Ylikangas Duo Claim First ARA Win at Prescott Rally
- masonrunkel
- Sep 18
- 5 min read
(Camp Verde, Ariz., September 18, 2025) ~ Arto and Mary Ylikangas claimed their first overall victory in the American Rally Association (ARA) at the Prescott Rally in Camp Verde, Ariz., September 12–13.
Driving their Open Four-Wheel-Drive (O4WD) 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX, the pair earned the milestone win in just their third year of ARA competition, exactly one year after celebrating their first podium, when they finished second at Prescott in 2024.
The Ylikangas duo faced fierce competition from Charles Watson, Fritz Croy, and Santiago Caballero across the 14-stage, 125-mile itinerary, as 21 teams tested their skill, courage and preparation on the fast-but-demanding desert mountain roads of central Arizona.
Organizers Ringtail Rallysport, Inc., working in conjunction with the Arizona Rally Association and Rodnoc LLC, also ensured the local community was part of the action, with two spectator stages hosted at the Camp Verde Equestrian Center and RallyCross ride-alongs offered after the completion of the competitive stages.
Class Leaders Contest Overall Win
Continuing their rivalry from Rally Colorado, the top two O4WD contenders—Ylikangas in their 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX and Charles Watson with Ben Triplett in their 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI—set off Friday morning for another showdown. At Rally Colorado, only 0.07 MPH separated the teams across the entire rally. With a new turbo installation moving them from Limited Four-Wheel-Drive (L4WD) into O4WD, Watson and Triplett arrived at Prescott determined to chase the overall win.
But it was the freshly built Naturally Aspirated Four-Wheel-Drive (NA4WD) 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS of Fritz and Brooke Croy, Prescott locals, that stole the spotlight on the opening stage, edging the Ylikangas car by 0.4 seconds to grab the rally’s first lead.
On the very next stage, however, Watson and Triplett surged into first, while the Croys slipped to third and the Ylikangas team held steady in second. The Ylikangases finally claimed their first stage win on SS4, cutting the gap to within five seconds of the lead.
SS5 saw the Croys take another win, but the rally turned on its head soon after: Watson and Triplett were handed a 10-minute penalty for an illegal service, vaulting the Ylikangases into the overall lead. Watson and Triplett suffered a mechanical issue leaving the service park, so their option was to take an illegal service and the subsequent penalty, or retire from the event. Santiago Caballero and Andres Bautista then made their mark in their L4WD Subaru, winning back-to-back stages — “Witty Tom” and “Tom’s Witt” — to climb into second overall, just 20 seconds behind the leaders.
After winning the final stage on Friday, the Ylikangases carried a comfortable 40-second lead into Saturday. While all of Saturday’s stage wins were split evenly between the Croys, Watson, and Caballero, each taking two apiece, the Ylikangases held firm, ending the rally 37 seconds clear to secure their first overall victory.
“First and foremost, we thank the volunteers for all their efforts and hard work,” Mary Ylikangas said. “We had a lot of great competition that pushed us to perform like never before. We started Friday’s first stage feeling pretty good with our time until we saw the times Fritz and Brooke put down.”
“We had a solid four-way battle with them, Charles and Ben, and Santiago and Andres. Going into SS8, we chose to push through the lingering dust at night, and the risk paid off because we were able to take the lead from Charles and Ben.”
“On Saturday, we started first on the road, which was a first for us. Santiago and Andres made a big push on the first loop, and we spent most of the day defending their efforts. Luckily, our pace was enough to stay in front. Thanks to the competitors and everyone that made the event possible.”
Caballero and Bautista’s efforts paid off with a win in the L4WD class, and an impressive second overall after a year out of the car for Caballero.
“The event was amazing this year,” Caballero said. “The roads were very clean compared to last year. We went in on Friday just getting settled back in with the car since I hadn’t raced in over a year. On Saturday, I had a lot more confidence, and I think it showed. We’re stoked to see how competitive we were, giving the top contenders a good battle.”
“It had been a year since Santi was in the driver’s seat — and even longer since we’d been in the car together,” Bautista added. “With that being said, we started out safe and slow, shaking off the cobwebs until the trust was synced with the notes, the car, and the driver.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of our steady progression on each and every stage and our overall results. We even scraped by with a few stage wins, yet still managed to bring the car in clean every time, making for uneventful services and re-prep. Prescott Rally was exciting, with times being traded back and forth after each stage!”
Alongside Caballero and Bautista on the L4WD Podium, Justin McBee and Sean Spring finished second in class in their 2002 Subaru Forester, and Michael Thomas and Krystal Lockwood took third in their 1997 Subaru Impreza.
The Croy’s finished the rally third overall, and default winners on the NA4WD class. They had competition in the form of Eliza Coleman and Ryan Scott’s 2005 Subaru Impreza, but after Coleman retired on SS2, the Croy’s were on their own in the class.
Wickberg Proves Fastest Two-Wheel-Drive, Debuting New Car
Coming into Prescott Rally, the two-wheel-drive battle was expected to center on the Subaru BRZ of Tim Wickberg and Matthew Trott and the Scion FR-S of Chris Miller and Crystina Coats, both carrying the highest Speed Factors despite competing in the Limited Two-Wheel-Drive (L2WD) class.
After SS1, however, it was the Open Two-Wheel-Drive (O2WD) 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI of Erik Christiansen and Amy Floyd that surprised the field by taking the early lead. Unfortunately, their rally ended in retirement soon after, handing the advantage to Miller and Coats on SS2.
By SS3, Wickberg and Trott had surged into the lead with their freshly built, FA24-swapped 2016 Subaru BRZ. The 2.4-liter motor is a notable upgrade over the stock 2.0-liter, and despite Prescott being the car’s competitive debut, it needed just one stage to show its pace.
While the gap between Wickberg and Miller shrank to less than half a second by the end of Friday’s stages, Wickberg and Trott pulled away on Saturday, ultimately securing the L2WD win by more than a minute.
“Finishing the event was the target, coming away with the class win was a nice bonus,” Wickberg said. “The car is very quick, and I'm learning how to use that. Night stages with the standing dust forced me to confront issues with my notes, and that I don't have a good feel for how far along a straightaway I've gone, even when I do have good distance calls.”
“Mechanically, we were chasing oil temp issues, which would put the car into limp mode. Repurposing the windshield washer line as an impromptu oil cooler sprayer bought us some margin on the second day.”
Sharing the L2WD podium, Miller and Coats secured second place, while James Besing and Travis Harrell guided their 1995 Honda Civic Si to third in class.
In Open Two-Wheel-Drive (O2WD), Benji and Gerardo Carvallo capitalized on Christiansen’s early exit, taking the lead in their 1989 BMW 325i on SS2 and holding it through to the finish for their first-ever class win.
Complete results: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/event-results
The ARA West Regional Championship continues next month at Tour de Forest Rally in Shelton, Washington, on October 4, followed by the Mike Nagle Regional Rally in St. Helens, Oregon, in November.
~Mason Runkle for the ARA
Media Contact:
Scott McKee
