SALEM, MO. — Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block began Day 2 of the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood with a strong lead, after blazing through Friday’s opening stages.

But teammate Travis Pastrana is expected to turn up the heat Saturday, as he hunts for strong early-season points.

Late season ice storms wreaked havoc throughout the region this week, shutting down airports, closing schools and delaying team arrivals. The rally continued anyway, but teams have had to tread lightly to avoid going off the slick roads.

Even so, Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were still enjoying the fast and flowing character of the southern Missouri course. They have claimed the win here in each of the two previous years.

“The roads here are fast, faster and fast with jumps,” said Block early Saturday.

Pastrana and new co-driver Derek Ringer ended Friday’s first four stages 30 seconds off the lead, but Pastrana was optimistic he could make up the time.

“I’m going to keep the pressure on Ken today,” said Pastrana, who retired while leading the first round of the championship in January and is hunting for championship points. “We’re going to need to have him make a mistake and we’re going to have to keep on him.”

Heading into Day 2, Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust and co-driver Chrissie Beavis were in third. They were having a clean run until they hit a fencepost late on Day 1, but were still on track for a podium finish.

“We’ll have to keep pushing very hard,” said Foust. “We’re going to hope for grippier conditions.”

Many other contenders had trouble in the slick conditions on Day 1.

Rockstar Energy’s Australian Andy Pinker and co-driver Robbie Durant started the contest off the pace, and dropped back to ninth place in their Subaru after a pair of flat tires on Stage 4.

Andrew Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb ended Day 1 in sixth place in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. They pulled into the final stop of the night on a tow rope after puncturing their radiator in a spin on the icy course.

Both are expected to battle hard in the 10 remaining stages to regain a shot at the podium.

After a strong start, Canadians Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard were forced to retire early in their Hyundai Tiburon.

In fourth place heading into Day 2 were Matthew Johnson and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey. Johnson is a two-time PGT champion, and the team is expected to continue picking up speed this season as they become accustomed to the improved performance of their Open class car.

First-round podium finishers Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson rounded out the top-five at the start of Day 2.

“I’m feeling good,” said Sarasin on Saturday morning. “Well be happy with whatever I get today. Our goal is to get some good points at this second round.”

After contesting the series in a two-wheel drive Ford Focus, the teenaged Sarasin claimed the 2007 Rookie of the Year title. He has moved into a powerful, Open class Subaru for 2008 and has already proven a threat at the top of the rankings. Sarasin and Johansson finished in third place at Round 1 in January.

Chris Duplessis and co-driver Martin Headland were leading the two-wheel drive charge after Day 1, in their Volkswagen Golf.

In addition to the 2008 championship title, teams are vying for a chance to complete at the high-profile X Games 14 this summer in Los Angeles. It is expected that the top teams after the first five championship rounds will receive an invitation to compete at the California contest.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

The 2008 Rally America National Championship series consists of nine exciting events throughout the country in many different weather and road conditions. Throughout the year, teams take on everything from the forest logging roads in Minnesota, to the high-altitude Yampa River Valley in Northwest Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest forest and coast paths. The series moves west for the next round, the Olympus Rally in Olympia, Washington, April 19 to 20.