Johnson City, Tenn. ~ This weekend the American Rally Association National Championship welcomes an exciting new Appalachian event to its calendar, Overmountain Rally Tennessee.
Having run for the past few years as the Bristol Forests Rally in the East Regional Championship, this year Overmountain Rally Tennessee expands to over 130 Stage Miles and 14 stages spread across Sept. 14 and 15. The rally is sure to make a name for itself as 49 of the best drivers in the US and from abroad take on the backroads of The Volunteer State like moonshiners past.
The rally features multiple all-new stages, as well as an exciting Super Special at Newport Speedway Saturday Night, where competitors will be facing off head-to-head in multi-lap races around the paved oval with jumps added to spice things up.
Bristol Forest Rally quickly made its name as a favorite among teams and fans alike, and the new additions are sure to add to its already large fanbase as it continues to grow year after year.
Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, this rally is characterized by its technical mountain roads, which bring with them tight turns, massive elevation changes, and, most importantly, incredible roads to race on!
From Forests to the Circle Track: Overmountain’s Itinerary
The rally begins on Saturday at 8:30 as cars and drivers make themselves available for a Parc Exposé at the Newport Fairgrounds, which will serve at the service park for the first day of the rally.
Competitors embark from there for a day of brand-new stages in the Cherokee National Forest.
Immediately racers will be faced with an over 1800-foot climb as they tackle the 10.95-mile “Wasp,” with the first car on stage at 10:45 AM.
From there the 4.20-mile “Weaver’s Bend” will wind the teams away from their start point by Wolf Creek towards Highway 107 as they transit to their final stage of the first loop, “Big Clifty.”
If Wasp was a mountain climb, Big Clifty is a fast descent, as the road weaves almost nine miles, dropping over 1400 feet from its highest point to the finish.
A 60-minute service gives the teams a break as they prepare to go back out and repeat the same loop in the afternoon.
After they complete their second run of the stages, competitors stage for another Parc Exposé at Newport Speedway starting at 7:00 PM, with the Team O Super Sendz Super Special pitting competitors head to head as they take on the high-banked curves of the 0.4-mile oval.
Sunday brings some familiar roads as cars head to the “Jacob’s Creek” and “McQueen Gap” after a Parc Exposé in Downtown Johnson City. After that, the competitors face the daunting 21.46-mile “Hellbender” before getting a break for a 60-minute service in Johnson City.
After repeating that loop again, the Regional Rally draws to a close, while the National cars head into the forests one last time for the Power Stage, a 17-mile “Hellbender Short.”
Finally, the rally will draw to a close with podium celebrations and closing ceremonies at YeeHaw Brewing in Johnson City.
WRC2 Stars Join the National Battle
For the first time since his one-off appearance at Olympus Rally in 2021, Josh McErlean returns to drive in the ARA once again in a Hyundai i20N Rally2 car. McErlean is known for being one of the few drivers able to beat out Subaru Motorsports USA, taking a stage win on the infamously long and technical “Wildcat” stage that year.
Since then, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver has been cutting his teeth in the WRC where he continues to compete in the WRC2 Championship, and has also made an appearance in the navigator’s seat for John Coyne at The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood earlier this year.
This time out, Eoin Treacy will be navigating for McErlean as the two Motorsport Ireland members look to gain experience in the Tennessee Mountains.
The car will be provided by 2024 ARA National RC2 Champion John Coyne, who secured his victory last time out at the Ojibwe Forests Rally.
“I saw a great opportunity to give Josh more seat time while demonstrating the true potential of Rally2 cars as a competitive force in US rallying. I’m looking forward to seeing an exciting battle at the front of the field,” said Coyne.
McErlean is excited to be in yet another rally suited well to his vehicle, similar to how Olympus was.
“From what we can see, this will be highly technical with tight twisty stages, which should suit the Rally2 car,” McErlean said of the stages ahead of arriving in the States.
McErlean won’t be the only WRC2 competitor at Overmountain though, as the American Sean Johnston finally competes in his first US rally this weekend with long-time co-driver Alec Kihurani at his side.
This time out Johnston will be piloting an M-Sport Rally 3 Ford Fiesta in the L4WD class as he makes his home-country debut.
“I'm excited to finally get the chance to go rallying in the US!” Johnston said. “Our old sponsor prioritized the program over in Europe, but we're grateful to have brought on a new partner in Aubrey's Restaurants who's based here in TN, which made picking Overmountain Rally TN an easy and obvious choice for us.”
“After not having been behind the wheel in 1.5 years I don't have any big performance/result objectives for the weekend and am mostly just looking forward to reconnecting with the joy of driving and having a blast out there. It's long overdue that Alex and I do a rally here in the US and I hope that this is just the first of many!”
Of course, Subaru Motorsports USA will be out in full force with Championship leaders Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams looking to take the first-ever Overmountain National win, while Travis Pastrana and Rhiannon Gelsomino will be battling right there with them.
Also in the O4WD class, Paul Rowley will be back for the first time since 100 Acre Wood in his Ford Fiesta R5+ with Rory Kennedy navigating, while Cameron Steely and Steve Harrell finally get to debut their Ford Focus RS, after work began on the build six years ago.
After clinching the LN4 Championship at Ojibwe, Javier Olivares and KJ Miller are moving up to the RC2 class as they debut their 2021 Ford Fiesta Rally2 to take on McErlean, as well as class stalwarts Enda and Liam McCormack in their i20N.
"Definitely stoked to be in the new car!” said Miller. “It is a big step up even from the Rally3.”
“Also excited to have Josh McErlean out for this event. He will be a good benchmark for where we want to be in the future.”
Instead of Olivares and Miller taking on Johnston and Kihurani, it will be 2021 LN4 National Champion Mark Piatkowski with Aris Mantopoulos co-driving in the MAP Rally Team 1999 Impreza 2.5 RS, the class-debut of Sean Donnelly and Zach Pfeil int heir 2011 WRX STI, and Lucas Mozes coming off his first class podium at STPR this year with Gage Gregory navigating.
In L2WD the season-long championship battle is coming to a head as Richo Healey and Michelle Miller need just 14 points – a podium finish – to seal their championship victory ahead of the final round at Lake Superior Performance Rally next month.
While the only other championship hopeful entered at Overmountain is Roberto Yglesias in the Pura Vida Rally Fiesta, plenty of high-class L2WD competitors are poised and ready to play spoiler, including the Subaru BRZ of Santiago Iglesias and Jordan Buetow, the Bearly Cyrious Fiesta of Chris Cyr and Glen Ray, and the 2023 Integra of 2022 LN4 Champion Chris Sladek and co-driver Cole Clements.
And of course, in the O2WD class, 2023 Bristol Forests Rally overall winner Ryan Booth returns with Nick Dobbs to take on the National Event this year. Booth’s Escort Mk2 currently leads the O2WD Championship by five points over the IS350 of Michael Hooper and Michael Hordijk.
Hooper has the home-field advantage being based in Tennessee, and Booth is the reigning champion, but Seamus Burke and Gary McElhinney will also be pushing the two as he tries to take the win for himself.
Also in the O2WD class, Keenan Phillips and Salina Melotti return in their 328i, Tim O’Neil and Kate Hansen bring out their 1969 AMC AMX, Daniel Hayes and Boyd Smith have their 2006 Mustang ready to attack, and Erich Hopf and Calvin Gehlhausen move up from L2WD to O2WD after swapping a rotary motor into their 1977 Dodge Colt.
Gondyke and Williamson Battle for East Championships
Photos by Brian McNay
In the Regional Rally, one battle to watch will be that of three-time East Region Champion Dylan Gondyke and current NA4WD points leaders Andrew Williamson and Julia Stewart.
Gondyke, co-driven by Zach Stewart at this event, has had an overall fantastic year but currently sits just eight points ahead of Williamson in the overall Championship standings, and nine points behind Williamson in the NA4WD points.
Both drivers are entered in Overmountain and LSPR (for ‘best event outside of region’ points), and neither one is going to give up easily.
“Overmountain instantly became a must-visit for us upon its 2022 debut as Bristol Forest Rally,” Gonyke said, “and we haven't missed one since!”
“I've got codriver number three in three events here with Zach Stewart, but he and I work well together and we've been looking forward to this for months. Definitely feeling the pressure right now in both championships, and with a lighter schedule this year we have to make every event count and bring home the points.
“I'm looking to drive a smart, clean event and get us to the end with no drama – business as usual. The roads today on recce portended some exciting moments – not much breathing room between the start and finish line.”
Williamson is equally as excited for the weekend, stating, “We're excited to be back in Tennessee! This rally is a bit of a full circle moment for us because Bristol 2023 was our first rally ever.”
“Dylan's a friend and one of those whom I turn to for rally advice in general, so it's pretty neat to be in direct competition with him. He's definitely faster, but we've picked up a lot of pace this season and we're looking forward to maintaining that NA4WD gap as much as possible!”
With eight cars entered in the class, the two teams will be facing competition from the teams of Kevin Allen and Elizabeth Cordera, Ryan Pryzbylkowski and Stefan Tajkov, and Dan Shirley and Eric Eisele.
The L4WD Championship battle will also be one to watch as Tom and Karl Mayer look to extend their six-point lead of James Pryzbylkowski and Ethan Curtis. While battling each other for points, they’ll also be battling the teams of Andrew and Ben Zapsky, and Drew Staples who will be switching from co-driver to driver for the first time alongside Leah Brisset for the L4WD podium at the end of the weekend.
In O2WD Micheal Cessna and Jamie Lambert are the ones to beat in their 1998 BMW M3, but a field of five entries in the class look to take them down. Brian Katz and Matt Vaught will be chasing the M3 in their Lexus IS350, while Gavin James and Jamie Beliveau will be representing the FWD cars with their 2008 VW Golf GTI.
Also in the class, are the 2013 Dodge Dart GTS of Edward Newcombe and Gavin Davie, and the 1984 BMW 325E of Franklin Warner and Katie Abraham.
L2WD will be a close battle in the regional rally as well, as Matt McGee and Lauren Lambert, Chias and Sara Nonack, and Nick Bukky and Emmons Hathaway are expected to be battling for podium positions.
Looking to play spoiler, Seth Snyder and Jane Nguyen, Joel Bruns and Zane Jackson, and Wesley HIll and Michael Brandon round out the class.
Nick Bragg and Moninic DePaoli are the lone O4WD entrants in their 1990 Audi S2, but have a chance to battle for the overall win with their L4WD and NA4WD competitors.
For more information about Overmountain Rally Tennesse, head to the official website, our media partners at DirtFish, and our social media channels!
~Mason Runkle, for the ARA
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