Brandon Semenuk has sealed a third consecutive American Rally Association National championship title on Overmountain Rally Tennessee, despite being beaten by Subaru Motorsports USA team-mate Travis Pastrana.
Pastrana took victory on the all-new ARA event by 18.3 seconds as multiple flat tires cost Semenuk over a minute, but victory on the powerstage was enough to secure the Canadian and co-driver Keaton Williams another championship title.
There was also success for Richo Healey and DirtFish instructor Michelle Miller, who wrapped up the Limited 2WD championship title in just DirtFish alumni Healey’s second season of rallying.
Semenuk had begun Sunday’s final leg weighing up whether he wanted to push to keep RC2 leader Josh McErlean behind, or settle for second and wrap up the championship.
But that choice was taken away from Semenuk as soon as the final leg began, when a puncture on both SS8 and SS9 dropped him to third and handed Hyundai i20 N Rally2 pilot McErlean the lead.
McErlean proved a point in his Hyundai Rally2, but left Tennessee empty-handed
The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver had headed to Tennessee in a bid to prove the speed of RC2 cars vs the Open class, and succeeded with a stage win on SS4 to trail Semenuk by just 16.7s overnight.
But any dreams of a sensational victory were put to rest on SS10, just two stages after taking the lead, when McErlean pulled over with mechanical trouble.
Pastrana, who took his first ARA victory in three years at Ojibwe, was the beneficiary as he stormed into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.
But his fading championship hopes were extinguished on the powerstage, with Semenuk saving himself for one last attack and beating Pastrana by an impressive 27.3s on the points-paying test to put the championship out the reach of his rivals.
“OK it wasn’t an event win for us, but second place and the powerstage win gets us the points we need to secure the championship. And I’m pretty, pretty relieved just to check that box,” Semenuk told DirtFish.
“Obviously, leaving it to the last stage of the year for me wasn’t [by] choice, but OK, it’s the way it goes.
“Three of these championships back to back is… yeah, I’m super stoked and definitely never thought that was in the cards for me to be racing against Travis and Josh.
“It’s been, you know, a fun year, fun event. But OK, I certainly don’t think this was my best year of driving. I think the last two years I felt like I managed the rallies a lot better. For some reason, it just didn’t really click for me this year.
“There were good moments, but some things to learn from. And hopefully next year we can get back on track where we’re minimizing mistakes or just issues.”
Pastrana could celebrate a second win in a row, while Semenuk scored another championship title
Pastrana added: “I’m super stoked to get a win. I’m really disappointed that we just weren’t able to get it done on this [power]stage, because we were real close to keeping the championship in our hands, but it is what it is.
“Brandon deserved this championship.”
On his first ever rally in the US, Sean Johnston brought his Ford Fiesta Rally3 home in third place to complete the podium, with Javier Olivares finishing fourth on his first event with Rally2 power.
Paul Rowley (Ford Fiesta S2000 Turbo) and NA4WD winner Mark Piatkowski (Subaru Impreza) were next up in fifth and sixth ahead of Open 2WD class victor Michael Hooper (Lexus IS 350) and Chris Cyr (Ford Fiesta ST) who topped Limited 2WD.
However Healey and Miller managed to secure the L2WD championship in their Lexus, despite retiring on the opening leg. Restarting under super-rally rules, and with rival Roberto Yglesias failing to after also retiring on Saturday, simply making the finish was enough for the pair to be crowned champions – and that’s exactly what they did.
Dylan Gondyke won the Regional event in his Subaru ahead of Kevin Allen, but had the latter not picked up penalties for a late arrival to a time control he would have topped the podium.
