Fan-favorite Matthew Nykanen is lining up a shot at this year’s coveted Open 2WD title in the ARA National Championship presented by Kubota.
The BMW driver delivered a National level debut win at last month’s Sno*Drift Rally and now has reigning champion Ryan Booth and fellow class big hitters Seamus Burke and Michael Hooper in his sights.
“We’re going to try to take down the big dogs,” the 25-year-old told DirtFish. “We’re going to run the whole National series and see what we can do. We just won the open two-wheel-drive Regional Championship, so the logical progression is to go to the National.
“I wish we’d had Hooper, Burke and Booth come and run their rear-wheel-drive cars on this event – that would’ve given us some tougher competition in class. But, you know, I get greedy and I look at the overall results and being able to put down top-10 stage times in a rear-wheel-drive car in conditions like this, that’s what gets me going.”
Nykanen will tackle all ARA rounds except for Oregon Trail, where he’ll be supporting his wife Anikka, who is competing in her first event as a driver.
He explained: “She usually co-drives for her brother [Travis Mattonen], but she’s driving his Subaru Impreza on the Headwaters Rally, so I’ve got to be there to support her.”
Nykanen and his veteran BMW took class honors - and sixth overall - on the Sno*Drift
Nykanen’s class win in Michigan came in just his third year in the sport – and following an engine switch aboard his BMW.
“It had a 2.5 [liter] all last season,” he said. “It had, like 180 horsepower. The thing would barely hit 100mph. So I just built a new three-liter engine for it, aluminum block, some spicy cams, some head-porting and upgraded valve trains.
“It absolutely rips now. Once you hit 4000 [rpm], she just lights and takes off. Wherever we could find traction she was gone. I saw 130 [mph] on the speedo on a 400 straight, which was pretty wild when you’re driving on roads with so little traction.
“I pushed the car to the limit of what I could see with the road conditions, and where that failed me I had the snowbanks as a backup. I’m not going to drive the whole thing just pussyfooting it – we’re going to send it the whole time.
“I’d never run a Sno*Drift before, but I’m no stranger to snow. I grew up in the UP (Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) and my car was an E36 with a welded drift – this was just like a normal drive to work for me!”
