24 Apr Competition is underway at third round of Rally America championship in Oregon

Originally Posted on Rally-America.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (April 24, 2015) – The third round of the Rally America National Championship is underway in Oregon. Following a fan-pleasing evening of opening stages at the Portland International Raceway on Friday, the action moves to the Columbia River Gorge area for two more days of challenging competition on the region’s wildly variable terrain.

“The Oregon Trail Rally is three days and it’s like it’s three completely different rallies,” Nick Roberts said Friday. The driver of the 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STI enters this round in third place in the championship’s hotly contested Super Production class. 

Friday’s mostly tarmac stages are followed by competition on high-speed gravel roads near Dufur on Saturday that will see competitors reach sustained speeds well over 120 mph. On Sunday, the technical forest roads near Hood River provide the venue for the final day of competition.

Current Rally America points leaders David Higgins and Craig Drew of Subaru Rally Team USA are the early favorites for the win this weekend. They finished Friday’s opening four stages some 19 seconds in the lead, despite what Higgins characterized as a conservative drive.

“Tonight I was just trying to keep the car clean and look after it,” he said Friday.

Higgins has won this event six times before, including the last four consecutive years. He and Drew started the new season with wins at both Sno*Drift Rally and Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.

Adam Yeoman of FY Racing has been making big steps in the development of his Open class Subaru and is hoping to turn his luck around after the pair of DNFs that started his season. He and co-driver Jordan Schulze were third after Friday’s opening four stages, trailing second-place David Sterckx and co-driver Renaud Jamoul in their Open class Subaru STI.

With 18 stages and over 115 miles of competitive miles, the Oregon Trail Rally tests teams to the limit. Unpredictable weather coupled with the variable character of the stage roads often make this event a battle of attrition. Forecasters are predicting rain Saturday with a mix of sun and cloud for Day 3.

“Tomorrow’s stages might seem simple but if they get wet, it can get really slimy and slippy,” said Alex Kihurani, who is co-driving three-time two-wheel drive champion Chris Duplessis in the Nameless Performance Subaru BRZ this weekend. “But if it’s dry, and there’s good grip, we can get the power down.”

The BRZ has undergone extensive development and testing since it last saw action in the Rally America Championship in 2013 and could be a contender for outright stage wins on the power stages Saturday. Entered in the Group 5 class, the high horsepower rear-wheel drive machine is capable of top speeds approaching 150 mph.

Duplessis and Kihurani are leading the two-wheel drive category heading into Day 2 by eight seconds over Troy Miller and co-driver Ole Holter in their Ford Fiesta R2.

The SP class battle will be hotly contested with a deep field of contenders. Indian National Rally Championship driver Gary Gill is leading the points in the class, followed closely by San Francisco native, Lauchlin O’Sullivan, and Minnesota driver Roberts.

Roberts has had poor luck at this event in the past. Last year, he and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino developed a mechanical issue on the Big Boyd stage that resulted in a dramatic fire. On the same stage in 2013, the team’s rally ended in a rollover. The driver said Friday he is looking forward to getting past that stage this year.

Local driver Paul Eklund, of Tigard, Ore., and co-driver Karen Jankowski of Vancouver, Wash., are also expected to provide stiff competition in their SP class Primitive Racing Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

In B-Spec, James Robinson and co-driver Brian Penza are leading in their 2015 Honda Fit.

In addition to Day 2 action, Saturday night will feature the Double Mountain Block Party with food and a live DJ on the charming 4th Street in Hood River starting at 7:30 p.m. The event will give fans the opportunity to meet and greet the national competitors and see their cars.