(Salem, Mo. March 17, 2025) ~ Round two of the 2025 American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship Presented by Kubota featured high speeds, wild weather and tight competition across a diverse field of international machinery in Salem, Missouri. The Subaru Motorsports USA (SMUSA) team of Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams averaged over 73 MPH to claim victory in one of the world’s fastest rallies, The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.
Strong winds and heavy storms that had been forecast all week became a reality Friday night. While the worst of the wind happened overnight, gusts still found their way onto stages, making things just that much more difficult for the 56 teams entered as they frequently neared their top speeds on the Ozark roads.
The winds also knocked down an electrical pole, sparking a wildfire in the Mark Twain National Forest. The fire led to the cancellation of two stages on Friday, shortening the scheduled 123 miles of special stages, but fortunately, no injuries were reported and the fire was contained.
Since 1977, 100 Acre Wood has been a test of speed and precision, known for its wide, flowing roads, ‘rally highways’ as many call them, that test both skill and courage. The first gravel event of the year kicked off Friday afternoon with a Parc Exposé in Downtown Potosi, where teams displayed their machines before the start of two high-speed gravel loops.
Underdog Martell Pressures Semenuk
The first car on stage was the No. 1 Subaru WRX of Semenuk and Williams, who lost the seeded draw to the No. 21 WRX STI of Conner Martell and Alex Gelsomino, who chose to run second on the road.
Semenuk and Williams posted a fast time on SS1, beating out the Kubota-backed car of Martell and Gelsomino by just 2.2 seconds. On SS2, Martell and Gelsomino bit back, taking the stage win and the rally lead by one second over the SMUSA team, before falling back to second by just 4.4 seconds on the third stage.
While Martell and Gelsomino finished multiple stages within just a few seconds of Semenuk and Williams, the reigning champions ultimately overcame their early adversity, taking home their fourth consecutive 100 Acre Wood win.
“This rally's always treated me well, but this time definitely wasn’t as easy as some in the past,” said Semenuk. “We had a little issue on day one, and then managing today with fewer services was tricky with the tires, and obviously the stages we had this year were rough. But we managed to deal with the issues and stay pretty quick out there so, yeah, we’re pretty happy with the drive.”
Second place finisher Martell was also feeling good about his performance at the end of the rally.
“It was a great day,” Martell said. ”We stayed really consistent the whole weekend. Our notes are better, and everything went really well. There were a few stages where we absolutely pushed the car to the limit. There's probably not much more that we could have done, but there's always something to learn. We're getting better and better each rally.”
Booth Wins in RC2 Return Despite Close-Call
The RC2 field was one of the rally’s most exciting to watch, featuring international machinery from three different global manufacturers. Right from SS1 the competition was tight, as the Element Rallysport Ford Fiesta Rally2 of two-time L4WD champions Javier Olivares and KJ Miller led the 2024 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Ryan Booth and Nick Dobbs by just 0.3 seconds, with third place Pat Gruzka and Danny Peresin’s Hyundai i20 R5 eight seconds back in third.
On stage two, the tides turned and Booth took the lead by 3.4 seconds over Olivares, and began to gain time until SS4, when Olivares and Miller clipped a tree and ended up on their side, taking them out of the competition.
Booth continued to consolidate his lead over the course of Friday night’s and Saturday morning’s stages until a cut tire on SS15 lost him three-and-a-half minutes to Gruzska, putting him on a heavy push in the final two stages of the rally.
Gruszka, however, experienced his own mechanical issue on the Power Stage, SS17, which lost him just enough time to fall back into second place by 5.5 seconds, handing the win to Booth, while Gruszka’s Green APU teammate, Alistair Scully and Stefan Trajkov, finished third in their own Hyundai i20 R5.
Swedes Dominate in O2WD
The Swedish duo of Calle and Törbjorn Carlberg dominated in the O2WD category, taking the class lead on SS1 and never looking back.
The battle was set to be an exciting one entering the event, as many local favorites had entered the event, but the Carlberg’s Peugeot 208 Rally4 set the pace and fought hard with cars well above their class, finishing just 25 seconds off of the overall podium, in fifth overall.
“We’re super happy and thankful to Stellantis for this opportunity and for the trust they put in me,” Calle said after the rally. “It's been a dream to come to the US and try rallying and to explore. The roads have been amazing. I think we have shown what this car can do in the two-wheel drive category and in the four-wheel drive category, only being, I think, 30 seconds off the podium overall. I hope more people see what this car can do, bridging the gap between European and American rallying. I hope to be back.”
The dominance of the son and father duo in the Rally4 vehicle belied the level of competition in the class. SS1 saw multi-time 100 Acre Wood winners Micah Nickleson and Tyler Ptacek just 1.5 seconds off Carlberg before a mechanical DNF took them out of the rally.
Meanwhile, for most of the rally, the BMW 328i of Matthew Nykanen and Lars Anderson, the 1977 Ford Escort of Seamus Burke and Gary McElhinney, and the recently upgraded Mitsubishi Mirage of Brad Morris and Ryan Scott were battling within ten seconds of each other for second place.
The battle ended shortly after Burke and McElhinney experienced a soft roll on SS12, where coincidentally, Nykanen started to pull away from Morris, securing them in second and third respectively at the end of the rally.
Renault Clio Rally3 Wins First Class Gold
With four Rally3 cars entered in this weekend’s event, alongside three powerful L4WD Subarus, it was the perfect proving ground for the Renault Clio Rally3 entered by Garage 126. Despite finishing second at Sno*Drift, the pair of Sean Donnelly and Zach Pfeil shot into an early lead and never relinquished it.
Sno*Drift winners and L4WD points leaders coming into 100 Acre Wood, Nick Allen and Martin Brady of Eagle Rock Racing were right behind in their Ford Fiesta Rally3 but struggled to maintain the same pace on the fast Missouri roads.
Eventually on day two, the Eagle Rock car suffered a mechanical DNF, allowing the Renault to take the lead in the class and finish just outside the Top 5 overall.
While Liam McNelis and Matt James were on track for second-place, a roll on the penultimate stage left them with a DNF, allowing Camerion Gholson and Jeremy Agostino to take second in their 2012 WRX, while Nick Balzera and Zachary Goldstein’s 2004 WRX Wagon took home third.
Chris Cyr and Glen Ray’s Michelin-shod Ford Fiesta ST took the L2WD class win by over seven minutes, while second place Henry Tabor passed his father, Mark Tabor, on the final stage of the rally to take second place by 3.3 seconds after playing catch-up the entire event.
Eliza Coleman and Cindi Carlson took top points in the NA4WD Cup as the lone entrants.
Intense Three-Way Regional Battle Decided by 4.5 Seconds
Without a doubt, one of the most exciting battles of the rally was for the Regional overall win between two NA4WD GC Imprezas and an O4WD Ford Fiesta Proto.
While Todd Hartmann and Shawn Callahan’s Fiesta won last year’s 100 Acre Wood Regional Rally, the winged Impreza Wagon of Ryan Rethy and James Dallman won in 2023 and 2021. Looking to take home another win, Rethy came out of the gate charging hard.
After picking up some pace from a note adjustment on their last rally, the Unamused Rally Sport Impreza got out to a distant lead in the first few stages, while Hartmann played catch up having not been on stage for nearly a year prior to this event.
After 11 stages, Hartmann’s patience and determination paid off, and he managed to pull into the lead, before trading positions back and forth with Rethy a few times, leading again by SS14.
Unfortunately, after that stage, the Fiesta Proto suffered a split downpipe, and Hartmann and Callahan retired from the lead, leaving Rethy the victory … or so it seemed.
While Rethy and Hartmann were battling back and forth, Dusty Peterke and Robert Judge were on a huge push, trailing the leader by a full minute on SS12 and, in just four stages, making up all but 4.5 seconds of that deficit to take second. Were it not for Dusty being assigned a stage time due to a stoppage on SS12, he may have had enough stage miles to pass Rethy for the overall victory in their first event Super Regional Rally.
“Hartmann and Peterke made for some of the closest racing that I have ever experienced,” Rethy said. “Our commitment to the notes on Friday is what gave us the edge coming into the rougher Saturday stages. Saturday was about trying to manage the damage and our lead. We got a flat on the first stage of a five-stage loop and had to keep a close eye on the times and push where necessary.”
“For the second loop, we opted for two spares and didn't get any flats. It's really unfortunate about Hartmann's retirement—we were enjoying the battle and are looking forward to future battles with these guys.”
Mike Hurst and Randall Short were also impressive in the O2WD class, as they not only won their class but also scored an overall podium finish in their 1974 Ford Capri, just one minute off the leader’s time.
“We fought some battles this weekend, but the car is set up great for roads like 100 Acre Wood.” Short said. “We had some near misses but were able to mitigate our mistakes and keep all four wheels on the ground for the majority of the time. We knew we had to run well to keep Levi (Johnson) at bay, and getting an overall regional was an awesome bonus.”
Just behind them on the O2WD podium, and in fourth and fifth overall respectively were Levi and Griffin Johnson’s 1986 BMW 325, and Brian Katz and Matt Vaught’s Lexus IS350.
Robert Dupree and Betsy Nguyen’s 1991 Eclipse GSX won the L4WD class after the class leaders Scott and Elizabeth Crouch received over 12 minutes of penalties on the final stage, dropping them to third. Drew Staples and Leah Brisset finished second.
Finally, in the L2WD class, the HART Rally Team Acura Integra of Gabriel Nieves and Charlie Discoe took the win by 39 seconds over the Lexus IS250 of John Barnett and Pete Hutchings, while third was earned by the 1971 VW Super Beetle of Doug Leibman
`Mason Runkel for the ARA