The 2020 American Rally Association, Presented by AMSOIL season was one that will not be soon forgotten. The new year brought optimism, growth and high expectations with nineteen events on the original schedule. But a pandemic hit and put the roller coaster of rally on hold after just one national and one regional were in the books.
But after seven months of uncertainty, teams began to roll back into paddocks, starting with the Southern Ohio Forest Rally, a first time ARA national. From there, the national and regional series picked up steam, and despite some early season cancellations, competitors found seven more opportunities to rally, including the late-season add of the newly minted New York Forest Rally.
Over the next several days, the ARA will individually recognize our 2020 National and Regional Champions with a snapshot of how they got to the top spot. Today we focus on the ARA East Regional Limited 4WD class.
Tie Breaker Need for East L4 Title
The limitation of events in 2020 created a bevy of tie-breaker scenarios in multiple ARA classes. For the East Regional Limited 4WD championship, gaining winning points at Super Regionals created a three way-tie for the overall. After the ARA first place tie-breaker system (the current ARA rules do not dictate tie-breakers beyond first place) was put into effect, Ivo Draganov and Co-Driver Vladimir Yanev were named class champions.
There were six ARA East Regional events in 2020. Two of them, Missouri Ozark Rally and Ojibwe Forests Rally, were completed without any points being taken in the regional L4WD class. Three of the remaining events were counted as Super Regionals, giving 17 points to the class winner compared to 12 for a Basic Regional. Draganov and Yanev's win at Sno*Drift gave them the benefit of the tie-breaker.
That left a tie for second place between the teams of Paul Ferreira and Co-Driver Ozgur Simsek and Jovan Kelsey and co-driver Kevin Schatz. Ferreira and Simsek won the L4 class at SOFR, while Kelsey and Schatz took the win at the Show-Me Rally. Ferreira and Simsek had an opportunity to win the class title at New York, but a DNF resulted in no points awarded.
The team of Anthony Gearheart and Joshua Alexander were fourth in class by finishing second at Show-Me. Greg Roumianstev and Oscar Romero won New York, giving them 12 points and fifth overall.
Up Next: Sunday review of the ARA West Regional NA4WD class.
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