(By Gonzalo San Miguel, SCCA’s RallyCross Board Chair)

I had the privilege of attending the 2025 SCCA® Southern Pacific RallyCross® Divisional Challenge over the Feb. 22-24, 2025, weekend with a buddy of mine that was co-driving my car. The Challenge was held at the Camp Verde Equestrian Center in Camp Verde, AZ, and was the first Divisional Challenge RallyCross that Arizona Region has hosted – it was also a phenomenal event with 48 entries coming from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Utah.

Organizationally, the core group I’d been working with regarding this event were top notch and didn’t disappoint – they had been holding weekly meetings up to the event to make sure everything went smoothly. And smooth it was.

The Equestrian Center is a 39-acre facility just east of Camp Verde that looks to handle rodeo-type events, amongst other things. There are two main areas that are used for motorsports – one is a smaller 5.5-acre area that’s a little harder packed and clay based, while the other is a large 9.5-acre perfectly flat area that’s crushed gravel based. The facility also features ample parking, and the Old Crow food truck was there to handle everybody’s hunger.

As we walked up to check-in on Friday afternoon, we were greeted by Sean Spring, the Arizona Region RallyCross Director. We signed the waiver and received a sticker and information bag with a printout of the site map, along with self-tech and class inspection forms. I asked if we could be moved from PR to MR because we were the only two signed up for PR, and Sean wasted no time making that happen.

We got the car unloaded and headed to our class inspection spot. There, we met up with Philip Mickleborough with tech inspection. We got confirmed, then it was off to the practice course for a few shakedown runs.

(The class inspection allowed everyone to check out each other's vehicles. There were numerous unique vehicles on site, along with tons of great people.) 

The practice runs were on the smaller lot, and it gave a good indication of how that surface would be. As more vehicles arrived on site, we got a view of some of the more interesting entries: a 1964 Volvo 122S in SR, a 1997 Lincoln Mk.8 in MR, and a stripped out 2010 Honda Odyssey minivan in MF.

When we arrived at the site on Saturday morning, it was a chilly 30 degrees F with the sun yet to peak over the mesa to the east, but as the hours progressed, it transformed into a beautiful mid-70s day.

We walked the big course, which involved lots of fast sweeping turns with a few offset corners and a couple of tight 180-degree turns. Class inspection was next, then the drivers’ meeting. After welcoming everybody to the event and getting some last-minute tips, it was time to get to my station for work.

The first of the three groups to run were the stock classes, which was comprised of 18 competitors. With the course being fairly wide open and fast, there weren’t too many cones called in. It was great watching the fast and smooth driving in the morning.

After everybody got three runs, there was a 20-minute break to get the course graded and watered and the field reversed for the second set of three runs. I hadn’t seen run groups handled like this before, but it worked out really well.

Next was our turn with MF and MR, consisting of 15 drivers. As I had anticipated, the course was smooth, fast, and a lot of fun. Between all of the groups, it turned out to be about a mid to low 80-second course.

Last to run on Saturday was PA and MA, with 14 competitors. There were some really fast Subarus with Sean Spring piloting one of the Region’s three “rental” cars, which is a 1999 Subaru Legacy wagon.

While we were waiting for the final group to finish up for the day, that gave us time to get hydrated, grab a great pulled pork sandwich from the Old Crow truck, and talk with our new and old friends from MF and MR.

The day’s competition finished up about an hour earlier than expected, so we hung out while the group set the course for Sunday’s competition. About 45 minutes later, we were walking the Sunday course, which was a bit shorter and more technical than the Saturday course.

That evening, a large group of us were able to meet up for dinner and drinks at the newly-opened Bull Pen Grill and Watering Hole – it’s a western themed restaurant with amazing staff, wonderful food, and a fantastic band. Myself, Nigel Mott, and Jimmy Veatch (three members of the RallyCross Board) had a great time talking about cars and racing with everybody else at the table.

Sunday morning, competition began an hour earlier to let the out-of-towners get a jump on hitting the road – something I was very appreciative of.

Sunday’s technical course was pretty much a mid 60 to mid 70-second course with tight corners and offset transitions. Throughout the day there were some commanding leads that couldn’t be touched; others were nail biters to the end. SA was decided by the last cone on the last corner while MR was also decided on the last run by a single cone.

Once the times were verified, it was time to hand out the awards. One of the local guys 3D printed keychain cones to be given out along with the awards, which was a nice touch. Also, awards were given for luckiest driver, most luxurious car, furthest travelled, and cone killer.

On to the winners: SF was won by Phillip Dozeman by 25sec in a 2007 Honda Si; Greg Whitworth took SR by 7.7sec in a very large 2002 Mercedes CLK430; Wallace Wood captured SA by 0.403sec in a 2003 Infinity G35x; Dwight Wood held on to win MF in a 2003 Nissan Sentra by 2.98sec; I got the win in MR by just 0.093sec in my 1997 Miata (this was the closest margin of the weekend); Tyler Schrameck bested his co-driver by 13sec in his 2002 WRX; and Nicholas Ormiston took the win in MA by 11.8sec in his 2008 STI.

Again, I would like to give a huge thanks to the Arizona Region for doing an outstanding job and taking this event so seriously. Everybody seemed to have a great time, and we made some amazing new friends. I hope to make the nine-hour trip down from Utah to another event in the future – it’s well worth the drive.

Up next on the National RallyCross calendar is the Midwest Divisional Challenge on June 14-15 in Billings, OK, followed quickly by the Southeast Divisional Challenge on June 28-29 at Hollytree, AL.

If you’re able to attend a Divisional Challenge or two this year, I highly recommend it!

Complete event results will be available soon.