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 West Regional NA4WD class.
West Regional NA4WD: Two Wins for Brown Boost Championship Credentials
Dave Brown was able to win the 2019 Overall West Driver championships thanks to strong overall event finishes at Idaho and Rally Colorado. But he was unable to secure the West Regional NA4WD class titles.
Brown partnered up with two separate co-drivers in 2020. His win at Colorado was assisted by the navigating from Michael Brown. Rally Colorado was Michael Brown's only event in 2020, but he gathered enough points to finish as the ARA West Regional NA4WD Co-Driver champion. Brown also partnered with Zach Pfeil at Rally Nevada. Pfeil finished fifth in the final standings.
Josh Gierman finished second in the class standings. Gierman and co-driver Kiersten Adels teamed up for an impressive class win at the season finale Olympus Rally. Together they held off Jacob Fowlkes and co-driver Colin Katagiri by 1.5-seconds for the win while finishing fourth overall in the regional standings.
Fowlkes and Katagiri found themselves in a tie for third overall in the West Regional NA4WD standings. Krishna Gandhi and co-driver Jake Baxter took part in the Rally Colorado event last season, finishing second in class behind the Brown brothers.
Up Next: Monday review of the ARA West Regional L4WD class.
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