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On Friday & Saturday (June 5th and 6th) thousands of people from both Tioga County and around the globe came to Wellsboro to experience the 39th annual Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. The STPR is the oldest and fasted rally event in North America, as drivers fly through the woodland stages at speeds up to 100mph. The gravel and clay roads, heavy dust and dense tree population create a challenging environment for the drivers.

This year’s rally found a number of Tioga County locals participating, including Antonio Esposito of Wellsboro, Philip Barnes of Middlebury Center, Charles Tameris of Wellsboro, Matthew James of Westfield, Jeffrey Carl of Wellsboro, Derek Smith of Wellsboro, Amber Wetzel of Blossburg, and Jeremy Keck of Wellsboro.

A total of 67 participants started on Friday, 57 were able to continue on Saturday and only 44 finished the weekend’s events. In the Sherwood Forest Regional Rally (coefficient 3 event), Antonio Esposito and Philip Barnes finished 3rd in open class. Charles Tameris and Matt James finished 6th in G2 class. Jeremy Keck and James Quattro finished 8th in Open Light class. And Jeffrey Carl and Derek Smith finished 13th in G2 class. Unfortunately, Blossburg local co-driver Amber Wetzel and driver Brian McNamara did not finish on Friday. For more results, visit RallyAmerica.com here.
In the Finger Lakes Regional Rally (coefficient 2 event), Antonio Esposito and Philip Barnes finished 4th in class. Charles Tameris and Matt James finished 5th in class. Jeremy Keck and James Quattro finished 6th in class. Unfortunately, Jeffrey Carl, Derek Smith, and Amber Wetzel did not finish Saturday’s stages. For more results, visit Rally America’s results page here.

Over the course of the weekend, many of the drivers overcame incredible mechanical obstacles to continue racing. Local driver Charles Tameris commented, “We had a great weekend. Two broken suspensions, huge jumps, flat tires, rollovers and even a regional podium finish for one of our guys. We battled adversity and triumphed at one of the hardest events in one of the most grueling sports on the planet. All done locally by local people that were born here, went to school here, work and volunteer here.”

Home Page would like to congratulate all of our local drivers on their accomplishments and admires their tenacity and determination.

We would also like to thank all the volunteers who helped make this event happen. For more information on this event, you can visit STPR.org.