Photo by Daniel Vester
McLeary, Wash. (October 5, 2024) ~ The American Rally Association West Region Championship enters its penultimate round this weekend as the small town of McLeary, Wash. plays host to the 2024 Tour de Forest Rally.
A total of 28 of the Pacific Northwest’s best teams will be taking on the compact schedule Tour de Forest offers. With recce and race day combined into one, the rally will take place entirely on Saturday, making it an easy event to fit into any schedule.
Not far from the same areas used for Olympus Rally, the roads are similar with a mix of hard-packed gravel and smaller, more rough side roads.
Also similar is the technical nature of the roads for Tour de Forest, with stages taking competitors twisting up and down mountains and valleys with elevation changes around 1300 feet from the highest to lowest points.
Another common factor for rallying in Washington is, of course, the frequently wet weather, and while rain is not forecast for Saturday’s event, the stages will still be wet from rain in the days prior, making conditions slick, and tricky for the teams as they tackle the stages.
The tight itinerary starts Saturday at 7:30 am with recce running from then until 11:00 am. The competition begins an hour later at noon with the first car leaving the service park at the Simpson Door Plant to head to SS1.
The stage itinerary consists of one two-stage loop being run twice with a service in between. SS1, Kennedy Loops is a 9.30-mile stage sending competitors up and down a small mountain just outside of town, while SS2, To the Towers, is a 6.82-mile route that passes through the hills just north of Summit Lake.
After a 45-minute service and another loop of the same stages, competitors return to the Simpson Door Factory at 4:00 pm for award ceremonies.
Each stage being raced twice means a total of 32.24 miles of stage rally action awaits the teams competing in Tour de Forest this year, sure to make for a tense battle across the many classes as even a single mistake could cause a time loss to large to recover.
Possibly the car with the most eyes on it will be the L4WD entry of Madelyn Tabor and Sophia McKee.
Tabor is making her class debut in the Element RallySport Ford Fiesta Rally3 after a few years of driving her NA4WD Impreza, and most recently taking part in the WRC Beyond Rally Women’s Program for up-and-coming female rally athletes in Poland.
Tour de Forest will be her first rally back after the three-day program and will be an exciting opportunity for the duo to show what they’re capable of in WRC-level equipment.
“It's been a long time coming with the Rally3 preparations,” Tabor said. “I was fortunate enough to have time to test the Rally3 before going off to Poland for the WRC Beyond Rally Women's Program up at Dirtifsh with Element RallySport.”
“Element was extremely helpful in teaching me all about the car's mechanics and learning how to drive the car. I'm also super grateful for Dirtfish's amazing facilities and knowledgeable instructors.”
“This day was super helpful for the two driving days part of the three-day camp overseas. Now, I am excited to apply all I've learned to a stage rally ahead of Tour De Forest Rally. It should be a fun event and I cannot thank Element Rallysport enough for the car and support, and Dirtfish for their continued partnership and support.”
McKee is also looking forward to the opportunity, saying, “I am excited to be back in the car with Maddy after she was ripping around Poland in the Rally3 car in Beyond Rally Women’s Program.”
“I’ve watched this car compete all season but never dreamed I would be in it.”
Tabor and McKee will have three other teams competing against them in the L4WD class, including the current L4WD West Championship leader Phil Clarke and co-driver Kendra Tym in their 2003 WRX.
“The team and I are looking forward to getting back on stage after our class win at Oregon Trail. It's been 4 months since I've been in the car and I'm excited to get back up to speed and lay down some fast stage times.”
“We are sitting 10 points out of 1st place in L4WD and a win this weekend would put us in contention. I know Kendra, my co-driver, will be pushing us to be aggressive but keep things clean and tidy.
“Excited for the challenge of new stages this weekend and finishing strong at Tour De Forest.”
Also in the class are Steve and Erin Greer in their 1992 Subaru Legacy Turbo and Jonathan Myers and Mark Golos’ 2006 WRX.
First in the start order, and sure to make their presence known the second they start their car, the team of Sam Albert and Krista Skucas are returning to the stage in their Ferrari V8-powered Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
The No. 457 O4WD entry has been a favorite at every round it has competed in, and most recently finished second overall in the National Oregon Trail Rally in May.
“This rally is our first event back in the car since June and we are looking forward to incorporating some of the lessons we learned competing in the CRC with Antoine L'Estage and Alan Ockwell,” Albert said.
“The car is in the same configuration it was in the spring so it should be relatively easy to get back up to speed. We have several changes planned and in process for next year but want to finish 2024 building pace in the existing platform before executing some of that development work. Looking forward to a great day in the forest and setting some fast times.”
Just behind them in the starting order will be Andy Miller and Shaun Tracy in their EZ30-swapped Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Miller is currently on an incredible streak of eight straight NA4WD class wins dating back to Oregon Trail Rally in 2022, seven of which have been with Tracy in the car alongside him.
This weekend the pair are sure to be a strong contender for not only the class win but for the overall as well.
Competing alongside them in the NA4WD class will be Cooper Anderson and Ethan Curtis who have class-podiumed in their past four rallies together, and could be an upset overall podium finisher with some luck.
“Heading into Tour De Forest I'm excited and really looking forward to it,” said Anderson. “Our car is prepped and ready to go and I’ve been watching video recce and mostly memorizing the parts to watch out for and where to really push.”
“As people know we don't have the most powerful car in the class but we need to make it count if we want to stay competitive. All in all, I'm ready to go and I'm ready to party.”
Curtis shared Anderson’s excitement, adding, “Cooper and I are looking forward to building on a strong start to our season, and are in the hunt for both an overall West Regional and NA4 class podiums after our podiums at Wild West, Olympus, and Oregon Trail.”
“Cooper and his Impreza are strong in the wet where smoothness and consistency win the day. The conditions should be very similar to where we had an overall podium at Olympus on similar roads, and being our 10th event together, we should be very at home for the event.”
“Tour is great for its ever-evolving challenges; be it conditions or roads. We look forward to flexing our strengths and chasing an overall podium!”
Finishing out the NA4WD entry list, Daniel Sperry and Zachary Thomas will be competing in their 2002 Impreza, while Ben Burt and Noah Smith will be competing in their 1996 Impreza.
Third on the road, and another strong contender for the podium is the 2007 S14 Impreza WRC Replica of Steven Redd and Dylan Hooker, who won the O4WD class and placed second overall in this year's Olympus Regional Rally.
“I can’t totally speak for Steven, but I know he’s made quite a few changes to the car after a broken axle smashed our regional lead and multiple stage wins into a DNF at OTR earlier this year,” said Hooker.
“AJ Rossiter once told me the most dangerous words a car guy can say are ‘while I’m in there,’ and I think there was a fair bit of that going on in Steven’s shop over the summer. I’m really excited to jump back in with him and see how those changes can translate into improved stage times and more giggles per mile”
“TdF is a very short event, and I think it’s mostly going to be a shakedown for us. But that doesn’t mean Steven won’t be swinging for the fences. His version of taking it easy is still somewhere just shy of plaid. Chasing down Sam and Krista is a tall order, but we’ve been trading times with Andy and Shaun at every event, and are definitely aiming to be on the overall podium.”
“But more than anything, I’m just super stoked to - as our friend Matt Turner says - ‘be out doing race car things with my race car friends!’”
Other O4WD entries include the 2003 WRX of Mark Tabor and Katheryn Hansen, the 1997 WRX of Sean Dorrough and Andrea Lauria, and the 1992 Subaru SVX of Aaron Lane and Nikolas Bauman.
The O2WD class is the largest in the field as it normally is in West Coast rallying. This time the top three entries in the class are all within one speed factor point of each other, making the whole podium a toss-up.
First in the starting order is the Volvo 242 Turbo of Sean Edwards and Kendra Miller who are still chasing their first podium after first competing in the car at Oregon Trail in 2023.
“These are new roads for us,” Miller said. “Judging from the maps & organizer videos they should be a fun time. Overall I'm just excited to be back in the Volvo again, really looking forward to competing with all my coworkers and friends.”
“Goals are always have fun, keep it rubber side down and increase that speed factor. Anything more would just be gravy.”
Competing for the top spot on the podium, Ethan Hanneman will be starting his second rally in his 2007 Dodge Caliber alongside Jack Gillow-Wiles, and Pat Darrow and Cody Crawford will be chasing their first podium in their Volvo 242.
Further back in the start order, there are still some ones to watch though, long-time co-driver Alexander Yardevall will be swapping seats for the first time, piloting a Volvo 940 Turbo co-driven by Maxwell Melcher.
Oregon Trail Rally Chair Karen Jankowski will also be returning to the driver’s seat for the first time since Olympus Rally last year in her 2000 Dodge Neon SRT-4 co-driven by Jeff Snowden.
Finally, in the L2WD class, the 2023 West Region Overall Champion driver Chris Miller is returning to Tour de Forest in his 2015 Scion FR-S to compete in the L2WD class with Eric Shofhauser in the navigator’s seat. Miller won the class at Rally Colorado and is the favorite to win again at Tour de Forest as a win will earn him the lead in the L2WD points.
The same can also be said for two other teams at Tour de Forest though, as the 1982 Toyota Corolla of Jeff Castro and Ann Hansen, and the 2006 Mazda 3 of Matt Tabor and Denae Murphy would also both top the points with a win at Tour de Forest.
Four other teams will also be looking to top the class in L2WD, including the 2015 Ford Fiesta of Henry Tabor and Mitch Meadows, and the 1976 BMW 2002 of Mitch Williams and Taylor Black.
For more information about Tour de Forest, follow our social media channels, our official media partners, DirtFish, or head to the organizer's website.
~Mason Runkle for the ARA