Salem, MO., March 2, 2015 / Subaru Rally
Team USA driver David Higgins and
co-driver Craig Drew took their second straight win of the 2015 Rally America
Championship season driving their new 2015 Open class Subaru WRX STI to victory
at a snow and ice laden Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.
We had anticipated this years 100AW to be another great battle
between Ford driver Ken Block, who has driven to victory no less than seven
times in the Ozark foothills and Subaru’s Higgins. But unfortunately the
battle did not materialize as Block withdraw from the rally just a few days
before the event. Block has typically done well on this event when the high-speed
stages are not covered with snow and ice. But in 2012 Block has a big off while
leading the rally on day one, although he was able to limp off the stage it
ended his victory streak, perhaps memories of that off may have prompted the
teams withdrawal with the looming wintry icy forecast.
The relatively light snow that had blanked the area in the days
leading up to the Salem, Missouri based event turned to ice as the teams did
their pre event recce. Once again The
Rally in the 100aw would have teams rolling the dice taking their best bet as to what would be the optimal tire for the treacherous mix of snow and ice.
Off the line on day one it would come as no surprise to anyone
that David Higgins and Team Subaru USA were going to dominate in their newly
developed wide track Subaru STI.
2015 has gotten off to a troubling start for FY Racings Adam Yeoman and Jordan Schulze,
after setting some top times on the opening stages, the team would once again
retire with mechanical problems. This would be the second retirement for the
team in this only the second round of
the 2015 Championship. As FY racing planed to contest the entire season, they
were the only possible contender to to get in Higgins way of yet another title.
With Yeoman sidelined, David Sterckx and his imported Irish co-driver Stephen Quinn
would slip into second behind Higgins, a position they would not give up
throughout the rally.
The up and coming Polish / American team of
Peter Fetela and Dominik Jozwiak excelled in the extreme conditions, holding
off a hard charge from Brenten Kelly and Niall Burns for the final overall podium position, both
Fetela and Kelly were driving Subaru’s.
Higgins and Drew masterfully handled the conditions and
dominated the rally, by winning all but one stage. A spin on an extremely
icy section of road during the second day cost the duo some time, and the stage
win, but they had already accumulated a sizable gap to their pursuing rivals,
going on to win by over five minutes.
In super production, it was a great result
for Doctor Garry Gill and co driver Stephen Kurey, the team had the right
prescription for the wintery conditions.
In 2WD, we would see even the most
experienced winter drivers get caught out by the icy conditions, defending
Rally America 2WD Champions, Andrew Comri-Picard and Ole Holter would connect
with a tree busting a tie rod end as a result, despite a valiant by Picard to
repair the Ford Performance Fiesta R2 the team were forced to retire on day
one. They would return to the rally on day two under super rally rules, but the
podium train was already well out of the station.
100AW would mark a first overall victory for Cameron Steely and Preston Osborn also in a Ford Fiesta. Taking
into consideration the conditions, Steely margin of victory was slim as he just had a 30 second margin over
Troy Miller and Steven Harrell in second. James Robinson and
co-driver Brian Penza would brake up an
all Ford podium placing their B-Spec 2015 Honda Fit in third. This was a remarkable
result for the showroom stock Honda.
The Rally America train heads west next to The Oregon
Trails Rally. Check in with www.rally-america.com
for more info as the event approaches.
Photo: Subaru Rally Team USA
