Detroit Region to Host US Road Rally Challenge

Posts regarding the Road Rally (TSD) participants.
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John Fishbeck
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Detroit Region to Host US Road Rally Challenge

Post by John Fishbeck »

The Detroit Region, with its rich rally history, proudly announces that it will host the SCCA 2020 United States Road Rally Challenge (USRRC).

The USRRC event will run over Friday November 13 through Sunday the 15th, and be comprised of three rallies, two National Tour rallies and a shorter Divisional Course rally on Sunday to enable out-of-towners to get started home in the afternoon. The USRRC is a celebration of road rallying, bringing together National Championship points chasers, local and regional competitors, and novices, for three days of enjoyable rallying and camaraderie with fellow rally enthusiasts.

The USRRC rally headquarters will be in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, 10 miles north of Ann Arbor. This is a perfect location to access the many great rally roads that are present in south central Michigan, both paved and unpaved. With an abundance of maintained unpaved county roads in the area, Detroit Region rallies typically run 60%-80% unpaved. These roads provide scenery that varies from cruises over open farmland to twisty traverses through wooded state recreation areas. The pace on Detroit rallies is quick enough to be entertaining and challenging without being unsafe, making them engaging for both drivers and navigators alike.

Friday’s Tour rally,”Hell and Back”, will be put on by Scott Harvey Jr., long time successful stage and road rallyist and rallymaster for one of the region’s most popular and longest running rallies, Son of Sno*Drift. Scott is sure to put together an entertaining event over some of the region’s favorite rally roads in the south central Michigan area. Enlisting open control crews on a weekday is a daunting task, so “Hell and Back” will use the Richta virtual controls app for timing.

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Crossing Livermore Creek on Livingston County road D32. Hell is just 3.5 miles back thataway!

Three years ago John Kytasty took over rallymaster duties for ”Pavement Ends”. While John was new to rallymastering, his work ethic, smarts and effective use of other’s help served him well, and “Pavement Ends” has been a welcome entry on the calendar. John promises an enjoyable event that will cover more of the many fine back roads to be found in the area. Since “Pavement Ends” will run on Saturday, control crews should be easier to recruit, and so will be run with traditional open, staffed controls.

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Loveland Road in Washtenaw County, just one of the many tasty rally roads you may see!

Sunday’s “Are You Territorial?” will be a Divisional level course (trap) rally. It will start early Sunday morning, around 8 AM, and finish up early as well, around 2 PM, enabling out-of-towners to get started for return trips home. This course rally will be themed around Territorial Road, an east-west 2 lane road that traverses some 50 miles across the 2 counties in which the rally will run. There will be many opportunities along the way for onto, alternating T and protection traps. Rallymaster Bruce Fisher, who brings 40+ years of stage and TSD rallymastering to the USRRC (including the last 20 years of Press On Regardless), promises a challenging, but manageable, event for course rally devotees. Checkpoints will be traditional open, staffed controls.

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You just might see the Dewey School Museum while running “Are You Territorial”… or not?

So there you have at – three great rallies that will be fun for experts and newcomers alike, treating you to a taste of the great rallying roads that the Detroit Region regularly enjoys on their RoadRally events. Make plans now to join the fun at the 2020 United States Road Rally Challenge!
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