The Southern Ohio Forest Rally, originally scheduled for June 19, has become the latest American Rally Association event to be put on hold.
The decision, a result of Ohio’s ‘Stay Safe Ohio’ order, means that four of the first five ARA national events have been shelved so far this season, following the 100 Acre Wood rally, which was canceled, and the Olympus Rally and the Oregon Trail Rally which were both postponed. Sno*Drift went ahead as planned in January.
“We are disappointed that we will not be able to make our much-anticipated return to the national schedule in June,” said event chairman Jeremiah Johnson. “We are looking at additional dates, and working with the ARA and other national events to find a plausible solution to host SOFR this summer.”
ARA and its parent company USAC have confirmed that it is looking at ways to get the season resumed soon and “still expects to run a strong national schedule in 2020”.
“We believe that there are some immediate opportunities for us to get rallying back quickly,” said USAC president Kevin Miller. “We have developed several new procedures to help events not only manage their event on-site, but also show local and state authorities how we can mitigate the spread of the virus.
“There have been many positive changes to how states are handling this pandemic, and we are working hard to find the right solution.”
