Newcomer Eric Wages is the current All-Wheel-Drive points leader. Wages, in only his second season of competition, has a long history within the sport, having served as a crew member and course opening vehicle throughout the ARC. Jason Smith, last year’s AWD champion, is not going to let his number one plate go easily. A DNF at Sandblast Rally early in the season put Smith down for points, but he’s closed the gap through a steady season performance along with wins at Rally Tennessee and HyperFest, putting him only three points behind Wages.

“The rest of the season is going to be really tough,” said Wages. “Jason and Jared have been on a tear winning both regional rallies at Susquehannock Trail Rally and one at New England Forest Rally since the last time we’ve competed against them. Coupled with their knowledge of the remaining events, it’s going to be a challenge to keep the ARC lead. But if it’s not a challenge, then it’s not a rally!”

In Two-Wheel-Drive, Simon Wright appears to have a decent cushion ahead of Tom Barton. The gap is deceiving, however, as the father and son team of the driver Simon and co-driver Kieran Wright have been stepping up their attack resulting in a ‘go big or go home… on a trailer’ mentality. “We’re safely in the lead at the moment,” says Kieran Wright stating that he’s balancing getting Simon ‘to go fast enough to beat the Bartons, but not so fast as to not finish!’

There appears to still be a lot of uncertainty as to the final outcome. “It’s only July. We’re only halfway through the season. There’s still half a year of rally left before this is decided,” said Anders Green, the series promoter. “Rally West Virginia, Black River Stages, and Charlevoix are all still in front of us. And as we move north, we typically have new drivers show up that don’t make the more southern rounds. It’s entirely possible that one of the fast northern drivers like, say, Wyatt Knox, comes in and shakes things up.”

Several other drivers are pushing their way forward following the season openings. Lewis McMurran had an off at Sandblast Rally, an engine fire at Rally Tennessee, yet still made it to the third round at HyperFest to pull home season points. Billy Mann laid down some smoking times at the all-tarmac Rally Tennessee to win day one. Based in the north, it will only be a short trip east for Mann to make an attempt to repeat on gravel what he’s proven he can do on tarmac.

Rally West Virginia, the fourth round of the ARC, runs August 12 and 13 in the Snowshoe region of the Appalachian Mountains. RallyWV.com will have information and results, as the rally, based at the famous Snowshoe Ski Resort, takes to the back roads and mountains of West Virginia.

AWD leader Jason Smith at Sandblast Rally, photo by Mark Moore
AWD racer Eric Wages at Hyperfest, photo by Anders Green

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Simon and Kieran Wright made a strong debut at Sandblast Rally in South Carolina, the first rally of the season, with a two wheel drive win and didn’t look back. Heading into their final rally, they were practically guaranteed the championship. Eduardo Bancalari and Jay Mauney made an early push to the top with a win at the Sandblast Rally. Ultimately they slid to tenth in All Wheel Drive as the season wore on.

Jason Smith and Jarad Lantzy grabbed a podium at Sandblast Rally as well, and this good luck omen stuck with Jason for the rest of the season. Jason made top three at all the events in the US, and his ‘Quick and steady’ pace netted him the outright win in the All Wheel Drive class of the ARC. Jarad fared nearly as well, still winning the AWD Codriver’s points, but he attended Rallye de Charlevoix in Canada with Sam Albert who wasn’t able to pull off a podium. Jarad is looking to complete his collection of podiums in 2011.

Notable fantastic drives include Martin Donnelly at Black River Stages in New York, where his Mitsubish Evo dominated the field, winning by over a minute. Peter Hascher was able to pull out a stage win at Black River though, so Martin still has to keep that pedal down for next year.

When it comes to tarmac though, Doug Shepard and Karen Wagner laid the smack down. Over two days of the most twisting and undulating paved roads raced in American rally, their 2WD Dodge Neon SRT-4 dominated overall. This was a victory not only for them, but for the sport of rally itself, proving that 2WD cars are every bit as fast and exciting as AWD. Right behind them in their uber-Golf were Josh and Jeremy Wimpey, universally recognized as some of the top talent in 2WD.

NASA Rally Sport as a sanctioning body loves great competition, but looks at bringing new people to rallying and developing new talent as its core mission. Robert Sockalexsis, who codrove for Kevin Turner, noted “The season was very good for DoublePlus racing. This being our ‘rookie’ season, the ARC and NASA showed great interest in making sure all of us new competitors were learning the skills we need to be successful in the sport and most of all to have fun!”

Anders Green, series director, said “Our biggest measure of success at NASA Rally Sport is how many new people we bring to the sport each year. My main concern is how many people are getting out there and participating. The heart of rally has always been the club level racer doing it for the passion of racing through the woods, and our guys have more passion. That’s why the NASA motto is ‘We drive harder!’”

The Atlantic Rally Cup heads into the 2011 season stronger than ever. After a test drive this year, in 2011 the NASA Hyperfest will be an official stop on the Cup tour. With approximately 10,000 attendees, Hyperfest dwarfs all other US rallies in spectators. This year over 130 people were given rides in rally cars at Hyperfest, more than anywhere else in the country, in a single day. Anders Green commented, “That kind of visceral experience is what gets people into rally for life. It’s a very important aspect of the NASA Rally Sport mission and I’m happy we get to do now with the ARC.”

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‘It’s going to be fantastic,’ says Anders Green, a NASA Rally Sport Director. ‘I went up there this year to observe the event. They have a great, new organizing team, lead by Emilie Fortin, who is very energetic and is backed up by experienced leaders in the sport like Eric Tremblay. The fans they have up there will brave any weather to come out and watch. I hiked past a mile and a half of cars to get to the La Pax spectator area after sixteen inches of snow fell the day before!’

Charlevoix, which will be the final event of the 2010 Atlantic Rally Cup, usually has snow but it has been a gravel rally some years. This unpredictability adds to the challenge of conquering the stages. Geographically, the event is less than two hours northeast of Montreal. This puts the event well within a typical travel distance for many competitors. Despite being in Canada the event is actually closer for some competitors than other events in the Atlantic Rally Cup — Rallye De Charlevoix is less than a ten hour tow from New York City. The stages are classic tight and twisty forest roads that wind through huge pines, with some stages reaching twenty miles in length.

Andrew Havas, of Team Havspeed/Orange Energy, entered Rally de Charlevoix this year. ‘Rallying in Canada is awesome and you won’t find more passionate fans of rally anywhere in the world. In previous years, Charlevoix was officially observed by the FIA as a potential WRC round, so there can be no doubt as to the quality of the stages. They are simply awesome. Adding Charlevoix’s classic stages to the amazing tarmac at Rally Tennessee, the jumps and night running at Black River Stages in New York, and the mountain gravel of Rally West Virginia, it’s clear that the Atlantic Rally Cup has the best variety, and the best depth of proper stages on the East Coast.’

The Atlantic Rally Cup, now international in scope, consists of six rallies for 2010, and the events span Florida to Quebec. The competition heats up this year as the classes have been reduced to just two: two wheel drive and all wheel drive. This means that everyone will need to drive harder to fend off the larger number of people they are now racing against. The events in the U.S. are sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport, while the Canadian event is sanctioned by the Canadian Association of Rally Sport, under FIA jurisdiction.

Preparations for the 2010 season have begun and entries are already flooding in to Sandblast Rally in South Carolina. The first stop on the tour gets started on February 6th. More information on event schedules and car preparation rules is available on NASARallySport.com. NASA Rally Sport, the oldest operating rally sanctioning body in the United States, organizes gravel and tarmac events across the country.

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* Round Four of the Atlantic Rally Cup expands to Linden and Lobelville, Tennessee
* New sponsors join event

Perry County’s annual event, Rally Tennessee, is only days away and it appears this year will be another year of growth for the event. In the current economy, this is an exciting development for the local communities and the competitors!

“So far it’s looking very good.” said Anders Green of NASA Rally Sport. “Last year we had thirty-six entrants. This year, with a few last minute folks that aren’t yet listed on the web site, I’m expecting a few more than that, maybe forty total.” The current competitor list on the event’s web site, RallyTennessee.com, shows twenty-four car and thirteen motorcycle entrants. Green added that the declining economy has had a significant effect on the amount of entries at rallies throughout the country.

The excitement is spilling over into the local community as several new sponsors join the event. This year’s sponsors include the City of Lobelville, the Perry County Chamber of Commerce, Performance Friction Brakes, P-Sport, the Commodore Hotel & Caffe, Village Pizza, and Sonic of Linden. Additional local businesses are sponsoring discount coupons for spectators.

For the racers, the roads of Tennessee are one reason they are drawn to Perry County and this year’s event added two new stages to the schedule. Now racing roads in both Linden and Lobelville, there is even more for spectators to enjoy as well. The rally will be in downtown Lobelville on Saturday, coinciding with a free country music concert being offered that night at the Lobelville Music Park. On Sunday, the rally will be at the Perry County High School in Linden.

Rally Tennessee is the fourth round of the notable Atlantic Rally Cup and the second round of the Atlantic RallyMoto(tm) Cup. It is also the second round of the United States Rally Championship.

There’s still time to get involved with the rally. “Volunteering really opens up the door for a lot of folks. Many competitors got their start as volunteers.” said Green. “We treat our volunteers well — with a free t-shirt, free breakfast, free lunches, and an exclusive invitation to the awards ceremony. Plus, they get to hang out with all the racers. Being right on the course for the rally all day long is pretty exciting, too!” RallyTennessee.com has more information on volunteering opportunities.

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