 |
||||
|
||||
|
Saturday: Race Day 2
The 2009 Lake Superior Rally has culminated with a dual podium finish for Subaru Rally Team USA. Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom led an amazing charge this weekend and won all but two stages, finishing in first place with a four-minute twenty-five-second lead. SRT USA's Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino also presented an outstanding effort and pushed their Super Production car into third place on the LSPR podium. Having already secured the 2009 Rally America National Championship title, Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom were able to treat this event as an opportunity to test a new vehicle setup in a real competition. The SRT USA technical staff turned up the power in #199's engine and told Pastrana to drive it as hard as he wanted. The results were obviously positive. Pastrana remarked that he was "more backwards than forwards in every turn, all-out Ken Block spec," as the increase in power allowed for a more aggressive negotiation of turns. Given the amount of fun Travis seems to have had and the outstanding results of this weekend, it is safe to say that next year's Subaru Rally Team USA Open Class cars will be very exciting to watch. Although making an impressive finish on the LSPR podium as well as taking the Super Production class win, Ken Block yearned for his Open Class car. Mechanical issues and the inherent power deficit of the SP car prevented Ken Block from driving in the vigorous manner to which he is accustomed. Although the cars aren't as powerful, the talent behind the wheel in the SP class is far from diluted. The Super Production entrants are scattered among the overall standings, often scoring better results than their Open Class counterparts. As such, the battle for the SP crown is just as hotly contended as in the Open Class. Taking second place on the 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally SP podium were Heath Nunnemacher and Mike Rossey in their 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Pat Moro and Ole Holter snagged third place in a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally has been a superbly scenic and challenging finale to another stellar Rally America National Championship season. Travis Pastrana has amazingly won the championship four years in a row, once again demonstrating his inimitable skill and proving that the Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a formidable rally machine with unparalleled reliability and performance. Friday: Race Day 1
Rally racers awoke to a frosty and sunny morning in Houghton, Michigan at the start of day one of the 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally. As the race started in the afternoon, the sun gave way to increasing clouds and mixed precipitation with the occasional snow squall. Road surfaces remained mostly grippy, but slick spots in some of the wetter sections kept drivers on their toes. Unfazed by the weather, Subaru Rally Team USA's Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom are off to an excellent start and won six of the day's nine stages. Stage 6 did prove a bit of a challenge, as a bout of heavy snowfall forced Pastrana to dim all of his driving lights to avoid the blinding glare of the snow. With their conservative approach resulting in a comfortable lead of nearly three minutes after Stage 7, Pastrana remarked, "we turned it down a bit, but now it's time to turn it back up and have some fun." At the end of day one, Pastrana and Edstrom are in the lead by over three minutes and twenty-five seconds. The Lake Superior Performance Rally is known for its late schedule, with the majority of stage miles run at night. The pitch-black racing includes two runs of a grueling 17-mile stage. A mixture of long, high-speed straights and twisty technical sections, the roads at this event are some of Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block's favorite as he stated in a radio interview this morning. Running in Rally America's Super Production Class, Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino stand in third place overall. Consistent stage times and an all-out approach have kept #43 in close competition with the top contenders for the 2009 LSPR podium. Despite running in a less-powerful vehicle, Block and Gelsomino are right on the heels of the top open-class competitors. Tomorrow, teams will head north to run the remaining stages on the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Saturday's course consists of a few rough gravel roads and the ultra-fast uphill climb of the paved Brockway Mountain stage. With inclement weather looming, the conditions remain uncertain for the final dash through the fiery foliage of the lakeside forests. Check back here for an account of how Saturday unfolds as the 2009 Rally America National Championship draws to a close at LSPR. Thursday: Pre-Race Shakedown
This weekend marks the final event in the 2009 Rally America National Championship at the Lake Superior Performance Rally. Subaru Rally Team USA already has a guaranteed gold finish this season as Travis Pastrana and his co-driver, Christian Edstrom, mathematically secured first place with the championship points they earned two events ago at the Ojibwe Forests Rally. Pastrana and Edstrom will be campaigning their Open Class spec 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI in this event and will likely drive as hard as usual, keeping the pressure on those contending for the remaining podium spots. SRT USA teammates Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino will be competing in Rally America's Super Production Class this weekend. Ken and Alex ran their #43 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Super Production class car at Rally Colorado last month and put on an excellent show, winning the first stage and setting top times throughout the rest of the event. With an event's worth of experience in the SP car, the duo will probably be relentless in their push for a podium finish against their competition in more powerful Open Class cars. Set in Houghton, Michigan in the midst of peak foliage, the Lake Superior Performance Rally offers some of the most stunning scenery in the Rally America National Championship. The event covers a wide variety of stage roads ranging from tight, technical dirt roads to a steep, high-speed tarmac stage at the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The weather forecast calls for everything from snow to sun and temperatures from the low thirties to forties throughout the weekend. Such a wide gamut of weather places the competitors at the mercy of the road conditions and will have teams scrambling to make competitive tire choices. Come rain, shine, or snow, this year's Lake Superior Performance Rally will undoubtedly be a dramatic conclusion to another great Rally America season. |
||||
