By Michael Lang
The Vidette
Auto racing fans in Grays Harbor County are in for a treat this weekend.
The starting flag for the two-day Tour de Forest race will drop at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Grays Harbor County Courthouse in Montesano. The race ends Sunday at the state Capitol in Olympia.
Drivers from Europe and North America have been competing since April in the American Rally Association and United States Auto Club’s National Championship Series. This weekend’s race is the last in the series. Past races include May’s Olympus Rally in Shelton and races in Oregon, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Idaho.
This weekend’s race mainly takes place on “114 miles of logging roads,” race director Steve McQuaid said.
Drivers and co-drivers will start at 9 outside the courthouse. The cars leave at one-minute intervals.
Before that, fans can check out the cars, which cost as much as $200,000 each, at 8 at the courthouse. Fans also might get a chance to talk with a driver.
Kristen Tabor, of Portland, has been a rally car driver for about 18 years.
“It can be out of most people’s comfort zones to be driving on these kinds of roads as fast as you can,” she said. “I find it to be a lot of fun, most of the times.”
Tabor is eager to return to racing in East County.
“It’s been more than 10 years” since she’s taken part in a rally car race near here, she said. “I really enjoyed it then and can’t wait to get back out there.”
For Tabor, driving is a family event. Her mother, Jan Tabor is her co-driver. Her younger brother Mark and her father, Bruce, also will be driving this weekend.
She said while the race begins in Montesano, drivers are very strict about obeying the speed limits until they get out onto the actual course.
This weekend’s race will be run in stages on logging roads. Drivers first take on the Black Creek Stage then the Reed Hill Stage. There is a service period for cars, then both stages are run again. The viewing area is about 21 miles from Monte on the Wynoochee Valley Road (if you’re headed out to watch, follow signs to the spectator area). Another stage will be run twice on Sunday near Shelton.
With a second-place finish at the Idaho Rally last month in Boise and Placerville, Idaho, driver David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, of Subaru Rally Team USA, took the National Championship Series title in the open class. Higgins and Drew won four of the six races so far this year.
There still are several regional class titles that will be decided this weekend.
Event sponsor DirtFish will be hosting a barbecue and hand out hot dogs, chips and drinks. Meals are free, but “we would appreciate a donation,” according to the tourdeforestrally.com website.
