Well, the other thing that happened during the morning runs was that WRX driver Reto Koradi's codriver, Rich Wiese, had second gear disappear on him on his first launch. So, I introduced Reto to Billy and his dad in the hopes that Billy would let Reto finish the event in the RS. The Brooks, being the kind folk that they are, said it was no problem to let Reto run STX in the RS, in addition to me running it in STS.
     So, the afternoon runs weren't much better for us in STS. The rain continued, at times torrentially, though Billy cleaned up his runs to take the lead. Me? I improved a bunch on the left side (1.5), running virtually identical 32.0s, and sat on a 32.0 from the morning on the right. This left me in fifth place for the day, behind Andy Hollis, Robert Seelig and Gerry Terranova. However, things were looking brighter for Sunday.... literally. There was forecast!!

jeff templeton, bringing the GS subie through the finish; photo by Karen Kraus

Standing around in the rain all day meant that I was dead tired at the end of the day. Plus, I'd come down with a hideous respiratory infection earlier in the week. Needless to say, I didn't do much in the way of socializing Saturday night. Grainger, Rich and I went to dinner at the Blind Tiger and met up with Aaron and Frank Miller (SM Neon), as well as Telehowski and Braun, who spent most of their time engaged in conversation with Jason Isley. While we all sat at the same table, it likely appeared to be two different parties. Oh well. I wasn't too concerned about it. It was also Reto's birthday, and some of the guys were taking him over to BD's. While I sort of wanted to join them, I was just too tired, and so after dinner, it was back to the hotel, and then passed out from exhaustion. :(

     Sunday dawned.... rain-free! There was still standing water on the right-side course, and it was a lot cooler and windier, but it was not raining! Everyone was looking to drop times significantly, especially me, since I was second driver, and so I'd have even better conditions than the first drivers. :D
     So, Billy goes out, as the class leader, and rips off some beautifully fast times. A 28.9 on the right side stands as the fastest right side time, but Gerry Terranova drops a 28.6 on the left.... and Billy continues his left side cone troubles, tagging two cones on his first left run and one more on his second one. His hold on the lead is gone, relinquished to Gerry, who holds a commanding 1.5 jump over Andy Hollis. Seelig, too, has cone problems, hitting at least one on every run.
     It's up to me and Ann Hollis to show the guys how it's done. My first right run is a clean 30.5 -- a 1.5 drop, and respectable enough, though not really fast. The first left, however is a cone fest -- I knew I tagged one, and somewhere along the line, I collected a second one. Back around to the right... and I dip into the 29s with a 29.7! This is faster than Andy Hollis's right side time, and so I am holding my breath as the left side lights come down... I zip through the first set of gates, but push out into the back side.... turn in too early for the diagonal slalom, but recover for the finish... and damn, only a 29.9. However, it vaults me up into third spot, 0.476 back from Andy Hollis, and it means another trophy finish in a Subaru. But, being 2.0 back from Terranova basically destroys any shot at the Challenge. :(
     Billy comes by later to give me a ticket to put my name in for the bonus challenge. However, his name is drawn early on, so I don't worry about getting picked myself. Unfortunately, he cones out in the first round. :(

I don't have anything else to do while I waiting for my ride (Mike Snyder) back to Kansas City, so I help out with the gridding of the open challenge cars. As the numbers dwindle down to 16, then 8, then 4, Jeff Templeton is defying all the odds, being the 4th place GS finisher, and staying in the mix. Matt Grainger, who won DS, is also still around, paired up with Erik Strelnieks for the final four. Jeff Jacobs is matched with Templeton. Then, the unthinkable happens -- Grainger redlights, and in his relief at seeing the red, Strelnieks takes his foot off the clutch of the Z06, rolls forward, and.... yep, redlights too!! So, suddenly, the final four matchup between the Jeffs becomes the final, and Templeton is shaking like a leaf. Grainger and Strelnieks do their runoff for third, which Grainger wins by a hair. Then, I give Templeton the "magic touch" and he's off to take the win from Jacobs.

the proud winner of the open challenge; photo by karen kraus

     I most certainly played with the new digital camera and zoom lens at this event. If you like AWD launches, check out this AVI clip of one of Billy's launches. I'll likely upload more pictures later, and post a link to them here.