HOUGHTON, MI -- Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana clinched his first rally championship title this weekend at the Lake Superior Performance Rally, after his chief series rival crashed hard just three miles into the second stage.

“I’m pretty excited about it. That’s awesome,” said a jubilant Pastrana as he pulled in to the first service stop of the race.

Even if he doesn’t finish this rally, the motocross superstar turned rally driver now has a strong enough lead in the championship that it is mathematically impossible for anyone to catch him. There is only one more race remaining in the 2006 Rally America championship.

Challenger Matt Iorio and co-driver Ole Holter took a hard roll on a slick corner. They were unharmed, but their competition vehicle took heavy damage.

“There were parts all over the road,” said Pastrana. He and co-driver Christian Edstrom were positioned behind Iorio in the start order and were the first to encounter the wreck.

But even though the top spot in the championship is decided, the race is far from over.

Subaru’s Ken Block is still fighting for a top-three position in the championship and must finish well at this, the second-last round. Block, along with co-driver Alex Gelsomino, won the first stage but were watching their mirrors for Pastrana. With the championship decided, Gelsomino hinted their teammates could decide to pick up the pace. “Travis will be off his leash a little, so we’ll see,” said Gelsomino.

In recent contests, Pastrana has been under team orders to drive conservatively in an effort to secure the title. It remains to be seen whether Pastrana will now be able to drive hard, or instead face team instructions to give Block the breathing room to secure a much-needed points advantage this weekend.

But after three stages, veteran driver Tim O’Neil – a driving instructor who counts Pastrana, Block and Iorio among his students – was in the lead and only a second separated the top three cars.

“I’d like to turn up the heat and be competitive,” said O’Neil, who admits the level of competition has increased since he last took the start of a race two years ago. “I’d like to win, but I don’t know how it’s going to go.”

The driver, who preaches a cool-headed style of rally competition, said early in the day that he’s eager to see how his students perform.

Iorio wasn’t the only top driver to encounter problems early in the rally. Andrew Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb struck a rock on the first stage and were forced to retire from the contest.

In a second championship battle decided early in the day, Matthew Johnson took the Production-GT title just by crossing the start-line. Johnson and challenger Tanner Foust have been fighting a close battle all season, but Foust suffered a bad crash last month in Colorado and was absent from this weekend’s contest.

Even so, Johnson says he doesn’t plan to cruise. The scrappy driver has now set his sights on the overall points, musing: “A top five finish in a Production-GT car for the national championship would be pretty cool.”

Based at the tip of Michigan’s northern peninsula, the Lake Superior Performance Rally is a challenging event that features a range of weather and road conditions. Course roads range from gravel to mud and truly fickle autumn weather means crews can expect everything from snow to pouring rain.

LSPR is the eighth event in the nine-event Rally America championship series. The final round takes place in November in Washington State.