This weekend the 2024 American Rally Association National Championship comes to an end as the championship enters the final round at the famed Lake Superior Performance Rally Presented by Travel Marquette.
The long-running Upper Peninsula has it’s roots in the Press on Regardless Rally first held in 1949 as a time-speed distance rally before being changed to a stage rally 20 years later.
Press on Regardless was the first US event to make the WRC Calendar in 1973, and it ran all the way until the 90’s when it was reverted back to a time-speed-distance event, and Lake Superior Performance Rally formed in its place to continue PoR’s legacy.
Historically LSPR has been known as “the oldest, meanest, toughest rally on the circuit,” and today that reputation holds up, as its often unique and unpredictable conditions throw curveball after curveball at teams navigating its tricky stages.
The gravel logging roads mixed with often sandy surfaces are just the start. The falling leaves and often slick corners can make judging grip a challenge for drivers going flat out. Beyond that, the weather each year is completely unpredictable, ranging from sunny and clear to snow and ice from year to year.
With a 136-mile itinerary spread across 17 stages and two days, LSPR is one of the longest events on the 2024 calendar, second only to the 150-mile Olympus Rally.
Of those stage miles, 96 of them will be tackled on Friday with nine total stages, seven of which are unique, while only two will be run twice.
Saturday re-runs two stages from Friday’s schedule while adding four more, including the Mt. Marquette and Marquette Mountain spectator stages to finish out the season.
The Regional competitors will skip SS15, Villikissa, as that is the Power Stage for the National Rally, where important championship points can be earned for those who still do not have their positions secured.
Each day begins with a Parc Exposé. Friday teams will gather at 9:00 AM at Fox Subaru Marquette before departing for the ceremonial start at 11:00 AM. Saturday the fans can visit the teams at the Ishpeming Armory from 7:00 AM to 8:45 AM before teams depart for the day’s competition.
Taking on the challenge this year will be 71 teams with 25 entered in the national rally and the remaining 46 competing in the regional rally.
With one of the biggest fields the ARA has seen this year, battles are expected across the whole of the National and Regional fields.
Lia Block Returns in VSC Subaru
Without a doubt the biggest story going into LSPR is the return of the 2023 O2WD Champion Lia Block, this time stepping into Brandon Semenuk’s Vermont Sportscar Subaru WRX; the same car used to win the 2024 Championship at Overmountain Rally.
Block has been absent from the ARA since joining Williams Racing as a Development Driver but returns for LSPR with Keaton William’s co-driving as Semenuk’s schedule doesn’t allow him to compete this weekend.
“Excited is an understatement for the feeling going into LSPR,” said Block of her return to ARA action. “Subaru and Vermont SportsCar have given me such a cool opportunity to compete at a rally in their top-level racecar.”
“Rally has always been my home. It’s my roots,” Lia said. “My family and I have such a special history with this team, I wouldn’t want this milestone to be with anyone else.”
Block will be one of three entries from Vermont Sportscar. Also in a 2024 Subaru WRX will be 2024 Championship runners-up Travis Pastrana and Rhiannon Gelsomino, and competing in a 2015 WRX STI sporting a new Kubota livery will be Connor Martell and Alex Gelsomino.
Also entered in O4WD cars, Pat Moro and Ole Holter return in the LS-powered Chevy Sonic, and Cam Steely returns in his recently finished Ford Focus RS with Preston Osborn co-driving.
The lone RC2 entrants Javier Olivares and KJ Miller look to shake up the top spots in their Fiesta Rally2 after earning the L4WD Championship for the second time earlier this year.
While the battle at the top will be an exciting one to watch, likely the fiercest one will be between the Lexus IS350 of Michael Hooper and Michael Hordijk, and the MkII Ford Escort of Ryan Booth and Nick Dobbs.
With all other National Championships sealed, O2WD enters LSPR with Hooper leading over Booth by just four points.
“We are very excited to be returning to LSPR this year,” Hooper said. “It is definitely my favorite event of the year.”
“It's especially exciting this year as we are going in leading the championship, but only by a smidge. Booth and our seasons have been full of misfortune, so it's awesome for both of us for it to come down to a fight in the end.
“With just four points we have to either win 2WD or get Booth on Power Stage. Either of those is a very tall order as Ryan is extremely talented and fearless behind the wheel. We've thought a bit about strategy but in the end, we will likely go like hell to the end and see how it comes out.”
“Either way going to be one to remember.”
Booth echoed Hooper’s remarks, stating, “It’s going to be interesting for sure! Only four points separate Hooper and I in the championship. It’s all or nothing at this point.”
“We salvaged enough points in Tennessee to stay in this thing thanks to all the efforts of the boys pulling an all-nighter and getting the engine swapped for us to Super Rally on Sunday. Just have to bring it home now! We’re looking forward to it.”
Looking to play spoiler in the O2WD class will of course be the fan-favorite V8-powered Escort driven by Seamus Burke and Gary McElhinney, while other familiar favorites such as Tim O’Neil’s 1969 AMC AMX and Keenan Philips’s fan-signed BMW 328i will also be competing.
Another team to watch will be the L4WD entrants of Grzegorz Bugaj and Elizabeth Dziubanski. While they only compete in LSPR every year, they always make their presence known with an impressive showing. The past two years they have finished fourth overall and on the class podium at LSPR, and are looking to repeat their success in 2024.
“We are excited it's finally that time of year again (our annual rally outing),” Bugaj said. “Not only because it's LSPR but also it's a stunning time of year here in the Upper Peninsula. The fall colors, scenery, and auroras all add to the experience and to why this is our favorite rally as well as many others.”
“Our goal for this year is the same as any other, first and foremost finish! Go fast, have fun, and stay safe!”
“We look forward to some amazing stages, new and old and hope for a future return of more night stages!”
Bugaj and Dziubanski’s in-class competition will be Tim Rooney and Claudia Barbera in their 2015 Subaru WRX STI.
While not a full points championship, the NA4WD Cup will also be decided this weekend, as season-long entrants Andy Didorosi, co-driven this time by Jamie Willetts, takes on season-long rival, and recent WRC Beyond Rally Women’s Development Driver Madelyn Tabor and co-drive Sophia McKee, both in GC Imprezas.
The two teams come into LSPR with Didorosi leading by three points, meaning anything could happen this weekend as they fight in a five-car field.
Finally, despite the championship winners being decided already, L2WD will still be providing plenty of thrills with six highly competitive entries, including the National Champions, Richo Healey and Michelle Miller.
While first place is taken, second is up for grabs in what basically amounts to a three-way shootout.
The Bearly Cyrious Rally Team of Chris Cyr and Glen Ray will be ones to watch for sure, as will the Pura Vida Rally team as Roberto Iglesias and Sara Nonack take the Ford Fiesta ST to the stages.
Mark Tabor and Katheryn Hansen are also in the running, returning after an absence at Overmountain.
Spoilers in the form of Chris Sladek in the HART Rally Team Acura Integra and Santiago Yglesias in the Escuderia Boricua Rally BRZ will also be looking for the top spot on the podium.
Nineteen Cars Pack Regional NA4WD Class
LSPR also counts towards the ARA Central Region Championship for competitors with a regional entry, and with 51 teams filling the regional field, it’s sure to be an exciting event from start to finish.
Without a doubt one of the most stacked fields the ARA has seen this year, the NA4WD class is the highlight of the regional rally at LSPR.
One of those competitors, Dylan Gondyke, will be looking to seal his position as the ARA East Champion using the outside-region points from LSPR. Gondyke and his grey Impreza will be co-driven by Zach Stewart and will face competition from many others looking for victory for their own reasons.
Aidan Hicks, another NA4WD competitor, finds himself leading the ARA Central NA4WD Championship by a thin margin over Travis Mattonen who is also entered this weekend. The pairs’ co-drivers, John Hicks and Anikka Nykanen respectively, also find themselves in the same points scenarios.
Hicks and Mattonen are also battling for overall points, as they currently sit fourth and fifth in the Central Championship, Hicks just seven points off the leader, and Mattonen 12, with one more round after LSPR left in the Central Calendar.
Looking to hold off the large field of NA4WD cars, as well as the remainder of the field, Matthew Nykanen and Lars Anderson currently lead the Central Championship overall in their O2WD 1998 BMW 328i after an overall win at Ojibwe Forests Rally.
“Coming off the win from Ojibwe, we’re feeling pretty good!” Nykanen said. “I added an oil cooler to combat the high oil temps we have been dealing with and upgraded the rear brakes.”
“We’ve got a lot of competition at LSPR this year, and depending on John Farrow’s performance it could get really tight for the Central Regional Overall championship, which is where we’ve got our sights set.”
“We’re going to give it our all and have fun doing it! If you don’t see us full lock sideways, something’s up.”
While Nykanen has his sights set on overall, in his own class he has eight other teams looking to take the class title, including second-place in class points Mike Hurst and Randall Short, class underdogs Adam VanDamme and Andrew Herron, and co-driver turned driver Keegan Helwig co-driven by Elena Huizar just to name a few.
As he mentioned, Nykanen’s closest competition for the overall title comes in the form of L4WD competitor John Farrow, co-driven by Michael Farrow, who currently sits just six points off Nykanen in second, while Michael leads co-driver points by one point over Andrew Rausch.
Rausch co-drives for James Randall, another L4WD competitor who leads the class points, but sits third in overall, just one point behind Farrow.
Once again though, these points leaders will have their work cut out for them as the 11-car L4WD field has heavy hitters like 2022 Central Overall Champions Ivo Draganov and Vladimir Yanev, as well as 2019 East Overall Champions Jimmy Pelizzari and Kate Stevens.
In L2WD, Brent Lucio leads the championship by a hefty 11 points. Co-driven this weekend by Jared Capes, his main competition to keep hold of the points lead will be the 2019 Fiesta of Tevfik Peker and Jamie Beliveau, who hold the highest speed factor coming into the event, and are the only other team with points on the board entered in LSPR.
That said, four other teams, including the HART Rally Team Honda Civic of Gabriel Nieves and Oliver Kokenge, will be looking to take podium positions for themselves, and could cause some points disruptions if the current leaders can’t keep up.
Finally, lone O4WD entrants Bradley Hayosh and Neil Moser will be competing alone for their podium, but have a whole field of 50 other competitors outside their class to battle with across all 16 regional stages.
For more information about LSPR, head to their official website, or check our event page, and be sure to follow along on ARA social media channels, as well as through coverage from our official media partners, DirtFish.
~Mason Runkle for the ARA