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For a replay of Driving Sports' Live coverage of STPR 2008, click here. Live coverage sponsored by Perrin Performance.
If the Rally America teams thought their trials and tribulations were safely left behind in Oregon, they received a rude awakening at this week’s Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. “Waste management” was an appropriate name for the event, as the destruction tour that is the 2008 Rally America season continued at full throttle.
Starting from the top of the seed list, Subaru Rally Team USA arrived with two new 2008 STI hatchbacks. The new rally machines showed up straight from the shop, apparently without much testing time to shake the bugs out. This may prove to be the team’s undoing for the year, because before the paint was even dry the rear suspensions on both cars failed in spectacular fashion.
The early season juggernaut of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino sputtered to a halt in Oregon with a DNF, and faltered again on stage 2 in Pennsylvania. According to rally control reports, the rear lower control arms failed and left the former points leaders stranded by the side of the road. This ended their national hopes for the weekend, but the veteran rallyists came back to contest the regional event the next day. Oregon Trail winner Travis Pastrana and co-driver Derek Ringer experienced similar troubles on stage 2, but made it back to service for repairs and were not time-barred.
Continue reading "Tough Times at STPR 2008" »
The Oregon Trail Rally has always been known as one of the toughest
events in the Rally America championship calendar, but it’s never been
tougher than this year. Fewer than half the cars entered in the
national points rally this past weekend made it to the finish.
It would be easier to list the teams who didn’t crash and burn, but here’s the casualty list for the weekend. The seemingly unstoppable team of Ken Block and Alessandro Gelsomino were sidelined early with the car stuck on a hillside. The 2006 and 2007 Oregon Trail winners Andrew Pinker and Robbie Durant saw their car catch fire in the unseasonal hot weather, taking them out of contention. Pinker’s teammates Tanner Foust and Chrissie Beavis also fell by the wayside, along with two-time PGT Champs Matthew Johnson and Jeremy Wimpey. Sensational young driver Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson also ended up with a severely bent car and a DNF to show for their trip to the west coast.
Continue reading "2008 Oregon Trail Rally Report" »
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