Barry McKenna is just three stages away from his maiden American Rally Association National title, but is embroiled in a tight battle for the Show-Me Rally win with Subaru Motorsports USA’s Brandon Semenuk.
McKenna headed into Saturday with a slender 0.8-second lead over Semenuk, whose Friday performance “marks the moment” he established himself in ARA according to Subaru team-mate Travis Pastrana.
And the leader was conflicted on how to approach Saturday’s rally-closing six stages. Should he let his competitive nature take over and try to edge Semenuk, or just play it safe, bank the points and take his first ARA title with a fourth place finish in Missouri all he would need?
Any hopes Semenuk might have had that McKenna would back off proved nothing short of speculative however, as McKenna’s Ford Fiesta WRC immediately powered to the quickest time by 3.0s on the 7.94 miles of Moses-Colen-Brazil West.
Things got even better for McKenna on the Floyd Tower East Short stage, outpacing Semenuk’s Impreza STI again to open up a 7.6s lead. But the champion-in-waiting was soundly beaten on the loop-concluding Pigeon Roost West test to have his lead slashed to just 2.0s with three stages remaining.
“On stage seven we broke a rear driveshaft,” McKenna told DirtFish, explaining his time loss to Semenuk.
Photo: David Trumpore / Subaru Motorsports USA
“We dropped 10-12 seconds to [Pastrana] but we only dropped six to Brandon so I think it puts us almost neck-and-neck again. I’ve just got to go and do the same thing again if that’s possible.
“The car, everything’s fantastic,” he added. “We made some good positive set-up changes overnight.”
Behind McKenna and Semenuk’s battle, Pastrana returned to the pace after his double puncture in the night on Friday that saw him lose close to a minute.
But his gains in comparison to his team-mate Semenuk were negligible – despite winning SS7 – meaning third position looks like the maximum result the 2017 ARA National champion can score unless trouble befalls either of the leading pair. He’s 55.9s away from McKenna’s lead.
Jeff Seehorn had been sitting in a comfortable fourth in his Subaru, over a minute behind Pastrana but two minutes ahead of Patrick Brennan’s Ford Fiesta Proto after Saturday’s opener.
But Seehorn wouldn’t see the end of the next stage, promoting everyone else up a place. Brennan was the chief beneficiary as he took over fourth but he has Paul Rowley clinging to his coat tails. Rowley’s Ford Fiesta R5 is just 12.5s back after deposing Zachary Jacques of what became fifth spot on SS6. Jacques is 28.2s away from Rowley in his 2015 Subaru WRX after SS7.
Cameron Steely is seventh and at the head of the 2WD pack in his Ford Fiesta ST but only just, with Robert Sanders’ Subaru a mere 0.8s behind him in eighth. ARA East rally leader Zachary Whitebread and Chris O’Driscoll and complete the top 10.
Seamus Burke had been in the fight for a top 10 finish but dropped 16 minutes and out of sixth place on Friday night with what he and co-driver Martin Brady suspected was a wiring loom issue; their Escort Mk2 completely cutting out with all lights lost in the dark.
But the duo re-emerged on Saturday and sent some more strong top-10 stage times, but the 2WD class lead held by Steely is well out of reach.
Leading positions after SS7
1 McKenna (Ford) 35m03.0s
2 Semenuk (Subaru) +2.0s
3 Pastrana (Subaru) +56.0s
4 Brennan (Ford) +6m13.5s
5 Rowley (Ford) +6m26.0s
6 Jacques (Subaru) +6m54.2s
7 Steely (Ford) +7m21.8s
8 Sanders (Subaru) +7m22.7s
9 Whitebread (Subaru) +7m34.4s
10 O’Driscoll (Subaru) +7m34.7s
