July 24-27, 2003

Open Road Rally
Battle Mountain to Austin, Nevada

The Pony Express was run from Battle Mountain, Nevada on highway 305 to the Austin, Nevada on Highway 50. It's a 83.55 mile course that ends at the old Pony Express route. This was the second year MKM Racing Promotions put on this event. They're web address is www.openroadracing.com.

This year three 928s from NorCal928 entered the Pony Express. Bill Ball in his 89 S4 was running in his 2nd Pony, Richard Sanders in his 80 ex-Callaway Turbo in his second Open Road Rally (first time as a driver), and me in my 90 S4 with Tim Bosserman as my navigator. Tom Moore, and his brother Dave, from the NWPac928, had entered his 87 S4, but due to an unfortunate accident two weeks before the event, they had to run Dave's 1998 GS400. Rich had entered his 928 in the Bonneville 100 earlier this year, but due to a fuel problem, volunteered to be my navigator. This event he had chosen to enter the 125 mph class of the Grand Touring Division. This class requires fire extinguisher, 5 point harness, Z rated tires, SA 95 helmet, racing boots, and gloves. The maximum speed (tech limit) allowed is 140 mph. Bill had also entered his 928 in the 125 mph class. Last year he entered the Pony in the 120 class, but because of a problem with his helmet he was limited to the 110 class. This year he had a new helmet and was ready to go. I again chose to enter the Grand Sport Division, in the 145 mph class. This Division has a tech speed limit of 165 mph, and requires the car to be equiped with rollbar, racing harnesses, fire extinguisher, and Z rated or better tires. The driver and navigator are required to wear a full racing suit, SA95 Helmet, neck collar, arm restraints, fire resistant boots and gloves. The car had run so well at Bonneville, that I decided to leave everything alone.

The Porsches

George A Suennen/Tim Bosserman 1990 928 S4 Grand Sport 145 class	Roger and Bill Greene 1999 Carrera Grand Sport 140 class	Fred Wagner 1996 993 Turbo Grand Touring 130 class
Rich Sanders 1980 928 Grand Touring 125 class	William Ball 1989 928 S4 Grand Touring 125 class	Watt Web/Roland Roth 2002 GT2 Touring 120 class
Dave and Tom Moore 1998 GS400(1987 928 S4) Touring 110 class

928 Results

Division	Target	Number	Driver/Navigator	Model	Finish	Times/Avg Speed
Grand Sport	145 mph	103	George A Suennen Tim Bosserman	90 928 S4	2th	34:33.563 (-0:00.782) 145.055 mph (+0.055)
Grand Touring	125 mph	928	Rich Sanders	80 928	1st	40:05.940 (-0:00.300) 125.016 mph (+0.016)
Grand Touring	125mph	171	Bill Ball	89 928 S4	4th	39:58.610 (-0:07.630) 125.398 mph (+0.398)

Radar Speeds

Driver/Navigator	Target	Radar #1	Radar #2	Trap #1	Trap #2	Finish
George A Suennen	145 mph	161 mph	139 mph	161.90 mph	163.04 mph	142.1 mph
Rich Sanders	125 mph	137 mph	121 mph	131.87 mph	133.93 mph	101.9 mph
Bill Ball	125 mph	139 mph	125 mph	135.20 mph	136.43 mph	112.3 mph

All in all the cars ran beautifully. Thanks to MKM for hosting the event and DEVEK for all their help getting my car ready. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Photo Gallery

Complete Results