecals.com

Trunkmonkey Racing will be attending Wicked Big Meet 2006 on Saturday, May 20th to represent the team and Pepper Computer’s Pepper Pad. Our Webcam will be up and running all day assuming we have EVDO coverage!

Trunkmonkey Racing Camera 1

We are also organizing the First Annual Wicked Big Meet Fun Rally Presented by Trunkmonkey Racing on Sunday, May 21st! Come on out and join the fun! Pre-registration is closed but you can register at Wicked Big Meet on Saturday or the morning of the Rally on Sunday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, HAVERHILL, MA (07/26/2006) — New England-based motorsports team Trunkmonkey Racing successfully completed Maine Forest Rally 2006 which hosts River Valley Rally and Bethel Rally of the Rally America Eastern Regional Championship. Competing in Production GT class, driver Sean Sosik-Hamor and co-driver Andrew Hobgood piloted the 762 PGT Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza to take 3rd in class at River Valley Rally and 2nd in class at Bethel Rally over the two days of competition and 78 miles of Special Stages.

Trunkmonkey Racing has been extremely active in the New England motorsports community for the past five years both competing in and organizing Rallycross, Ice Racing, Road Rally, and New England Subaru Impreza Club gatherings as well as marshaling and crewing at various ProRally and ClubRally events. The team’s second running of Maine Forest Rally, this year marked the anniversary of the Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza’s 2005 debut and showed the car’s and service crew’s ability to stand up to punishment under pressure.

Said Sean Sosik-Hamor, “This year has proven that Trunkmonkey Racing is about teamwork and the support of friends and family, especially my wife Kelly who has supported me since the start of my racing career six years ago. Like all other events, Maine Forest Rally was a learning experience, and I feel confident that we will be even better prepared in the future to handle unexpected situations as they arise on course and in service.”

Remarked Andrew Hobgood, “This year’s event was a lot faster and smoother than last year, while a reliable car and well-tuned service crew really let us push the limits with MFR’s notoriously sparse route book. A clean finish and some fast stage times were the main goals for the event, and we definitely achieved them.”

Team crew chief Sabrina Vollers also added, “We were better equipped and more organized than last year which really paid off in efficiency and overall confidence of the team. Everyone was so dedicated and took their responsibilities very seriously, but it didn’t stop us from having fun with makeshift tarp tents during the passing rain and toting our obligatory inflatable monkey to spectate Mexico from the top of an RV.”

As always, the Trunkmonkey Racing service crew was the backbone of the team with Kelly Sosik-Hamor in charge of team amenities and Sabrina Vollers acting as crew chief while Brian Knapp and James Mackey took care of repairs and maintenance at service. Team member Brian Batty, Manchester Subaru technician Mike Rowe, SubaruProParts.com, and Town Fair Tire were also instrumental in preparing the Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza during the weeks leading up to Maine Forest Rally.

Many thanks also go out to Pepper Computer for providing the team with an EVDO to Wi-Fi Access Point for wireless Internet access in the backwoods of Maine. In addition, a pre-production Pepper Pad 3 Handheld Computer was supplied by Pepper to store PDF versions of Rally America rulebooks and bulletins as well as all required Subaru Impreza factory service manuals, addenda, and reference documentation.

Trunkmonkey Racing would like to thank their 2006 sponsors and partners:

Finer Touch Auto Body: 118 Maple St., Manchester, NH (603-668-4713)

SubaruProParts.com: http://www.subaruproparts.com/

RallyDecals.com: http://www.rallydecals.com/

RallyHo Motorsports: http://www.rallyhomotorsports.com/

Wicked Big Meet: http://www.wickedbigmeet.com/

North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club: http://www.nasioc.com/

Pepper Computer: http://www.pepper.com/

Town Fair Tire: http://www.townfairtire.com/

For more information about Trunkmonkey Racing, please visit:

http://www.trunkmonkeyracing.com/

For more information about Maine Forest Rally, please visit:

http://www.maineforestrally.com/

For information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact:

Sean Sosik-Hamor

e: [email protected]

p: 978-457-3575

Photos Copyright (c) 2006 Pete Kuncis

The weather was warm and clear, the views were breathtaking, but in the end the “Trunkmonkey Run For The Border” road rally was all about the driving. The event took place over 160 miles of Vermont’s best driving roads. Approximately 80% of the course was dirt, but there were some twisty tarmac sections thrown in just to keep participants on their toes. CAS was a little higher than the average NER event, challenging each driver’s ability to stay on time.

While the rally took place by the New Hampshire/Vermont border, the rally got its name from the fact that contestants followed a portion of the route used by some of the booze runners in the 1930’s. Prohibition spawned a new job opportunity, namely transporting alcohol down from Canada to major cities such as Boston and New York. It was not uncommon for booze runners to stick to the back roads in order to avoid detection by law enforcement. The rally passed through one of the major hubs where alcohol would be transferred from one transport vehicle to another.

Competition on the rally was extremely fierce. The teams of Alan and Kathy Moody, as well as Cara and Alan Dennis both made strong showing in novice class. Their Rallycross skills obviously got a workout on this extended course. In the end however, John Parsons and Andrej Gaspari would edge out the team of Don Grant and George Harding to take the top podium spot by a slim 16 point margin. All the novice teams did an excellent job following the course and none of them maxed out a single checkpoint score. Each team could easily be competitive in stock class.

Speaking of stock class, the competition here was even closer. The team of Ramon Gonzalez and Greg Viscomi edged out the team of Lisa and Howie Lyhte by a mere eight points. That’s less than five seconds over the entire length of the course using a watch and stock odo gear!

Both teams running in class C were formed just days before the event. While each participant was seasoned at road rally, it was their first time out with their respective driver or co-driver. The team of Brett Rudolf and Hal Denham made a strong showing, especially when you calculate in the need to fix a flat tire on course. In the end however it was the team of Tim Chevalier and Steve McKelvie that took the top podium spot in lucky car number 13. Chevalier and McKelvie had an amazing run, pulling single digit scores at 70% of the checkpoints.

There was only a single team competing in class B. This was the team of Mike White and Andrew Steere. Despite the lack of competition they still hit it hard and pulled a respectable score.

Finally, the biggest competition was in class A. The team of Daren Jones and David Schickedarz make the trip all the way down from Ontario and made a strong showing. The team of Scott and Jamie Beliveau also did well, especially when you take into consideration that this is Jamie’s first year out. Just edging them out was the team of Pego Mack and Mark Ziburis. Not only did Mack and Ziburis take the third podium position, but they also won the drawing at the end of the event for the two lamp auxiliary light bar donated by Rally Ho! Racing. This will certainly come in handy on their next night rally.

The top two spots in class A could not have been closer. Mike Friedman and Marc Goldfarb took second with a mere 19 points. Top spot went to none other than Stephanie Gosselin and Fred Mapplebeck with 18 points. That’s just over .5 seconds worth of error separating these two teams. Talk about tight competition!

Other highlights of the rally included a swimming hole at the break area, numerous covered bridges, and free food at the end of the event. By the end of the event, everyone seemed to be grinning from ear to ear, which is what really matters in road rally.

Team Trunkmonkey would like to thank our two generous sponsors for helping to make this event such a success. Thanks to Rally Ho! Racing for raffling off the beautifully made auxiliary light bar. Rally Ho! makes an awesome two or four lamp light-bar for the Subaru Impreza that requires no drilling that can easily be installed or removed as needed. For more info, drop a note to [email protected].

Finally, we would like to thank Finer Touch Auto Body of Manchester, NH. They have been big supporters of both the Trunkmonkey team, as well as multiple SCCA events within the region. Without generous financial supporters like Finer Touch, our sport would be far more cost prohibitive. More information can be found at www.finertouchautobody.com.