Tag Archives: Southern Ohio Forest Rally

American Rally Association 2022 Schedule Shows Southern Ohio Forest Rally June 9-11

October 13, 2021 Mike Smith

With the end of the 2021 American Rally Association Presented by DirtFish National Championship in sight, and multiple winners already crowned, it’s time to start looking toward next year, and the ARA is excited to announce a nine-round championship for 2022.

The 2022 national championship will start off as it always does with a stop in Atlanta, Mich. for Sno*Drift Rally. The race will return as a two-day event for 2022, maintaining its later event date of February 18 and 19 that it switched to from January for the first time this year. The event is working on bringing back several popular features, including a spectator-friendly Super Special that was absent the past two years.

After the frigid start, teams will head to the ever-unpredictable Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. Being run on March 18-19 in and around Salem, Mo., this rally is known for being one of the fastest on the calendar, and one of the most well attended by drivers with 87 cars starting in 2021.

The championship then heads to its first West Coast event, the Olympus Rally in Shelton, Wash. on April 23-24. This event will show teams the biggest elevation changes yet, and if the past few years have been any indication, plenty of wet conditions.

About a month later on May 21-22, the second West Coast event will take place. Oregon Trail Rally will return to its normal spot in the calendar, after having to reschedule to November for this season due to COVID-19 concerns. Oregon Trail will be highlighted by the fan-friendly night of racing at Portland International Raceway.

Southern Ohio Forest Rally will serve as the mid-point for the 2022 ARA National Championship. The tight and technical roads staged will be run across three days this time, from June 9th through the 11th.

Moving up the calendar two weeks is New England Forest Rally, now on July 15-16. This year the round played host to the most high-end competition the US rally circuit has seen in years and is sure to continue to be one of the highlights of the calendar in 2022.

Looking towards the end of the championship, teams will travel to Detroit Lakes, Minn. for the Ojibwe Forests Rally, promising some of the most beautiful roads of any round of the entire championship. Historically, Ojibwe has been held on the final weekend in August, but the event will be moving up one week on the calendar with two days of racing August 26-27.

The penultimate round will be the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. After running as an ARA Regional round this year and being cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020, fans and drivers alike will be eager to return to the forests surrounding Wellsboro, Penn., as well as the famed Waste Management Special Stages on September 16-17.

Finally, the championship will all come to an end after Lake Superior Performance Rally on October 14-15. The rally has played host to the final before, but due to other scheduling issues hasn’t been able to wrap-up the championship chase since 2019. It’s return to the calendar in 2021 showcased a mix of old and new, with the rally moving from the picturesque Houghton to the more-populated Marquette, Mich.

Along with the nine Super Regional events that are tied into the ARA National Championship, the ARA will sanction a minimum of eleven regional events in 2022. The Bristol Forest Rally will add a strong event to the ARA’s regional championships. Confirmed events for next season including: Headwaters and Nemadji (Minn. events), Rally Nevada, Missouri Ozark and the Show-Me Rally, Tour de Forest, Rich Olmstead Regional Rally (part of the Oregon Rally Group and are finalizing details for several other events. The ARA will release the final regional schedule in the coming weeks.

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Southern Ohio Forest Rally This Weekend (June 11-12)

June 9, 2021 Mike Smith

Presented By McDonald’s, I’m Lovin’ It!

The Southern Ohio Forest Rally takes to the roads, backroads and trails of the Scioto River Valley the weekend of June 11th-12th.

This is year five of the Southern Ohio Forest Rally and represents the 4th leg of the American Rally Association National Series.

Drivers have come to the area from 36 states, 58 cities and several countries, according to SOFR Director Jeremiah Johnson. He says the cars have the body of a normal road-ready vehicle, only will have upgraded engines and suspension systems that turn them into high-powered vehicles to tackle trails on mostly off-road courses, rain or shine.

The Friday Parc Expose gets things started in Yoctangee Park, giving spectators an opportunity to meet with drivers and collect autographs and memorabilia between 4pm-6pm. The the rally kicks off at 6pm. in the opening stage in Yoctangee Park, before heading south into Scioto Trails State Park.

Most of the spectator opportunities for the rally on Saturday, will take place in Scioto County, but can been seen traveling south through Pike County along the way.

Cars will traverse down U.S. Route 23 to Waverly, exit onto State Route 104, then south to State Route 73 before turning onto Big Spruce, Little Bear Road, then Pond Creek and Bear Creek Road into the horse camp.

In Scioto County they will travel along U.S. Route 52 west out of Portsmouth, State Route 125 and Pond Lick Road.

The Saturday Service Location will be at Portsmouth West High School between noon-6pm.

You can also follow the action online at AmericanRallyAssociation.org and SouthernOhioForestRally.com as well as through their Facebook and Twitter social media.

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Forest Rally To Close Chillicothe Park Annex & City Pool June 11th

June 8, 2021 Mike Smith

Presented By Rathkamp Financial

Yoctangee Park Annex and The Donald M. Smith Memorial Pool will be closed on Friday, June 11th, due to the Southern Ohio Forest Rally that will be holding its Super Regional race.

The Park will be accessible, although there will be street closures. Motorists are advised to use caution and watch for pedestrians and volunteers.

Yoctangee Park Annex and The Donald M. Smith Memorial Pool will resume to operate normally on Saturday, June 12th, 2021.

Sports

2020 Southern Ohio FOrest Rally: No Spectators This Year

July 16, 2020 Dan Ramey

Presented by Hometown-Motors, Inc.

Like most other sports, the American Rally Association’s 2020 schedule was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just national rally event was held six months ago. Each passing week saw another event drop from the schedule, including the Southern Ohio Forest Rally (SOFR).

Event Chairman Jeremiah Johnson told Litter Media the event was moved from its usual May dates to June of 2020, then the pandemic hit and there was uncertainty for the remainder of the ARA national schedule.

Then as the country began to re-open, there was a glimmer of hope for the SOFR, however, due to health restrictions, the event was forced to be held without spectators for the first time.

The event will be run Saturday, July 18th at an undisclosed location. Johnson says fans can follow along on race day digitally through video updates on the SOFR Facebook page and the ARA website.

Sports

2020 SOFR Gets New Hope

June 6, 2020 Dan Ramey

Presented by Hometown-Motors, Inc.

When Litter Media spoke with Jeremiah Johnson, Chairman of the Southern Ohio Forest Rally few weeks ago, the outlook for the 2020 event looked bleak due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A prospective date of July 18-19 was placed on the books.

SEE THE LITTER MEDIA FEATURE WITH JEREMIAH JOHNSON

But late Friday afternoon, it appears there’s new hope. The Southern Ohio Forest Rally posted on its Facebook Page Friday “The authorities have requested some revisions to our permits and plans but as of this Friday evening it seems that we will be able to host an event July 18.”

https://www.facebook.com/SouthernOhioForestRally/posts/3137456479644541

For the first time, there’ll be no spectators permitted to see the action and the annual Parc Expose and no official after party in order to stay within the guidelines for social distancing.

Sports

2020 SOFR Postponed, Optimistic About This Summer

May 5, 2020 Dan Ramey

The organizers of the Southern Ohio Forest Rally (SOFR) and American Rally Association (ARA) have been forced to postpone the event, with the hope to still have the event on the 2020 schedule.

After a couple of years as a May event, SOFR was scheduled for June 19-20 this summer. The pandemic however, forced the group to set the event back.

In a news release late Tuesday, SOFR said “the recent decision made by the state of Ohio to extend its ‘Stay Safe Ohio Order’ order until May 29, 2020, coupled with the postponement of the necessary permitting from the state’s Division of Forestry” was the reasoning for the postponement.

“We are disappointed that we will not be able to make our much-anticipated return to the national schedule in June,” said Event Chairman Jeremiah Johnson in the release. “We are looking at additional dates, and working with the ARA and other national events to find a plausible solution to host SOFR this summer.”

The SOFR was the next event on the ARA’s 2020 National Rally Championship schedule. The last event was held in January, the Sno Drift in Michigan. Since then, the championship events in Missouri, Oregon and Washington State have been wiped from the schedule due to the pandemic.

The ARA, and its parent company USAC, are working with all of the organizers on the 2020 schedule on how to best handle each event and those needs specific to each region and event. USAC, a member of ACCUS, has been at the forefront of finding solutions to get motorsports events back up and running as soon as possible.

“We believe that there are some immediate opportunities for us to get rally back quickly,” said USAC President Kevin Miller. “We have developed several new procedures to help events not only manage their event on-site, but also show local and state authorities how we can mitigate the spread of the virus. There have been many positive changes to how states are handling this pandemic, and we are working hard to find the right solution.”

For now, the next opportunity for race teams will head to Maine and New Hampshire for the New England Forest Rally July 31st-August 1st.