Since we were now two hours away from Ellenville, we decided to skip the South Gulley spectator area. We spectated from this area before at last year’s Spring Rally NY and decided that it was a GREAT stage to be at but only if you had press credentials. The spectator area provides a mediocre view of the cars and it was decided that it wasn’t worth our time to only catch two stages at that area. Instead we thought it would be more important if we focused our efforts to bring you info on a new spectator area in Walton, NY.

The spectator area in Walton, NY was located at the intersection of Dunk Hill Road and Dunk Hill Spur Road and was setup for spectating the “Steve Bogart” stages. The spectator area is fairly high in elevation and so the rain turned to snow and the temperature got much colder. From the spectator area you could see the cars decelerating down a hill with a series of mild turns and then accelerate into a slippery left hand turn. The spectator area wasn’t too bad however the owners of the surrounding property were not letting anybody stand on their property so all the spectators were crammed onto the street at the intersection. This made viewing the entire pass tricky unless you were “up against the tape”. The highlight of this stage was when the team driving the RX3 overcooked the left hander and put the car in a drainage ditch. The spectators, media and marshals all helped in eventually pushing the little rotary back on course.

Even though the Spring Rally New York of 09 turned out to be frigid, rainy mess mixed with expensive equipment failure and missed stages we all still had a great time. We’ll continue to attend and enjoy the Spring Rally New York because we consider it a tradition. It’s an introduction or better yet, a primer to prepare us for the upcoming rallies. It is experiences like this past weekend that also write our memories and stories to be shared with friends and fans alike…and we wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.

Why?

Well, we’re Rally Addicts.