Barry McKenna heads home from the Show-Me Rally as the new ARA National champion and will, undoubtedly, receive all the plaudits for an incredible achievement.
But in truth the real star in Missouri was Brandon Semenuk, who powered his Subaru Motorsports USA WRX STI to a victory of more than a minute over team-mate Travis Pastrana.
It was a seminal moment for mountain biker turned rally driver Semenuk, who grabbed his first ever ARA victory and first since signing for Subaru earlier this year on just his fourth event with the team.
Pastrana dropped out of contention late on the short first day when he ran wide and picked up two punctures, while McKenna lost 40s after checking out of service four minutes late with a differential change, but this was no fluke. Semenuk came of age on the Show-Me Rally, and Pastrana was left singing his praises.
“This will be the rally that marks the moment – no matter what happens, even if on the next stage something goes wrong – Brandon Semenuk became the biggest threat for the championship,” Pastrana told DirtFish halfway through the rally.
“In the dust on tough stages on a rally he’s never been to before and [to] put nine seconds on me and eight seconds on McKenna, that’s really, really strong. That’s David Higgins strong.”
Brandon's the real deal man. He's a rally driver.Travis Pastrana
High praise indeed, given Higgins’ obscene decade of titles stateside. The comparison is intriguing from Pastrana too, who will no doubt see plenty of himself in Semenuk. Pastrana also originally hails from a competition background on two wheels, and joined Subaru with Higgins as his mentor. That’s a role he now takes with Canadian Semenuk.
“Barry said it the best,” Pastrana added after the rally. “When Brandon took that second stage win in the dust, Barry was talking to me before the start of stage three and goes, ‘We’ve got our hands full next year’.”
The Olympus Rally is still to run on the 2020 ARA schedule, but thoughts are already turning to 2021. Pastrana is sure Semenuk will be right up there fighting for the title and has identified areas of his own game that he will need to improve in order to keep on top of his now rally-winning team-mate.
“It’s always a tough rally for me [here in Missouri],” Pastrana told DirtFish. “We were way too aggressive yesterday [Friday], today [Saturday] maybe not aggressive enough but felt good in the car. Notes and everything was good.
“I tell you Barry and Brandon, really on their game. I really need to work on this one and probably STPR [the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally] if I want to compete with these guys in the championship next year.
“This year was tough because we didn’t have all our eggs in our basket sponsor wise and [hadn’t] figured everything out by Sno*Drift which is one of my favorite rallies,” he added.
“I haven’t been there in a while because usually it’s earlier in the season and Brandon was still getting his contract and everything figured out and then I had a fire in the second one [Southern Ohio Forest Rally] and that really was tough.
“So a lot of pressure was put on Brandon then at the last rally to get out there and get a win but for him to come this far in a new car, coming here for the first time when Barry and I have been here quite a few times before, Brandon’s the real deal man. He’s a rally driver.”
