[RESOLVED] Segments not being passed to controller in subdir!!!!

[eluser]the real rlee[/eluser]
Guys, serious problem here, desperate for some help. For some reason routed segments are not being passed to sub controller functions. (FYI regex is valid and tested)

Routes:

Code:

$route['about\/locations(?:\/([a-zA-Z]{3}))?(?:\/([a-zA-Z-]+))?'] = "about/locations/index/$1/$2";

Locations Controller:

Code:

function index($state, $storename) {

   echo $state; // prints what should be storename!
}

Help greatly appreciated!