ARA Travels East to STPR

Written for American Rally Association here.

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania (June 2, 2017)

The American Rally Association goes transcontinental, traveling east to the tree-covered mountains and sweeping stage roads roads of the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR), June 2 and 3. The two day event features 127 miles smooth dirt and gravel stages that twist through forests, cross over rivers, and fly through fields.

Friday starts on the marquee stage, Waste Management. Run on 8 miles of reclaimed forestry and coal mine access roads, Waste Management features one of the larger jumps on the ARA calendar. From there, the rally heads to the Tioga County Fairgrounds and the fan favorite head-to-head super special. Two cars start side-by-side on a Möbius Track and compete directly against each other in front of the crowd.

Saturday sees the rally move into the Tioga and Susquehannock State Forests, transitioning into the twisty dirt and gravel stages that STPR is known for. Day 2 of STPR focuses on driver endurance, featuring nearly 110 stage miles over the course of 10 hours. Many of the day’s stages are over 10 miles in length with the final forest stage, Mine Hole, being a 25 mile sprint to the finish.

Heading into STPR, David Higgins and Craig Drew lead the overall championship standings by 7 points over Subaru Rally Team USA teammates Travis Pastrana and Robbie Durant. The two drivers are in a highly contested battle for the inaugural ARA Championship, fighting for seconds and trading stage wins. Higgins has won in the Susquehannock Forest three years in a row. By contrast, Pastrana failed to finish after multiple offs here last year, highlighting the challenging history he has with STPR.

“STPR is the only round on the calendar I haven’t won,” said Pastrana, “I’ve crashed out more than i’ve finished and I want to change that around.”

Barry McKenna and Leon Jordan earned their first ARA podium last time out at Olympus Rally. The Irish drivers have been hard at work learning the ins and outs of their unique Fiesta S2000 Turbo, steadily increasing their pace with every stage.

Restricted Open 4WD favorites Jeff Seehorn and Karen Jankowski are back after a DNF at Olympus Rally due to a timing belt failure. Seehorn is currently second in the RO4WD championship. But his principal competition, Travis Nease, is skipping this weekend, allowing Seehorn the chance to take the lead. Don’t think that Seehorn will be uncontested at STPR, though. Challenging him in RO4WD this weekend are Jeff Reamer and Danny Norkus in a 2015 STi.

Production 4WD sees a battle of former champions. CPD Racing’s Lauchlin O’Sullivan and Scott Putnam are here challenging their first rally of the year in their championship winning 2009 STi. O’Sullivan last competed at STPR in 2015, finishing second in class and fourth overall. Challenging them are local drivers Troy and Jeremey Miller in a 2008 Subaru STi. Miller is a former 2WD champion and knows the Susquehannock Forest roads well. This battle is evenly matched, expect it to be close.

Toyota Racing’s Ryan Millen and Rhianon Gelsomino come into STPR leading the 2WD class and holding third in the overall ARA Championship standings. The pair have won every ARA event to date and are looking to make STPR four for four. Challenging the the Rally Rav4 this weekend are Team O’Neill drivers Dave Wallingford and Jeanne Junnila. Wallingford is a consistent podium finisher and is coming off a second place finish at Olympus.

Starting for the first time at an ARA event are Seamus Burke and Martin Brady in their Mustang powered MKII Escort. Burke has had consistent success since introducing the car earlier this year and has the potential to take the class. Also competing in their first ARA event are Keanna Erickson-Chang and Claudia Pullen of O.D.D. Racing. Erickson-Chang knows how to hustle her Fiesta and is a favorite to win Production 2WD. Competing in a rally for his first time is ARA Vice President Chris Cyr, in an R1 Fiesta. Not attending STPR is O.D.D. Racing’s Cameron Steely and Preston Osborn, Millen’s principal rivals. The Fiesta ST drivers are still recovering from damaged driveline components.

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 weekend.

The schedule for STPR weekend is as follows:
June 2:
12:30 – Press Conference and Parc ExposĂ©
14:30 – SS1 Waste Management Jump
17:20 – Service at Tioga Fairgrounds
18:45 – SS 3/4 Tioga Fairgrounds Super Special

June 3:
8:00 – 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 Kalish (Top, 3), Matt Stryker (1.2)

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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