Photo by Erick Huertas
McCleary, Wash. (October 7, 2024) ~ The forest roads of Washington State played host to the final round of the 2024 American Rally Association West Championship on Saturday as the famous Tour de Forest Rally saw 28 teams compete in 32 miles of stage rally action.
The small town of McCleary, Washington’s weather held out giving competitors a dry day, but rain from the previous week still meant the roads were slick and tricky in their own way. Still, the drier conditions were welcomed by organizers and competitors alike.
The regional Tour de Forest Rally this year offered competitors a compact schedule with recce and rally on the same day, with two stages being run twice in separate loops.
The stages at Tour de Forest were more or less similar to the famous stages of the Olympus Rally in nearby Shelton, Washington, twisting and turning up and down mountains on narrow logging-style gravel roads, and a decent mix between well-traveled hard-packed roads, and lesser traveled rougher ones.
The 9.30-mile Kennedy Loops stage opened both stages, leading competitors up and back down a small mountain, while the 6.82-mile To the Towers stage closed each loop, taking competitors through valleys and circumnavigating a local lake.
The action kicked off at noon with competitors leaving the service park at the Simpson Door Plant to head to SS1.
First on the road was the Ferrari V8-powered 2004 Subaru WRX STI of Sam Albert and Krista Skucas.
Always a fan favorite, the grey Subaru launched itself into the lead on SS1 pulling out a 16.8-second lead over the 1998 Impreza 2.5RS of Cooper Anderson and Ethan Curtis, as well as a 21-second lead over third-place Steven Redd and Dylan Hooker in their S12 Impreza WRC Replica.
SS2 shook things up in the top positions though, as Andy Miller and Shaun Tracy put in an incredible time to win SS2 in their EZ30R-powered Impreza WRX STI to jump from fourth place to second to finish off the first loop.
By overtaking Anderson and Curtis, Miller and Tracy also pulled into the NA4WD lead, with Anderson and Curtis second, while Daniel Sperry and Zachary Thomas set third in the class in their 2002 Impreza.
Of course, the O4WD class was led by Albert and Skucas with Redd and Hooker in second, but third place was held by the Subaru SVX of Aaron Lane and Nicholas Bauman, who moved up to the O4WD class from the NA4WD class for the first time this weekend.
Phil Clarke and Kendra Tym sped into an 18-second lead in the L4WD class on SS1 in their 2003 WRX but opened that lead up to over a minute on SS2 despite a small off.
Behind them was the 2006 WRX of Jonathan Myers and Mack Golos, and in third were recent WRC Beyond Rally Women’s Driver Development Program attendee Madelyn Tabor and co-driver Sophia McKee making their debut in the Element RallySport Rally3 Ford Fiesta.
Photo by Alan Hussar
In the O2WD class, Ethan Hannemann and Jack Gillow-Wiles sped into the lead in their 2007 Dodge Caliber, taking the stage win on SS1 by just 1.5 seconds over the BMW M3 of Elijah Filman-Sullivan and Sam Forsman, with Alexander Jardevall and Maxwell Melcher taking third in their Volvo 940 Turbo.
SS2 saw Fillman-Sullivan and Forsman receive a one-minute 50-second penalty and drop to fourth, allowing Jardevall and Melcher to move into second and letting the 1981 Volvo 242 of Pat Darrow and Cody Crawford to move into third.
Finally, Jeff Castro and Ann Hanson took the lead of the L2WD class on SS1 by 30.5 seconds in their 1982 Toyota Corolla over the 2006 Mazda 3 of Matt Tabot and Denae Murphy in second, while Chris Miller and Eric Schofhauser sat third in their 2015 Scion FR-S.
The L2WD standings stayed the same for SS2 as a timing issue led to all cars in the class receiving the same time, meaning Castro and Hanson led at the halfway point of the rally.
After a 45-minute service at the Simpson Door Plant, the cars headed back out for SS3, and the second half of the 2024 Tour de Forest Rally.
Once again Albert and Skucas won the first stage of the loop in their Ferrari-powered Subaru, but Miller and Tracy were just 2.5 seconds behind on the stage, keeping the lead in sight.
With a hard push on the final stage, Miller and Tracy were able to take a second stage win and take back 3.3 seconds from Albert and Skucas, but it wouldn’t be enough to take the lead overall, and the Ferarri-powered Subaru took its second overall win in the 2024 season.
“It was a tricky event for us as the conditions were not well suited to the car,” Albert said. “The lack of grip especially on SS2 & SS4, To the Towers, took us by surprise and I was making mistakes. A slow leak on our right rear on SS2 didn’t help either.”
“The roads were properly challenging and we are sincerely grateful to the organizers and volunteers for putting on such a great event. Luckily we still pulled off a win but we definitely have a few things to address before returning to Olympus in the spring.”
“It’s easy to think a 1-day event will be simple,” Skucas added, “especially with compact logistics and such a great organizing crew and volunteers - but these roads are no joke!”
“Old-growth, mossy forests, narrow greasy double-track roads with emerald grass growing everywhere else, and deep ditches collecting the recent rain making for swamps no one wanted to finish off their day in. Tight, technical, and lots of cautions!”
“It wasn’t our fastest performance but we managed okay. We are super pumped to see Cooper Anderson & Ethan Curtis continue to put down edgy stage times. And it’s always a pleasure to share the podium with (and be beaten on some stages by) our ‘neighbors,’ Andy Miller & Shaun Tracy.”
“This event was about having fun with our friends and we had a blast! I’m so proud of how well so many of them did.”
“Huge appreciation to Matthew Flaisig and all the other volunteers.”
While Miller and Tracy didn’t get the event win, they did take their ninth NA4WD class win in a row and also mathematically sealed the 2024 ARA West Region Championship for the first time in their careers.
Redd and Hooker were able to move into third place overall on SS3 overtaking Anderson and Curtis by 9.6 seconds, but the 2.5RS of Anderson and Curtis fought back on the final stage of the rally to move back into third overall securing their podium position, and also earning their second-place finish in the NA4WD class.
“Cooper and I were incredibly happy with our result today,” Curtis said after the rally, “second in class and third overall matches our best result together at Olympus earlier this year, proving the double podium finish was no fluke.”
“Cooper had massive commitment from stage one, shown by being second fastest out of the gate, only 17 seconds slower than Sam Albert’s Ferrari-Subaru.”
“After a strong day, Cooper and I are looking forward to round out our year with the Mike Nagle Regional Rally in a few weeks!”
Redd and Hooker’s S12 Impreza earned fourth overall and second in the O4WD class after a hard-fought four stages back and forth with Cooper and Curtis.
Fifth place overall went to the 2002 Impreza of Sperry and Thomas, who held the position the whole event and also managed to take third in the NA4WD class.
The O4WD class podium was completed by the SVX of Aaron Lane and Nikolas Bauman who earned their first class podium and highest finish yet landing sixth overall.
The L4WD class was won by Phil Clarke and Kendra Tym’s 2003 WRX, who held the lead by three minutes over second-place Myers and Golos, and third-place Tabor and McKee.
“Tour de Forest was a great event but it wasn’t without its challenges,” Clarke said. “ We lost comms on the first stage, had a small off on stage two & a puncture on stage three. The team pulled it together and finished strong with a win.”
“It’s been a great 2024 season and finishing with a win & clinching the championship is a great accomplishment for the team.”
In the O2WD class, the Dodge Caliber of Hannemann and Gillow-Wiles retired from the rally on SS3, allowing the 940 Turbo of Jardevall and Melcher to take the win at the end of the event.
“I don’t have much to say,” Jardevall remarked after the event. “It was a bit of luck I suppose. It helped driving a beautiful Volvo and having Swedish feet.”
A one-two finish for Volvo, the 242 of Darrow and Crawford took second in the class, while the 2014 Ford Focus of Eric Zabala and Eric Frentress took third.
Finally, in the L2WD class, Castro and Hanson’s 1982 Corolla carried its pace into the final stages and took home the gold despite Miller and Schofhauser taking a win on SS3 and closing the gap.
“First off, the Olympus/TdF roads are my favorite; the tight technical stuff really suits me and the car,” Castro said. “Ann and I talked about having a push from stage one to see if we could get in a groove, and it carried us all day.”
“Car, notes, and roads were just clicking and it was a ton of fun. We also discussed the remote chance of getting the L2WD West championship if we could win, and knew that with Henry Tabor and Chris Miller showing up it would be tough.”
“Things went our way and humbled by our result, and being the first 2WD overall is nuts, really. Stoked we could bring a result for the old Corolla in a field of new machinery!”
Miller and Schofhauser took a stage win on SS3, and second-in-class in their FR-S, while Mitch Williams and Taylor Black overtook Johan and John Friesen on the last stage in their 1976 BMW 2002 to take third.
Photos by William Langford, Alan Hussar and Erick Huertas
While there are no more events left in the 2024 West Region Championship, competitors can still take part in the Mike Nagle Rallysprint taking place next month in Oregon. More information on that event can be found here.
~Mason Runkle for the ARA