Posted Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 2:37am
A decade ago Lauchlin O’Sullivan was the best 2WD rally driver in America. That includes the 2002 Group 2 title in the SCCA Pro Rally series. This weekend at the Olympus Rally in Washington, O’Sullivan returned to the top spot on the Podium with enough points to claim the 2012 American Super Production title with co-driver Scott Putnam halfway through Olympus, the final event on the 2012 American rally championship calendar.
With early season wins at the 100 Acre Wood rally in Missouri and the Susquehannock Trail Rally in Pennsylvania, O’Sullivan and Putnam only needed to start the Olympus Rally to gain at least a tie for the 2012 championship. But when second place rival David Sterckx and co-driver Karen Jankowski failed to finish the first four stages of Olympus, the title was left to O’Sullivan and Putnam.
“It’s been a lot of work over the year,” Putnam said during the lengthy break Saturday afternoon. “It feels good. It’ll make me sleep a little better eventually!”
Going into the evening stages O’Sullivan and Putnam are fourth overall in the Olympus rally 40 seconds ahead of Byron Garth and co-driver Chrissie Beavis who are second in the Super Production Class. Five stages are scheduled to start tonight around 7pm Pacific. There’s a sixth additional stage on the schedule tomorrow morning.
