Subiesport Magazine - November 2008 - (Page 54)

X GAMES 14 the big screen showed Pastrana, unquestionably the biggest star of the X Games, paying a touching tribute to the late Colin McRae. McRae’s absence was felt deeply here, an event which he had thrust into the global spotlight in 2006 with his now-legendary silver medal rollover. That the same video would be shown later during the live broadcast on network television showed the depth of respect that the whole organization had for McRae. In addition, all the cars ran memorial decals throughout the course of the event. Back in the stadium, a spontaneous round of applause broke out as the screen faded to black, and then it was back to racing. Every driver who had made it this far – either by stellar performances in Rally America events, or by fighting through the eliminations – was now just three races away from a gold medal. The tension and feeling of unpredictability at the Home Depot Center was palpable, and the favorites were undoubtedly feeling a great deal of pressure. Not feeling any pressure, however, was Hanson. Going up against Foust was always going to be a lopsided battle, and Hanson was fully aware of that. “We have a practice car that’s still [running] a 34mm restrictor,” he laughed afterwards, “so we were at least 100hp down and maybe 200ft/lbs of torque.” Sure enough, Foust laid down a perfect run to take the win with ease. Hanson had no regrets. “Hopefully this can get us that next edge, keep getting some sponsors for the Rally America season in 2009,” he said. Comrie-Picard and Mirra were next to line up. Mirra, on a roll since defeating L’Estage in the heats, was looking to do another giant-killing routine, while Comrie-Picard was simply looking to prove that his Evo was a match for the amassed Subarus. Around the carousels, it was the Mitsubishi which had the advantage, but the Canadian came up short on the jump and caught the back wheels on the lip of the landing ramp, flipping the car end-over-end. The crowd in the stadium was on its feet as the Evo came to a stop, now back on its wheels. A sore ACP explained what happened shortly after the incident. “We know that the Mitsubishi, if it flies long it flies badly, so we were trying to be at the bottom of the window, but I made a little white mark on my speedometer, and we were on it or over it. So maybe the mark was in the wrong place.” As Johnson had proved earlier, underestimating the ramp speed was turning out to be a big mistake. Mirra, in the meantime, had tagged the wall hard on the paved section, destroying his right front suspension and making the car impossible to turn right. With the competition out though, all Mirra had to do was get to the finish. And he got there, having to stop and reverse several times, but making it back into the stadium and over the finish line to a crowd that was by now buzzing with excitement. With Comrie-Picard and co-driver Jen Horsey DAVE MIRRA WAS SHOWING VERY STRONGLY AT THIS YEAR’S GAMES UNTIL HE CARRIED TOO MUCH SPEED OUT OF THE TRANSITION RAMPS AND HIT A BARRIER DAMAGING HIS SUSPENSION. HE WOULD HAVE TO SETTLE FOR THIRD. Next up were last-minute substitute Hanson and McShea. With a boatload of experience and a brand new car, it seemed obvious that McShea would take it. With a massive lead and having not put a wheel wrong all weekend, when it counted the Irishman clipped the wall on the entrance to the stadium, broke his steering and coasted helplessly to a halt at the bottom of the ramp. An elated Hanson takes up the story. “We came into the stadium, hung a right, didn’t see any dust, and I thought, ‘wow, well he really blew us out of the water, he’s already back at the pits, chilling out, having a Coke.’ But we made our turn at the finish and the crowd is going wild. I was like, ‘I don’t know why you’re cheering, but, hell yeah!’ And then we got out of the car and I turned around and his car was right behind us. So I didn’t really even know!” Moro’s crew had got the car back up and running well enough to take on Johnson in their heat. Johnson, cognizant of his close call in practice, took a lot more speed into the jump, flying very long this 54 NOVEMBER 2008 time and almost center-punching the wall beside the stadium exit ramp. “I was so worried about the speed that I was staring at the dash and the ramp, but not paying attention to where I was gonna go afterwards!” he explained. It wasn’t enough to stop him from taking the win. For the final heat, BMX legend Mirra took on two-time Canadian Rally champion Antoine L’Estage. On paper L’Estage should have walked away with it, but in an unfamiliar car (Andy Pinker’s Rockstar STI) and against a motivated opponent, he was beaten fair and square. Mirra’s car was shooting flames for half of his run – the result of a broken oil line – but it was not enough to slow him down. L’Estage was graceful in defeat. “I won’t hide behind anything,” he said. “I could have driven better, and Dave did a good job.” With the finals now decided and the teams working at fever pitch on the qualifying cars, there was a rare moment of reflection in the stadium as

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Subiesport Magazine - November 2008 Contents Editor Letters Readers’ Rides New Products Subaru News 2009 WRX Test Drive Back on Easy Street Brothers in Boost Treasure Island ESPN X Games 14 Subiefest 3 Subie Extravaganza WWJCD WRC Rally Finland WRC Rally Deutschland Rally America: Ojibwe Forest Rally America: Colorado Where to buy Subiesport Orange Invasion - Europe 2007 STI Intake Test Dreadnought Widebody Install p2 Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - November 2008

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