Miller and Meadows Survive Car-Killing Tour de Forest To Close Western Regional Season
(Elma, Wash., October 4, 2026) — The final in-region round of the 2026 American Rally Association (ARA) West Regional Championship was a true battle of attrition, as Andy Miller and Mitch Meadows took the overall victory at the single-day Tour de Forest (TDF).
A massive 48-car entry set out to tackle the six-stage, 38.97-mile rally with championship points on the line and one final opportunity to make a mark before off-season rebuilds take over during the winter.
The predominantly gravel route mixed hard-packed mainlines with loose, potholed side roads, along with crests, dips and on- and off-camber corners. Compressed into just two Special Stages run three times each, the short itinerary proved exceptionally punishing as the day wore on.
By the finish, more than 45% of the field had retired, with only 26 cars reaching the final time control without recording a DNF.
Despite TDF marking the end of the West Region calendar, the overall and class championships remain mathematically undecided. ARA Regional Championship rules allow competitors to count their highest-scoring result from outside their home region toward their season total. But the point(s) may be moot. All eligible West competitors entered in the Lake Superior Performance Rally, Oct. 9-10, in Marquette, Michigan are mathematically out of contention for the West Regional titles, and a West Coast competitor making the trip to the final remaining Central event, the Show-Me Rally in Potosi, Missouri, November 7, would be unprecedented.
Miller Takes Victory Despite Fixing Competitor’s Car
As Miller’s co-driver Mitch Meadows predicted before the rally, the fight from the start came down to the Naturally Aspirated Four-Wheel-Drive (NA4WD) EZ30R-swapped 2005 Subaru WRX STI of Miller and Meadows and the Limited Four-Wheel-Drive (L4WD) 2015 Subaru WRX STI of Element Rallysport owner Tony Torchia and co-driver Michael Szewczyk.
After SS1, Torchia led Miller by 5.5 seconds, and while the battle looked set to continue, a spin on SS2 cost Torchia roughly two minutes and left the car without an axle nut on the right-rear corner.
With the wheel bearing beginning to separate and the hub at risk of pulling away from the knuckle, Torchia improvised a trailside repair using pliers and rocks to keep pressure on the axle and hub. Miller then stopped to help secure the makeshift solution, adding zip ties and duct tape to enable Torchia and Szewczyk to continue.
“We had a wheel bearing separating because the axle nut left the chat,” Torchia said. “We were trying to keep the hub from separating from the knuckle and basically losing the wheel. I jammed pliers and rocks into the axle area to put pressure on the axle and hub and try to keep them together. Andy helped us secure the pliers to the wheel.”
“I think the best story out of the event was getting to battle Tony and Michael of Element Rallysport,” Meadows said. “Andy was able to get them a solid trail fix before TC3, which allowed them to finish the second loop, come back and fix it at service, and battle for a podium spot in class.”
With the makeshift repair holding, Torchia rebounded to finish second overall on both SS3 and SS4 before making a more conventional repair at service ahead of SS5.
For Miller, however, victories on stages two through six put him and Meadows over three minutes clear of the field at the final time control, earning both the NA4WD class victory and the overall win.
“TDF was a tricky rally this year,” Meadows noted. “Phenomenal planning and execution by the organizers. The roads were challenging and rough.
“Andy and I had an early moment, a spin on SS1, but managed to save it and come back to win five of six stages overall. The changes made ahead of the event paid dividends for us today.
“It was exciting to come away with the NA4WD win and the event win overall. It’s been a great year of rallying for Miller Rally Team and for me when I get the opportunity to fill in for Shaun.”
Miller and Meadows were joined on the NA4WD podium by Ben Burt and Noah Smith in second with their 1996 Subaru Impreza, and David Alspaugh and Romain Beaulieu in third with their 1991 Audi Coupe Quattro.
Miller’s efforts were also strong enough to put him second in the West Region NA4WD standings, but Josh Gierman, who was absent from TDF, holds the class lead.
Six Seconds Separate Reavis and Clarke for Second
Behind Miller, a tight battle formed for second overall between the Open Four-Wheel-Drive (O4WD) 2013 Subaru Crosstrek of Andrew Reavis and Tony Campbell and the Limited Four-Wheel-Drive (L4WD) 2003 Subaru WRX of Phil Clarke and John Vinti.
The two teams also share an intertwined history. Reavis first met Campbell after bringing his first rally car to TSSFAB, a business specializing in Subaru fabrication and suspension components where Campbell works. When Reavis was ready to take the car to the stages and needed a co-driver, he invited Campbell into the right seat, beginning a partnership that has competed together in West Region events since 2020.
The pair initially campaigned an L4WD Subaru WRX before eventually moving into their current Crosstrek, a former Subaru Canada/Rocket Rally car using a 2015 WRX STI drivetrain.
The connection to Clarke came at the 2022 Olympus Rally. With Campbell sidelined for knee surgery, Reavis invited Clarke to make his rally debut in the co-driver’s seat. The temporary pairing went on to finish 10th overall and win L4WD, and Clarke subsequently moved into the driver’s seat with a program of his own.
Last weekend at TDF, they finally got to fight head-to-head near the front of the field. Clarke and Vinti sat third overall after SS1, with Reavis and Campbell fifth. The Crosstrek jumped three positions on SS2 to move into second, with Clarke remaining third just 2.4 seconds behind.
Reavis stretched that advantage slightly on SS3 before Clarke began clawing it back, eventually moving ahead by two seconds after SS5. On the final run through Kennedy, however, Reavis and Campbell found enough time to reverse the order, securing second overall by 6.2 seconds over Clarke and Vinti.
“Andrew and I came into Tour de Forest with a little bit of a battle going on in the ARA West Regional Championship, so there was definitely something to fight for,” Campbell said. “I was also a little under the weather for the rally, but luckily DayQuil and Zicam came in handy.
“The Kennedy Loops stage had a couple of gotchas that I felt could have ruined the rest of the rally for us, but we were able to avoid them, thanks to our notes, and keep moving. It was an awesome rally for us. We ended up finishing second overall, which is a career-best overall result for us.”
The result moves Reavis to third overall in the West Regional driver standings, while Campbell takes the lead in the co-driver standings as he prepares for a full West Regional campaign with Jordan O’Connell in 2027.
While ARA does not recognize a standalone O4WD class podium, TDF organizers presented Reavis and Campbell with a trophy as the highest-finishing O4WD entry.
For Clarke and Vinti, third overall also secured the L4WD victory.
“Tour de Forest was a hell of a weekend,” Clarke said. “First in class and third overall, I’ll take that all day.
“The car got a few upgrades coming into this one, and it took me a little while to figure out what it wanted from me. With every stage, I got more comfortable, trusted the car a little more and finally found a groove by the end.
“This was only the second rally Johnny and I have done together, but our communication and chemistry are coming together quickly. Getting a result like this with so little seat time makes it even more rewarding. The Shelton roads were rough and nasty, but the LTD Race Team crew kept everything together all weekend.”
Torchia and Szewczyk recovered from their early problems to finish fourth overall and second in L4WD, while Nolan Abell and Maribel Plaza completed the class podium in their 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
The L4WD championship lead remains with Arto Ylikangas.
DirtFish Instructors Sweep TDF’s 2WD Classes
Both two-wheel-drive classes ultimately went to DirtFish Rally School instructors, with Sean Edwards and Jack Ramie taking L2WD and Brian Miller and first-time co-driver Jillian Garber surviving a heavily attrition-hit O2WD field.
On SS1, the L2WD Eagle Rock Racing (ERR) 2017 Ford Fiesta ST of team manager Derek James and co-driver William Ross jumped to the class lead and fourth overall. Their pace kept them as the fastest two-wheel-drive crew through the opening two stages, while Edwards and Ramie sat just 23.7 seconds behind.
Edwards was competing in Robert Culbertson’s 1979 Volvo 240 after taking his own Volvo apart following its previous rally. The car itself carries decades of rally history, having first competed in 1997 as John Lane’s famously powerful Volvo before later passing through Cody Crane’s hands. Culbertson has since re-prepared it for L2WD with an eight-valve Volvo redblock and four-speed transmission.
James stretched his advantage further on the second running of Kennedy Loops, but a broken axle shaft on the following stage forced the Fiesta into retirement and handed the lead to Edwards and Ramie.
“The stages were great fun,” Edwards said. “When we saw the Eagle Rock Fiesta off on SS4, I went into SS5 telling myself to just drive super mature, nothing fancy, don’t downshift to second, just leave it in third. Then we lost 10 seconds to Lucas and Cody, so I went back to how I normally drive for SS6 and we won that.
“Ramie was great on the notes. There were a couple of times I had to slow him down because I’m kind of low-bandwidth with all of the information and need a lot of repeats. I can’t wait to see him in the driver’s seat next year, hopefully in a Volvo.”
Edwards and Ramie held on to secure their first class victory together, finishing fifth overall in the process. Lucas Chalcraft and Cody Crawford took second in their 2010 Volkswagen Golf, including the fastest L2WD time on SS5, while Matt Barnes and Anie Davies earned their first class podium in their 2004 Ford Focus.
In O2WD, all eyes were initially on the Ford Fiesta Rally4 of Julien Sebot and Steven Harrell, who needed only a few points at TDF to take the West Regional overall championship. On SS1, they appeared on track to do just that with the seventh-fastest time overall and second in O2WD, but a broken axle shaft on SS2 brought their rally to an early end.
Alex Jardevall and Michel Hoche-Mong led the class early in their 1993 Volvo 940, while Dave and Jenatte Clark moved from fourth to second in their 1999 BMW M3 on SS2, with Alan Dorman and Rae Heselbach moving into third in their 2001 Ford Mustang.
SS3 brought more drama as Jardevall retired, while a major time loss for Dorman dropped him several minutes back. That opened the door for DirtFish instructor Brian Miller and DirtFish alum
Jillian Garber to move into second in their 1994 BMW 325 as they began finding more pace on the second pass through the stages.
Miller edged Clark by a tenth of a second on SS4 before inheriting the lead when Clark retired on SS5. Jennifer King and Stacy Masters moved into second in their 1999 BMW M3, while Dorman fought his way back into third.
The order held through SS6, giving Miller and Garber their first class victory.
“This was Jillian’s first rally ever, so we came out to have fun, finish the rally and drive fast, in that order,” Miller said. “She adapted to the stages very quickly, and we found a good pace for our first set of stages. By our second run, our pace had picked up by nine seconds per mile and we found a great flow.
“O2WD was a pretty stacked entry list, so I was surprised to hear we were on the podium, let alone at the top of it. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. This win put me into second place in the West Regional Championship and got us a set of trophies to add to our wall.
“Huge thanks to Chris and Michelle Miller, Ricky and Lenny Sithong and their whole crew, who adopted us into their rally family this season. This is my first season competing, and I couldn’t do it without them.”
King and Masters finished second, with Dorman and Heselbach completing the O2WD podium.
While Sebot missed his opportunity to take the overall championship from Arto Ylikangas, he still leads the O2WD standings, while Chris Miller sits atop L2WD.
The Central Regional Championship finale at Show-Me Rally closes the 2026 ARA calendar on November 7.
To see images for Tour de Forest Rally - visit the 2026 Tour de Forest Rally gallery on Apexiel
Complete Tour de Forest results: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/event-results
~Mason Runkel for the ARA
