Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008 - (Page 72)

MOTORSPORTS 100AW makes surprise ‘Expotition’ to Story by Jeﬀ Zurschmeide Photos by Lars Gange, rally.subaru.com Washington State. Most significantly, L’Estage/Richard retired on this stage with a mechanical problem in their modified AWD Hyundai Tiburon. With the second place car out of the way, the rally quickly turned into a Subaru Rally Team USA juggernaut. In the 2WD ranks, a particular hill on Stage 3 proved a literally insurmountable challenge. With ice rather than gravel as the racing surface, several teams found themselves unable to climb the slope and complete the stage. At least one team, the #628 1996 Saturn SL piloted by Minnesotans Dan Adamson and Christopher Gordon, chose to withdraw from the day’s event, but returned for the second day with a brand new set of ice tires on the car. At the end of the first four stages, Block/Gelsomino led the competition, followed by Pastrana/Ringer, with the Rockstar Energy Drink team of Tanner Foust and Christine Beavis holding down third. Two-time Production GT class champions Matt Johnson and Jeremy Wimpey finished the day in fourth place, and 2007 Group 5 champions Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson completed the top five. The second day of the event changed little except that Johnson/Wimpey moved up to third position. With the exception of Stage 10, taken by Canadians Andrew Comrie-Picard and Marc Goldfarb, every stage was won by Block/Gelsomino or Pastrana/ Ringer, most often with the other SRTUSA team in second position. The battle in this rally was for third place, with Johnson/Wimpey, Comrie-Picard/Goldfarb, Sarasin/Johansson, Foust/Beavis and their teammates Andrew Pinker and Robbie Durant fight- THE PLAN IN the Rally America season is to hold just one true snow rally. Sno*Drift in January leads off the season, and some competitors skip the event in favor of the much more temperate Rally in the 100 Acre Wood held in Missouri a month later. But this year, Mother Nature caught many teams with their long johns down as winter weather again dominated the results at the second round of the 2008 rally racing championship series. The day before the event, snow, ice, and freezing rain paralyzed the nation’s heartland and kept drivers, co-drivers, and some teams waiting for the St. Louis airport to reopen. Several participants had to make forced drives at the last minute to arrive in time to start the event, but when they did start, the conditions were anything but hospitable, leading to one of the most difficult 100 Acre Wood rallies in recent years. Coming out of Sno*Drift, the Canadian duo of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard had the winner’s momentum, but this will be the hardest year yet for the Rally America championship. Several top teams are ready to pounce on the slightest mistake or misfortune. Last year’s champion, Travis Pastrana, was first on the road with a brand new co-driver. After several years and two consecutive championships, SRTUSA veteran Christian Edstrom chose to step out of the car following a rally-ending impact with a deer at Sno*Drift. While a co-driver of Edstrom’s stature is not easy to replace, Subaru tapped past WRC champion co-driver Derek Ringer of Scotland. This is the 72 MAY 2008 latest of many indications that Subaru is seriously grooming Pastrana for WRC competition. But it was SRTUSA teammates Ken Block and Alessandro Gelsomino who took the lead starting with Stage 1 of the event, winning the 10-mile opener by 6.1 seconds over second-place L’Estage/Richard. Pastrana/Ringer were 12 seconds off the lead on this stage, but still at least 14 seconds over the rest of the top 10. Block/Gelsomino repeated the win on Stage 2, came in second to Pastrana/Ringer on Stage 3, and were back on top for Stage 4, the last stage of Day 1. Stage 3 claimed several competitors — the start of a destruction tour that may well affect downfield points races through the entire season if competitors can’t get their cars fixed by April’s Olympus Rally in http://rally.subaru.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008

Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008 Contents Travis Geny Letters Readers' Rides Subaru News Wicked in White Pink Rules Harman Motive Nouveau Tuning the 2008 STI 2008 Rally Guide Alcan 5000 Rally Alcan Unleashed WRC Rally Monte Carlo WRC Rally Sweden WRC Rally Mexico 100 Acre Wood Kumakubo! D1 Drifting Where to Buy Subiesport 2008 Impreza WRX 2007 Legacy GT 1993 Impreza Wagon Fueled Up Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - April/May 2008

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