03 Jun Travis Pastrana Leads STPR Heading into Day Two
Article written for American Rally Association here.
Wellsboro, PA (June 3, 2017)
Travis Pastrana and Robbie Durant lead the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally after the first day of competition. Pastrana currently holds a 36s advantage over Barry McKenna and Leon Jordan in the Fiesta S2000 Turbo and a 1:13.6s lead over his Subaru Rally Team USA teammates, David Higgins and Craig Drew.
“I like the bumpy technical stuff we had today and we didn’t really have any issues,” said Pastrana, “Today was my day. David just had everything that could possibly go wrong; that’s gone wrong.”
Higgins suffered problems early on Friday’s first stage. Broken turbo plumbing forced his car into road transit mode, an engine management setting that reduces power and disables certain vehicle functions.
“A big shame,” said Higgins, “but we’ve got the best crew here. If anyone can fix it, these guys can. So we’ll let the guys do the work and I’ll do mine tomorrow.”
Day 1 of STPR sees competition across 19 miles of spectator friendly stage roads. The day started with two runnings of the 8 mile Waste Management stage, once in a forward configuration and once reversed. From there, the rally moved to the Tioga County Fairgrounds and the evening head-to-head Super Special stages. The Tioga Fairgrounds stages are a favorite of both fans and drivers and will be run again today as Stages 14 and 15.
Restricted Open 4WD is a class of one this weekend, Jeff Seehorn and Karen Jankowski finished the day without incident and currently sit fourth overall behind Higgins.
Lauchlin O’Sullivan and Scott Putnam of CPD Racing currently lead Production 4WD. STPR represents O’Sullivan’s first rally of 2017 and he’s been working hard to shake off the rust. Sitting 17.8s back from O’Sullivan in second position are local favorites Troy and Jeremy Miller. Last year the Miller brothers won their class here and they are looking for a repeat performance. Third in P4WD are Evo X drivers Sumit Punjabi and Matt James. Punjabi wowed the crowd yesterday morning with one of the fastest flybys over the jump on Waste Management.
Current Open 2WD championship leaders Ryan Millen and Rhianon Gelsomino are driving true to form and holding first in their class at STPR. Their chief competition this weekend, Seamus Burke and Martin Brady, are sitting 15.9s back in the Mustang Powered MKII Escort. Burke had sporadic issues with first gear throughout the day, evidenced by his bogged launches at the evening’s super specials.
“We’ve got a little bit of a lead going into tomorrow,” said Gelsomino, “it’s fast stages again, so we’ll have a big battle against Burke in his car. But we’re really looking forward to it and hopefully we can hold on and get another win.”
Starting third in O2WD today are “Savage” Dave Wallingford and Leanne Junnila. The pair are continuing their steady strategy of running clean rallies this weekend.
Leading Production 2WD are Keanna Erickson-Chang and Claudia Pullen. The Fiesta drivers punch above their weight and are currently sitting fourth overall in 2WD after wowing the crowd at Waste Management with an especially long jump.
“We may have gone a little higher than we expected to go,” said Erickson-Chang, “I told Claudia on the way in that we’ll take the jump but not go for big air or anything and then I totally sent it!”
Today sees STPR move deep into the Tioga and Susquehannock State Forests. The wooded stages emphasize endurance, pitting drivers against 110 miles of tight and twisty gravel stage roads and several 10 plus mile stages. The effect of heavy rains from last week is still being felt under the dense tree canopy, several stages transition from wet to dry surface and back again.
The day’s final stages are possibly it’s most exciting. STPR’s penultimate stage, Mine Hole, is a 25 mile sendoff to the Susquehannock Forest. From there it’s back to the Tioga County Fairgrounds for one last set of under Super Specials in front of the crowd.
Be sure to download the ARA Rally App to follow along with everything STPR. Live timing and scoring is presented by Nameless Performance on both the App and on the ARA Live webpage.
ARA will be live streaming from several locations throughout the day:
8:45 – Parc ExposĂ©
12:00 – SS6 Painter Spectator Corner
20:15 – SS 14/15 Tioga Fairgrounds Super Special
21:30 – Press Conference
21:45 – Podium Ceremony
All times are EST.
Photo Credit: Matt Stryker
About American Rally Association (ARA)
We are a member driven organization dedicated to the sport of stage rally by providing a transparent and inclusive sanctioning body. A 501 (c)(3) non-profit, ARA is lead by elected and appointed board members who deliver a framework for safety, competition, promotion, and educational forums for all aspects of the sport. The common goal of our members, volunteers, and organization is a thriving stage rally program in America.
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