Booth Earns First Overall National Victory at Southern Ohio Forest Rally

masonrunkel
Jun 18
10 min read

(Chillicothe, OH – June 16, 2025) ~ A new overall winner was crowned at Round 5 of the 2025 American Rally Association (ARA) Championship presented by Kubota, as Ryan Booth and Lorcan Moore claimed their first-ever overall victory in an ARA National Championship event, wheeling their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to the top step of the podium during an attrition-filled Southern Ohio Forest Rally (SOFR).

The sixth running of the SOFR in the ARA National Championship consisted of a three-day schedule combining 20 twisting and technical stages through the Ohio Valley, offering some of the most challenging driving on the entire ARA calendar.

Always a game-changing event, the 2025 Southern Ohio Forest Rally was no exception, marked by sweltering heat, heavy humidity, dramatic mechanical failures, and shocking DNFs.

Top National Competitors Suffer Issues, Booth Takes Advantage for Maiden Victory

The drama began just minutes into the rally. The Yoctangee Street Stage, famed—and more than a little infamous—for its stage-ending jump, has a reputation for ending competitors' weekends less than a mile after they begin.

The first team to feel the sting of the Yoctangee jump this year was the Martell Racing duo of Conner Martell and Alex Gelsomino, making their debut in the RC2-class 2C Compétition-supported Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 after scoring a string of podium finishes in their Open 4-wheel-drive (O4WD) Subaru.

Martell and Gelsomino immediately made their presence known by winning SS1 outright, but a hard landing off the jump caused the car to bottom out. Gelsomino sustained compression fractures to his back and was transported to a local hospital. Fortunately, he’s expected to be back in the co-driver’s seat in a few weeks, but that injury spelled the end of the SOFR weekend for them.

With Martell out, the lead was wide open for reigning champions and current points leaders Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams of Subaru Motorsports USA (SMSUSA). By the end of the rally’s opening day, less than two miles of competitive distance, their Vermont SportsCar-built 2025 Subaru WRX had already built a 5.5-second lead.

When the gravel forest stages kicked off on Friday, Semenuk and Williams capitalized on their early lead, quickly pulling away from the Rally2-heavy field and building a one-minute advantage by SS4. But disaster struck on SS5, when the SMSUSA duo misjudged a section and suffered an off down an embankment. Unable to recover the car, they were forced to retire from Day 2.

“[I] was kind of just expecting the car to turn in more, but it was really slow to turn in, and we got caught on the loose a bit, which just slowly dragged us out,” Semenuk explained to ARA media partners, DirtFish. “I almost saved it, but it was a bit too late, ran out of road, and we basically just went down the bank backwards.”

With most of the damage being minor and cosmetic, the No. 1 Subaru of Semenuk and Williams was able to rejoin on Saturday to fight for Power Stage points. Nevertheless, the chance at an overall win was gone, bringing their perfect season to an end.

Inheriting the lead was the No. 689 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Booth and Moore. Booth has been a mainstay in the ARA National Championship for years, including winning the 2024 (Open 2-wheel-drive) O2WD Championship, but had yet to claim an overall event victory until now.

With the top four cars now all within about 30 seconds of the lead, the front runners pushed hard through the remaining five stages of the day.

Booth maintained his lead, extending it to a 46-second gap, while crowd favorites Travis Pastrana and Rhiannon Gelsomino, in the SMSUSA Limited 4-wheel-drive (L4WD) Subaru WRX, won a stage but struggled with turbo issues for much of the day.

The Green APU Hyundai i20 No. 243 entry of Pat Gruszka and John Hall pushed to end the day in second overall. Despite a strong effort from Javier Olivares and KJ Miller in the No. 192 Ford Fiesta Rally2, a brake master cylinder failure during mid-day service resulted in over 13 minutes in penalties, ending their chance at a podium or a win.

Going into the final day, Booth held the lead, Gruszka in second while playing the long game to protect his sizable RC2 championship lead, and Pastrana comfortably holding third while leading the LN4 class. Separately, each of the lead teams calculated risk and reward, ultimately electing to maintain their pace and minimize the chances of a similar fate to their competitors.

On the Power Stage, Semenuk and Williams put in a fantastic effort to take first, while Gruszka claimed the RC2 Power Stage points, and Pastrana secured top honors in the LN4 class.

Overall though, it was Booth and Moore standing atop the podium in McArthur, Ohio, at the end of the rally.

“The weekend went really well,” Booth said. “We felt we had good pace from the start, and I was excited to chase Conner in the other Skoda. He’s definitely going to be fast, but for now, I’m just really glad that he and Alex are both doing relatively okay.

“Once Brandon and Keaton went off the road (thankfully, they’re both okay too), we knew it was our rally to lose, so we focused on staying clean and pushing where we could. Pat was really picking up the pace and took a couple of stages off us, so the rest of the year should be exciting.”

With Booth winning both overall and RC2, and Gruszka finishing second in both categories, the No. 191 Green APU Hyundai i20 of Alastair Scully rounded out the RC2 podium in third

Pastrana’s win in the LN4 class was dominant, taking the victory by nearly 13 minutes over his closest competitors, despite running without boost for a significant portion of the rally.

Second place went to skateboarding and X-Games legend Bucky Lasek, making his return to ARA competition after a three-year hiatus, and his co-driver Aris Mantopoulos in their 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Madelyn Tabor and Krista Skucas rounded out the podium in third, piloting their Ford Fiesta Rally3.

“Man, what a rally!”

Pastrana said at the end of the Power Stage. “A lot of stuff happened to a lot of people. It wasn't the day that we had hoped for, but at the end of the day, we made it to the end, and I’m super excited. That last power stage was diabolical, but we’re on the overall podium and first in class!”

Hooper Takes O2WD Championship Lead Despite Swedish Threat

Michael Hooper and Michael Hordijk emerged victorious in their iconic Lexus IS350, following one of the most thrilling O2WD class battles of the season.

Making their ARA debut, Swedish rallyists Thomas Hansson and Nicklas Jidflo, ensconced in their distinctive Volvo 944, brought some international flair and a curveball to the usual contenders.

Despite taking the early lead on the first stage, Michael Hooper's rally nearly took a turn for the worse on SS2 when he went sideways over the spectator jump. In a dramatic recovery, he managed to finish the stage in reverse, losing only about eight seconds in the process. On the first gravel stage Friday morning, Hooper and Hordijk regained the lead and gradually built a 25-second gap over the Swedish newcomers.

But the Volvo 944 duo wasn’t done yet. Starting with the final stage of Friday, Hansson and Jidflo began chipping away at Hooper’s advantage. Their steady pace paid off, and they reclaimed the lead on SS13. Unfortunately, their charge was cut short by overheating issues on the very next stage, handing the lead back to Hooper and Hordijk. From there, the Lexus crew cruised through the final seven stages to secure a hard-fought class win.

Long-time fan favorites Seamus Burke and Gary McElhinney finished second in class in their MkII Ford Escort, while Richo Healey and Michelle Miller claimed third.

Meanwhile, in the L2WD class, Chris Cyr and Glen Ray’s perfect season came to an end, much like Semenuk’s.

After winning every rally and Power Stage so far this year, the Bearly Cyrious Ford Fiesta ST finally met its match in Ohio. Cyr and Ray led for the first six stages and built a lead of over a minute before going off on SS7, handing the top spot to the Subaru BRZ of Santiago Iglesias and Robert Kassel.

Iglesias held the lead for 10 stages but was forced to stop for nearly 20 minutes on SS17 before continuing, allowing the returning duo of Casen Pedersen and Drew Staples to inherit the lead and ultimately take the class win in their Lexus IS250.

Rounding out the L2WD podium, Mark Tabor and Katheryn Hansen secured second place in their Ford Fiesta ST, while Nicholas and David Tippmann finished third, also driving a Fiesta ST.

Coulter Wins First ARA Regional Overall

Running alongside the Southern Ohio Forest Rally, the Southern Ohio Forest Super Regional Rally served as Round 2 of the ARA East Championship. Covering 108 miles over 19 stages, the event saw 33 teams tackle the full national route, minus the final 2.5-mile Power Stage.

With the top cars on the entry list split roughly 50/50 between the NA4WD and L4WD classes, a tight battle was expected between the lighter naturally aspirated cars and the more powerful turbocharged entries. But in the end, it was the NA4WD 3.0L 1990 Subaru Legacy of Nathan Coulter and Kevin Dobrowski that came out on top after the grueling event.

Despite starting the event in ninth after Thursday night’s Yoctangee Park Super Specials, the Legacy rocketed into a tie for the lead on the first gravel stage Friday morning, matching the O2WD Lexus IS350 of Brian Katz and Matt Vaught, while sitting just 1.8 seconds ahead of the 2002 L4WD Subaru WRX of Tom Mayer and Dillon McKenna.

By the fourth stage of the rally, however, Coulter had taken firm control of the lead and held strong as the battle raged behind him. With 10 stage wins over the course of the event, Coulter and Dobrowski secured their first overall regional victory on Saturday evening, finishing with a commanding one-minute, ten-second margin, despite losing first gear towards the end of the rally.

“It was great to have the hard work put in over the last few years pay off,” Coulter said. “It has only been recently that we had the speed and confidence to be able to be competitive at the top of a stacked field like this weekend.”

“The SOFR stages were amazing as usual with a great mix of technical and fast sections. It was my first time competing with Kevin, and the weekend could not have gone smoother, teamwork-wise. We synced up right away on SS3, and he was solid the whole time.”

Of course, winning the overall rally also means winning the class, and in the NA4WD category, it was Ian and Hailey McCarty’s 2007 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS finishing second, with Ryan Pryzbylkowski and Betsy Nguyen taking third, standing alongside Coulter and Dobrowski on the podium.

While the NA4WD class claimed the overall win, second and third overall were secured by L4WD cars. Tom Mayer and Dillon McKenna held on to their second-place finish to take the L4WD class victory, with the 2004 Subaru WRX Wagon of Nick Balzer and Jon Schrage close behind, finishing second in class and third overall.

“It was good to get back in the car after our big off at the Overmountain Rally last year,” Mayer said. “I really enjoyed my first rally with Dillon in the right seat. We were able to build on the notes from years past and kept it clean throughout.

“It took us some time to find the same pace as Nathan and Kevin in front of us, but they built up a big lead and were a bit more consistent than myself. A great drive by him.”

Third in the category came from one of the most tightly contested battles of the entire rally. Michael Tirpak and Christopher Rotolo’s 1993 Ford Escort Cosworth RS is one of the most beautifully prepped cars at any rally they enter. On stage, the pair found themselves locked in a fierce duel with the 2004 Subaru WRX of James Pryzbylkowski and Ethan Curtis, with the gap between them rarely exceeding seven seconds.

On Saturday, Tirpak and Rotolo started the day third in class but slipped to fourth when Pryzbylkowski and Curtis overtook them on SS12. After another position swap on SS15, the Escort duo managed to hang on, ultimately securing third place by just 2.3 seconds, a razor-thin margin to land on the podium.

The O2WD class began with seven entries but ended with just three finishers after the rally’s harsh conditions took their toll. Emmons Hathaway and Zane Jackson kicked things off as early leaders in their Honda Civic, but were overtaken on SS2 by the Lexus IS350 of Brian Katz and Matt Vaught.

On Friday’s stages, Mike Cessna and Jamie Lambert moved into second with their BMW M3 after replacing an input shaft overnight. Electrical issues on the very next stage, however, cost them 10 minutes, dropping them to the back of the field.

Katz and Vaught held strong at the front while Sean and Drake Burke surged through the field in their 1991 Honda CRX, ending Friday just seconds behind the 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4 of Doug E. Shepherd and Bob Martin.

Saturday brought a major shake-up. Katz and Vaught unfortunately retired on the morning’s first stage, allowing Shepherd and Martin to inherit the lead, only for the Burkes to take it soon after. Pushing hard, the Burkes claimed two overall stage wins over 4WD cars and ultimately secured the O2WD class victory.

“We were flat out,” Sean said. “All 1.8 liters of Honda fury.”

Adam Brock and Elena Huizar brought their 1989 Volvo 244 home in second place, while Cessna and Lambert mounted a remarkable comeback to finish third, missing out on second by just 10.9 seconds after gaining back over eight minutes of stage time.

The L2WD class saw a one-two sweep for the Honda American Rally Team (HART), as Gabriel Nieves and Cole Clements took the win in their 2023 Acura Integra over teammates Weston Davis and Timothy Prioleau in their 2017 Honda Civic.

The two crews battled closely all event for what was initially second place, never letting more than 25 seconds separate them. Both cars traded stage wins throughout the rally, but when then-leaders Matt McGee and Indy Lambert retired their VW Rabbit on SS15, the fight suddenly became one for the lead.

With the Civic just a tenth of a second ahead, Nieves and Clements pushed hard and reclaimed the lead on SS16, holding on through the final three stages to win by just 6.1 seconds.

"SOFR is always a team favorite event since this is our home event,” Nieves explained. “There was a strong push to bring our three cars, especially the Passport, which is always a fan favorite. We had a great battle in regional L2WD, and having a team double podium is the icing on the cake! Can't wait to be back!"

The podium was completed by the 1989 Toyota Corolla of Colin Serwinski and William Ross, who finished third in the class.

The lone O4WD, Michael Carr and Noah Cochenour, completed the rally in their 2004 Subaru WRX STI, placing 17th overall.