Photo by Izabella Lawrence
Photos by: Jerry Winker and John Bilbao
(December 9, 2024) ~ The American Rally Association 2025 West and Central Region Championships began in opposing climates last weekend as the Ridge Rally and Nemadji Trail Winter Rally both took place on Saturday.
A combined 46 teams hit the stages across both events, 32 in the Californian Desert at Ridge Rally, and 14 in the snowy forests of Minnesota for Nemadji Trail.
Across both events, there were more than 120 miles of stage rallying action to close out the 2024 calendar year and bring in 2025 for ARA fans and competitors alike
Himes Makes Two-in-a-Row at Nemadji
In Duquette, Minnesota, 14 teams were taking on the snow/covered roads of the Nemadji Trail Winter Rally.
While not as long of an event, the 33-mile, four-stage rally still saw plenty of exciting action, as the limited amount of time meant any time-loss would be difficult to recover from, so competitors were on their A-game from the get-go.
After recce in the morning, the racing started at 1:00 PM, as the first car left for the two-stage out-and-back first loop, consisting of the “Nemadji Trail” stage run in both directions.
Aidan and John Hicks took the stage win on SS1 in their NA4WD 1996 Subaru Impreza by four seconds over the second-place 2001 NA4WD Impreza of Connor Himes and Elliot Prusi. Himes won the 2023 event as a co-driver but moved into the driver seat this year.
Just behind them was his driver in 2023, Silas Himes, co-driven by Aleutian Hatfield in their L4WD 2008 Subaru WRX STi.
While the rally started close on SS1, Silas Himes and Hatfield flew into the lead on SS2, opening up a gap of nearly one minute as they reached the halfway point of the rally.
SS2 also saw the Hicks’ car retire from an off, allowing the NA4WD 2000 Impreza of Jack Nelson and Isaac Zink to move into podium contention in the second and final loop.
Nelson and Zink set about defending their position from the fourth place 2015 WRX of James Randall and Andrew Rausch, but an off on SS3 saw Randall and Rausch retire from the rally, allowing Nelson and Zink to relax with a one-minute gap to fourth place on the final stage.
In the end, it was Silas Himes and Aleutian Hatfield taking the overall win. Despite the snow glazing over and causing changing conditions, the pair kept things clean and managed to cross the final time control in first place.
“Thanks to everyone who put the rally together!” Silas said. “It's a privilege to be part of this to begin with. I'm glad Aiden and John [Hicks] are ok as well as James [Randall] and Andrew [Rausch]. That could have been any of us for sure. It just happened that there weren't any trees where we spent time off the road like four or five times.”
“Connor [Himes] I think had a great event and I am confident it won't be long before we won't be able to keep up! Thanks again to all the volunteers who made Nemadji happen!”
The pair also won the L4WD class and shared the podium with second-place Peter Farrow and Jackson Sedivy after the other two L4WD entrants retired from offs.
Just behind Silas and Hatfield in second was Connor Himes and Elliot Prusi, who held on to take the silver medal overall, and gold in the NA4WD class.
“It was an awesome event,” said Connor. “I’m really thankful to the organizers and volunteers that helped.”
“As for on stage, the stages were sweet and the conditions changed a ton. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!”
“Conditions started decently soft but glazed up throughout the afternoon - making for a pretty skatey last couple stages,” Prusi added. “We were thrilled to get another event under our belts and have some success at a winter rally!”
“Big shout out to marshalls, organizers, and everyone involved for all they do to make this event happen!”
Second in NA4WD and third overall, Nelson and Zink took the overall podium for the first time in their careers.
“Nemadji trail is always a short but challenging rally,” said Nelson. “There can be over a foot of snow or none at all depending on the year so you have to be ready for all conditions.”
“This year we had a small snow covering on the stages with spots of exposed gravel. The snow with the temps hovering around freezing provided some of the slickest roads I’ve ever driven on.”
‘Finding the sweet spot between speed and safety to keep it on the road was the key for us. Erring on the side of caution paid off with two podium positions but even with the extra caution we spun on the first and last stage.”
“At the end of the day, we came away with an unscathed car, second in NA4WD, and 3rd overall! Can’t really ask for a better result given the challenging conditions and strong competition.”
Rounding out the NA4WD podium was the 1995 Subaru Impreza of Tyler Matalas and John Farrow.
Scott Parrott and Shawn Silewski took home the win in O2WD in their 1988 Chevrolet S10, but stood atop the podium alone as the only finishers in the class.
Classification After SS4
Himes/Hatfield (Subaru) 36m22.5s
Himes/Prusi (Subaru) +2m16.2s
Nelson/Zink (Subaru) +3m33.0s
Farrow/Sedivy (Subaru) +4m28.5s
Matalas/Farrow (Subaru) +5m32.9s
Lietha/Samis (Subaru) +7m35.4s
Parrott/Silewski (Chevrolet) +8m25.2s
Gleason/Addison (Subaru) +13m00.0s
Plsek and Holter Speed to Ridge Rally Win
Meanwhile in CA, George Plsek and Ole Holter piloted their 2005 Mitsubishi Evo IX O4WD rally car to an overall win at the 2024 running of the Ridge Rally in Kern County, California.
The win comes for Plsek in his 30th year of rally competition, which began at the Gorman Ridge Rally in 1994 in a Saab 99 Turbo. Now in 2024, Plsek won the Ridge Rally with co-driver Ole Holter assisting him through the stages.
For 2024, the Ridge Rally took teams over 90 miles through the Californian Desert, near the town of Tehachapi.
With an itinerary consisting of 13 stages spanning an entire day, the 32 competitors who entered were due for a day of high-speed desert rallying through some of the southwest’s most beautiful terrain.
At 8:45 AM the teams began to make their way to the first stage, Jawbone Canyon, where Plsek and Holter kicked off the rally in strong form taking the stage win by 22 seconds over second-place Flynn Baglin and Andres Bautista in their O2WD 1973 Ford Ranger.
The Ranger was followed just 2.5 seconds behind by the L2WD 2002 Subaru WRX of Robert Shibao and Dillon McKenna, who kept the third position behind Plsek and Baglin in the second stage, but overtook the Ranger for second on SS3, “Oakley East.”
The first loop ended with one more big position change as Trenton Kourey and Matt Michell’s 2001 Impreza NA4WD car overtook Baglin’s Ranger for third place.
The two-stage second loop was all about the NA4WD Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS of David Peretz and John Verbeck, who moved from sixth to fourth on SS6, “Aila’s Sweet Tooth,” putting them within pouncing distance of the podium heading into the final loop.
While the rally seemed to be settling down in terms of close battles, the 10th stage, “The Sweeney Special,” brought one final bit of drama to the rally, as Shibao and McKenna had an off, taking them out of contention.
But at the end of the day, it was Plsek and Holter taking the overall win at Ridge Rally.
“What a great weekend reconnecting with the California Rally Series crew, new and old, after not running an event in California since 2014 Gorman,” said Plsek. “Awesome events with great roads, the win was just an Icing on the Cake.”
The Mitsubishi-driving pair also won the O4WD class, where they shared the podium with Sean Dorrough and Andrea Laura, and Arto and Mary Ylikangas, who overcame a time loss of over eight minutes on SS4, moving from seventh to third before the end of the rally.
While Plsek and Holter were unaffected by Shibao and McKenna’s off, the late-race drama meant that Koury and Michell were able to move into second, and also take the NA4WD class podium.
“Ridge is a very very fast, and challenging rally,” said Michell, “so making very detailed pace notes was extremely important to us. At these speeds, the slightest mistake can have catastrophic consequences.”
“Recce was very challenging but Trent and I pushed through. Trent drove the absolute wheels off the car and was able to take advantage of the notes we took. There were lots of great battles and super fast cars. We were super happy that we finished the rally and especially proud of how we placed.”
“I totally agree with Matt” Koury said. “Only thing I would add is we were concerned about being behind George Pslek and Ole in their Evo. They pulled out some large rocks and dodging them was top of mind.
“We were really bummed to see our fellow competitors Albert Goad and Loren Bench have an off as well as Tony Chavez, and Shibao and McKenna, but we’re thankful to see they were ok.”
“David Peretz in his 2004 Subaru RS was close on our heels for most of the rally and kept us on our toes to stay ahead. Our new lighting setup gave us the confidence to maintain good speed through the night stages.”
“As always thank you to the volunteers and organizers for making it all possible!”
Joining Koury and Michell on the NA4WD podium were David Peretz and John Verbeck in second, as well as Eliza Coleman and Alex Gelsomino in third.
Peretz and Verbeck were also the final competitors on the overall podium, finishing third outright.
Fourth overall and first in the O2WD class was the Ford Ranger of Baglin and Bautista. Despite coming into the event planning to take things easy and learn their still new-to-them truck, the pair were able to impress by keeping up with the front of the field the entire day.
Joining Baglin and Bautista on the O2WD podium was the Volvo 940 of Alex Jardevall and Alix Hakala in second, while third place remained empty as the other two cars in the class retired from the rally.
The L2WD class was won by the 1995 Honda Civic Si of James Besing and Sean Spring.
While the pair won the rally with 10 straight stage wins, they usually had close competition with the nearest competitors just a few seconds behind them across the flying finish.
“It was my first time inside a car at a rally,” said Sean, “and co-driving for James was the perfect introduction and a great motivating factor in getting my own car completed. I'll be looking forward to all of the events in our southwest region!”
Behind them in second was the 1987 VW Golf GTi of Jennifer and Terry Stonecipher, while the 2010 Honda Fit of Radek Wlodarczyk Cindi Carlson completed the L2WD podium.
Finally, in the L4WD class, the 2007 Subaru Outback Sport of Donnie Smith and James Lien were the only finishers in the four-car class, allowing them to take the win in the battle of attrition.
Classification After SS10
Plsek/Holter (Mitsubishi) 1h19m07.9s
Koury/Michell (Subaru) +7m09.7s
Peretz/Berbeck (Subaru) +9m07.5s
Baglin/Bautista (Ford) +10m33.6s
Dorrough/Lauria (Subaru) +11m09.3s
Coleman/Gelsomino (Subaru) +14m26.6s
Ylikangas/Ylikangas (Subaru) +19m09.2s
Strickland/Steinhagen (Subaru) +20m56.7s
Johnson/Zannis (Subaru) +22m37.7s
Besing/Spring (Honda) +23m21.1s
~Mason Runkle for the ARA