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Old 06-24-2015, 11:33 PM   #1
That guy in Maine
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Default 2015 Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally


Adam Yeoman/Jordan Schulze car #425, photo by Stryker Rally Media
June 5th and 6th brought the annual running of the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) to the Wellsboro, PA area. A favorite event for some drivers, and a bitter rival to others, this event is full of challenging stages with some of the fastest speeds on the Rally America national circuit. This year's running of the event boasted an impressive entry list with as many as 74 entries at one point. However by the end of the first stage only 62 cars had finished, and more cars retired before the start of stage two. The final stage on Saturday had only 43 cars finish, with just 34 still in contention for overall standings. The overall national event podium was populated by three Subaru WRX STI's. As expected; David Higgins and Craig Drew drove the open class #75 Subaru Rally Team USA car to another national win, followed by Adam Yeoman and Jordan Schulze in their open class #425 car in second. Nick Roberts and Rhianon Gelsomino rounded out the podium in their super production #202 car placing third overall in national standings and first overall in the super production class.

Day one of STPR started at Parc Expose in Wellsboro, PA. Roads around the park in town are shut down for a few hours while competitors line the streets with their cars. This provides a good opportunity for the drivers and co-drivers to meet their fans, give out posters, stickers, and other goodies, and grab a quick snack before the drivers meeting and start of the first stage.

David Higgins/Craig Drew car #75, photo by Stryker Rally Media
The first stage of the day brought mechanical difficulties to many teams. This infamous stage is run twice during the event, once in each direction as stage one and stage three. It features a large spectator area next to a jump constructed by Waste Management for the event. This spectator area draws large crowds every year and drivers push hard to put on a show. Unfortunately for some, the jump spells the end of their rally. The #157 car of Tomas Solnicky and Ray Vambuts made an impressive jump but upon landing the car went off into the trees. The driver and co-driver were OK but the car did not return to the rally.

Tomas Solnicky/Ray Vambuts car #157, photo by Stryker Rally Media
The jump also spelled trouble for Fabio Costa and his co-driver Steven Harrell in their #420 bugeye WRX wagon. Upon landing the jump the car crushed the oil filter and shortly after the finish of the stage they realized that the engine was starved of oil. They put in an impressive effort to find a replacement motor and install it overnight. Unfortunately while driving the car to the start of day two, they realized a socket had been left in the bell housing and shredded the throwout bearing. After pulling the transmission and installing a new throwout bearing on day two they were able to make it to the final stage of the rally, thus completing just two stages at the event. STPR was Fabio's first event ever when he competed in it last year and he will be returning to NEFR for the second time next month. He's currently leading the Rally America Eastern Regional Championship despite his mechanical difficulties at STPR. You can follow along with his progress in the championship on his teams Facebook page [HERE].

Fabio Costa/Steven Harrell car #420, photo by Stryker Rally Media
By the time stage three was completed only 54 cars had made it through. Unfortunately due to weather the two super special stages normally run at the Tioga County Fairgrounds were canceled for Friday night. One of the 54 cars that made it through day one was car #200 driven by brother and sister Aakash and Desai Uttara. This was their first time competing at a rally but they've been volunteering at events since 2002. The car they ran was a rental prepared by Broken Motorsports and put together from the ground up in just 23 days. The brother and sister team finished the rally in 34th overall and 9th in class.

Aakash Uttara/Desai Uttara car #200, photo by Stryker Rally Media
I caught up with William Petrow, owner of Broken Motorsports after the event to get some information about the build and his input on getting started in rally here in the United States. The car was prepared and ran in an almost completely stock form. Running Subaru 4/2 pot brakes with gravel rotors with upgraded pads, AGX struts with Eibach springs, and a completely stock drivetrain. "People always get misconstrued in their head; that rally is super expensive to run, which it isn't...if you want to win then you need to spend money, but if you just want to get out there on stage and be a part of a rally then you can run on stock suspension." stated Petrow. When asked about where to spend money in the future, Petrow told me that "Power isn't going to get you anywhere, suspension is everything. Suspension and tires. Even brakes don't matter, really, if you want to go fast you can't be on the brakes." The car will be getting an aftermarket exhaust installed in preparation for the New England Forest Rally in July but other than that plans are to keep the car in it's almost stock form for now. One of the big challenges with this build was the timeframe. The build was completed start to finish in just 23 days on top of the other customers vehicles in the shop during that time. Broken Motorsports has been involved in the builds of many competitors at STPR this year, in the last year one out of five cars racing at STPR this year had come in and out of the shop. You can check out a photo album of the build on Broken Motorsports facebook page [HERE] (Will is currently on his way to Pikes Peak but told me he should be uploading more build photos when he returns).

Speaking with John Cassidy before the event, he was returning to the event after a roughly 10 year hiatus since running it last. "Roads can get really slippery if they're wet and there's a significant crown to the road. Roads are fast with big trees on the side of the road. Sketchy." Was how he described the event, and on day two that's exactly how the things played out. Thanks to overnight rains the roads were wet which made for some slippery sections that caused some drivers problems. Cassidy finished the rally in 10th overall and 5th in open class.

John Cassidy/Robert Sockalexis car #110, photo by Stryker Rally Media
Arek Bialobrzeski told me after the event about his run this year at STPR. He had a few minor mechanical issues but nothing big enough to take him out of the race. This was his first time driving in a rally but he's no stranger to the sport. When I asked him about preparing his car for the event he told me a key to building a car is experience. "It's not easy to build a strong and competitive rally car, you need to have a lot of experience and knowledge about rally. I was crewing for last 10 years for many top teams in RA championship, that gave me a lot of ideas how I want my car to be build." He finished the rally in 13th position overall and 3rd in open light class (yes, that STI has an N/A motor in it currently).

Arek Bialobrzeski/Ozgur Simsek car #102, photo by Stryker Rally Media
The husband and wife team of Matthew and Lauren Conte had a worrisome start to their rally this year. The night before the start of the rally they were replacing their crankshaft pulley when it was discovered that the crankshaft now had a quarter inch of play in it. "[we] just drove it hard despite the crankshaft in our engine being able to pulled in and out over a quarter inch. Figured if it blew, might as well be on stage at redline. We discovered it the night before the race, when trying to replace the crank pulley that had gotten loose and torn up the key. Brandon West at all wheels driven called me up and said he had bad news." Matt told me after the event.

His 1991 Legacy turbo runs a surprisingly short list of modifications. "176,000 original miles on a bone stock 2.2L turbo engine with the stock vf11 pushing a whopping 10 psi to put down around 170hp at the crank. Paired with a JDM 5-speed STi gearbox with Cusco 1.5 way diffs in the front and rear and stock center diff. All Wheels Driven coilovers, 250/225 spring rates. WRX 4 pot brakes up front with CL RC 5+ pads. Stock legacy rear disc brakes with EBC yellows. Lot's of DEI thermal products (Turbo blanket, header wrap, foil on the air box, on the intake, firewall, covering important parts of wiring, etc) to keep the heat down. It's for sure one of the reasons we have such a reliable setup. Thermal control is super important for rallying. Then we have Diode Dynamic angel eyes and LED lights for at night and Gorilla Offroad mudflaps and trailing arms. I'm all about sustainable rallying, I do what races I can comfortably afford, with the equipment I can afford. I want to be a part of this sport for a long time and going for broke on a season or two isn't the best way forward. It's something I've noticed a lot over the years. The guys who dump a ton of money into the best equipment to end up with mediocre results. They get frustrated and leave the sport. Experience and driving skill gets you much further up the leader board in American rallying." Matt and Lauren finished 7th overall and 4th in their class. Team CONTE also put together a great highlight video from this years event, viewable [HERE].


Matthew Conte/Lauren Conte car #542, photo by Stryker Rally Media
Congratulations to all the competitors who made it through the event. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers who made the event possible, if you're interested in becoming involved in rally please look into volunteering at events near you in the future. The next Rally America event is the New England Forest Rally in Bethel, ME on July 17-18th. More information is available [HERE]. The full Rally America schedule is available [HERE]. You can also find out about NASA Rallysport events in your area [HERE].

The FULL event photo album with hundreds of photos is available [HERE].
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Last edited by Nick; 06-25-2015 at 11:03 AM.
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Old 06-24-2015, 11:45 PM   #2
That guy in Maine
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Member#: 256642
Join Date: Sep 2010
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Kevin Allen/Elizabeth Cordara car #330, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Gregory Healey/Cynthia Krolikowski car #280, photo by Stryker Rally Media


David Higgins/Craig Drew car #75, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Micah Nickelson/Tyler Ptacek car #237, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Jesse Yuvali/Cengiz Nomer car #234, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Adam Yeoman/Jordan Schulze car #425, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Steve LaRoza/Christopher Fary car #134, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Arkadiusz Gruszka/Lukasz Wronski car #198, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Antonio Esposito/Philip Barnes car #143, photo by Stryker Rally Media


Gary DeMasi/Stephen Kurey car #80, photo by Stryker Rally Media

Last edited by That guy in Maine; 06-25-2015 at 12:19 AM.
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Old 07-27-2015, 10:55 AM   #3
Matt A
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awesome photography, dude!
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Old 07-27-2015, 06:11 PM   #4
That guy in Maine
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt A View Post
awesome photography, dude!
Thanks!

I'll have photos from NEFR up soon!
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