Perryville Farm & Forest Rally a Success

Dillon van Way and Jake Blattner from Louisiana on their way to taking first place. (Photo by: Tim Williams)

Many of the best Midwest rally teams met in Perryville, Missouri on Saturday October 29th, for the inaugural Perryville Farm & Forest Rally race. This newly formed event took place on various east Perry County roads, starting in downtown Perryville and finishing at Altenburg's fairgrounds. Sunny skies and perfect fall conditions made for an enjoyable day for competitors and the hundreds of spectators watching the rally.

18 teams from as far away as Louisiana started the rally, including both seasoned veterans and many novices in the sport. The rally took place as a split format, where the first four and last four stages are scored as separate races, with a short service break between each leg at the fairgrounds.

The drivers undertook the first four stages in the early afternoon, making up a total of 12.7 miles over twisty and loose gravel roads. The cars left from the Perryville Square at 12:00 noon for the first stage just west of Crosstown.

Dillon Van Way and Jake Blattner from Louisiana (United States 2 wheel drive champions in 2009) took a commanding lead in their 2011 Ford Fiesta after stage 1, topping the field by just over 15 seconds. Not giving up easy, local St. Louisan, Mark Huebbe and Jimmy Brandt's 1970 VW Beetle fought back on stage 2, shaving off 21 seconds from their first run through and moving them into second place. Rob Weir and Matt Nichols from Ohio started off conservatively for stages 1 & 2, in their 1996 Subaru Impreza, but quickly found their pace, winning stage 3 and moving into third place overall. Huebbe pushed hard on stage 3, taking 10 seconds off the leader when Van Way slid wide at the spectator point. Despite Huebbe's best effort, Van Way held on for victory by setting a great time on stage 4, winning the first rally by 24.4 seconds overall. Weir rounded out the podium, finishing in third place overall, just 0.9 seconds behind Huebbe's Beetle.

After a much needed service break at the East Perry County Fairgrounds, 16 cars headed back out in the late afternoon to tackle the final 23.5 miles for the second rally. Dillon Van Way again shot off to an early, but small, 3 second lead over the Chicago team of Slawomir Balda and Piotr Boczek. Balda's 2004 Subaru WRX trailed the Ford by just 1.6 second after stage 6. Not to be left behind, Tyler Witte and Elliott Sherwood from Ohio in their 2000 Subaru Impreza set a blistering time on stage 7, over 30 seconds faster than Dillon, catapulting them into first place overall. Through stage 7, Weir set consistent stage times and was lurking in second place, just 6 seconds behind Witte. The rally ended with a two way battle for first place on the last stage. Weir prevailed, setting an unbeatable time for stage 8; over 13 seconds ahead of Witte, giving him first place overall. Witte and Sherwood held on to second place, but this time Balda and Boczek took the final podium spot from Van Way's Ford.

The rally organizing committee is extremely grateful to the Perry County commissioners for believing in us when we came to them with our thoughts on holding a Rally. They trusted the committee to conduct a professional, well organized, and safe event. They, with the support of the Perry County Sheriff's Department allowed the rally to close and compete on the county roads. In addition, a rousing thank you to the residents, farmers, and land owners along the county roads that we ran on, for allowing us to temporarily close the road and inconvenience you for a short period of time. We do hope you had a great time watching the rally cars from your front door step. Without the commissioners' trust and the residents' permission none of this would have been possible. Thank You!

The Central Region Rally Championship returns in the winter for the SnoDrift Rally, held in Atlanta Michigan, on January 27 & 28, 2012. And the National Championship Rally in the 100 Acre Wood (managed by these same organizers) takes place in and around Salem, MO on February 24 & 25, 2012 (see www.100aw.org for information).

Final Perryville Farm & Forest Results:

Rally #1

First Place: #600 Dillon Van Way / Jake Blattner, 2011 Ford Fiesta, Time: 13:51.7

Second Place: #242 Mark Huebbe / Jimmy Brandt, 1970 Volkswagen Beetle, Time: 14:16.1

Third Place: #700 Rob Weir / Matt Nichols, 1996 Subaru Impreza, Time: 14:17.0

Rally #2

First Place: #700 Rob Weir / Matt Nichols, 1996 Subaru Impreza, Time: 24:32.2

Second Place: #400 Tyler Witte / Elliott Sherwood, 2000 Subaru Impreza, Time: 24:39.4

Third Place: #606 Slawomir Balda / Piotr Boczek, 2004 Subaru WRX, Time: 25:02.0