Javier Olivares knew the time was there. He just needed to find it. It sat in the Oregon gravel between Emerson Loop Road and Fifteen Mile Road.
Shortly before six on a sunny Sunday evening, the Ford Fiesta Rally2 driver unlocked that pace and landed a superb Oregon Trail Rally RC2 win.
Škoda driver Ryan Booth arrived into round three on the crest of a wave following dominant class performances in Missouri and Washington (he skipped the season-opening Sno*Drift), but his hopes of three on the bounce went south when he went off on SS8.
Booth’s departure left Olivares nursing a 40-second lead for the remainder of Saturday and Sunday. And he was back very much in his happy place. Rolling his Rally2 at 100 Acre Wood meant the Fiesta Rally3 was pressed into action for last month’s Olympus. Javi missed the speed.
Fast forward 24 hours and he was going to need every bit of it. The combination of a spirited charge from Pat Gruszka (Hyundai i20 R5) and a touch too much caution from Olivares had whittled the gap down to 5.6 seconds ahead of the final stage. Five miles remained.
Olivares was through first. He and co-driver KJ Miller congratulated each other. Then waited.
“You just don’t know,” said Olivares, staring intently towards the finish line and straining to hear how much the i20 was on the limit.
“Sometimes you’re really surprised by the time somebody can make. You can feel like you made a good stage, but you don’t know until it’s done. They took 1.2 off us in the last one, so the gap was down to six. It was close…”
The time for talking was done, Gruszka crossed the line. He was faster. By 1.2s. The top step of the RC2 podium belonged to Olivares. The gap? Just 4.4.
The relieved winner said: “We’d done a lot of review [of the notes] before the stage and we just tried to stay focused, keep the pace and stay flat. We were five seconds faster than our previous pass of the stage – that was pretty critical. It’s been a great battle.”
Gruszka’s pace was admirable in reeling the leader in, but when a win’s within touching distance, it hurts that bit more.
Business as usual for Brandon
Semenuk's perfect start to 2025 continued at Oregon Trail
Subaru stars Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams maintained their commanding authority over this year’s ARA National Championship presented by Kubota. It was another flawless drive from the Canadian, winning every stage to bring the WRX ARA24 home more than two and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival.
“We found some improvements with the car,” said the American title winner for the last three years. “I don’t know how much more performance they brought us, but driveability-wise it was really good fun to drive this week. On the Tarmac on Maryhill stage and on the gravel, the feeling was really good. Subaru Motorsports did an amazing job once again.”
Pushing Semenuk on a possible negative, he smiled. “Maybe just the dust…”
Brushing the famous blue and yellow overalls down delivered another dust cloud. A rainy Saturday on the north side of the Columbia River (and actually across the state line in Washington) had given way to sunshine and high winds on Sunday. At times it was like a return to the Kenyan fech fech on the Safari, but don’t be fooled – the water crossings were as much of an OTR feature as ever, with plenty of cars heading home fender-less.
Second placed Conner Martell was one of them. The Kubota-backed WRX STI delivered another consistent result in the 28-year-old’s first full season of ARA action. Travis Pastrana made it an all-Subaru podium overall as he delivered the first L4WD class win for the WRX ARA25L.
Michael Hooper made his first trip to Oregon count with O2WD success, however Hooper’s fellow Lexus driver Richo Healey’s season delivered another blow. The reigning L2WD American champion slid off the road on Saturday’s second stage leaving him and co-driver, DirtFish’s Michelle Miller, spectating for the remainder of the first full day.
Ford Fiesta driver Chris Cyr won L2WD with Eliza Coleman out front in NA4WD.
DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver Aoife Raftery’s hopes of back-to-back ARA podiums went south with a boost pipe problem aboard her Subaru, while Madelyn Tabor inverted her Ford Fiesta Rally3 at the final hairpin on Dalles Mtn Up.
DirtFish WiM driver Aoife Raftery sadly couldn't repeat her Olympus podium due to mechanical trouble
Miller seals a Super Regional Hat-trick
For Brandon Semenuk, read Andy Miller. Almost. Scoring his third successive Super Regional Oregon victory, Miller was fastest on all but two of the stages in his naturally aspirated Impreza. It was another demonstration of Miller’s pace and ability.
Twelve months ago, Miller promised DirtFish he would be pursuing a National campaign. There was more of the same sentiment at the finish in Dufur on Sunday, but this time with the intriguing possibility of a Rally2 car thrown into the chat. Make it happen, Andy. He and Shaun Tracy were worthy and comfortable winners.
Alex Chadney put the memory of two blown motors out of his mind to bring his Subaru out for the first time in two years. He was a strong second with Josh Gierman overcoming more than odd issue to land the final Regional podium spot in duct-taped Subaru. John Hill wheeled his Escort to a superb O2WD win, while Chris Miller delivered a similarly merit-worthy L2WD success – his pace in the Scion would likely have been enough to land him a national class win.
Robert Shibao and Brett Livingston took L4WD and O4WD in their respective Subarus.
