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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
High-flying rally racing coming right at ya’! Current Canadian Rally Championship points leader Patrick “Rocket” Richard from Squamish, co-driver Rob Fagg from the Isle of Man, Britain and their Subaru Impreza WRX STi rally car (above) will be competing this weekend in the Pacific Forest Rally in Merritt and the surrounding Nicola Valley. There will be a meet-and-greet/autograph-signing Parc Exposé Thursday night from 6 - 9 p.m. at the Farmer’s Market parking lot beside the Baillie House. Racing officially begins Friday afternoon with a ceremonial start slated for 5:30 p.m. on the 2000 block of Granite Ave. Free spectator guides are available at the Merritt & District Chamber of Commerce, the Merritt Herald and numerous other retail and hospitality locations around town. Photo courtesy of World Rally Sport
By Ian Webster THE HERALD
sports@merrittherald.com
Squamish, B.C’s Patrick Richard is hoping that this weekend’s visit to Merritt is a lot nicer than the one a year ago. The current Canadian Rally Championship points leader returns to the Nicola Valley for the ninth time in 11 years to compete in the 2013 Pacific Forest Rally, the fourth event in the CRC’s national championship series. At last year’s PFR, Richard had one engine
M E R R I T T
in his Subaru Impreza WRX STi blow up during Friday’s racing, and a second, replacement engine catch fire on the Saturday. It was a memorable couple of days, that’s for sure. “We had to put another engine in overnight,” Richard said. “You’re not really supposed to change engines, but we borrowed one off a street car. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. It was pretty haywire for everyone involved.” Richard and his new co-driver, Rob Fagg from Britain, are hoping
for a much better outing at this year’s Pacific Forest Rally. They come into the event with a win and two second-place finshes in the first three races of the year and an 11-point series lead over last year’s PFR and CRC champion, Antoine L’Estage from St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. “Because we won the first event (in Maniwaki, Que.), we’ve basically been driving for consistency ever since,” Richard said. “There’s no need to take huge chances. At the same time, we’re definitely
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interested in winning the manufacturer’s championship for Subaru.” Richard, an eighttime national champion and winner of five North American titles, knows that this year’s eight-stage PFR will be tough — as usual. “It’s very hard on engines just because of the way the organizers lay out the stages. They tend to run uphill configurations, which put quite a heavy load on the engine.” A high-risk sport aficionado (he lists snowboarding, mountainbiking and skateboarding
as his other interests), Richard says he embraces any activity that gets his heart and adrenaline going. He likes the Pacific Forest Rally a lot. “It’s all mountain roads — very challenging,” he said. A native of Sherbrooke, Que., Richard originally came west to pursue his passion for snowboarding (he was the 1995 North American Boardercross champion), but fell in love with rally car racing the first time he tried it in 1999. Richard is disappointed that this year’s
PFR doesn’t include the Princeton cutoff stage from Nicola Ranch to the Hamilton Hill Lookout — one of his favorites — but he’s looking forward to the new stage out by the Coldwater Ranch. Richard and L’Estage are familiar foes. Between them, they have dominated the Canadian Rally Championship series for the last 10 years, each winning multiple titles. Merrittonians are encouraged to see the high-performance rally cars and visit with the drivers and their crews
at the Parc Exposé beside the Baillie House from 6 - 9 p.m. on Thursday, and catch the ceremonial start on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on the 2000 block of Granite Ave. The Wagon West Plaza up by Wal-Mart will be the official service area and focal point of activity during the racing Friday afternoon/ evening and all day Saturday. The best way to be on top of all the action is to pick up a free PFR spectator’s guide, available at various locations around town.
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