SALEM, MO. — Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block made it three in a row on Saturday, claiming yet another win at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.

“I love Missouri,” said Block at the finish. “I’ll gladly come back and rally here any time.”

This fast and flowing southern Missouri event clearly suits Block’s flat-out style. He earned the first overall win of his rally career here in 2006 and has taken victory here every year since. The unseasonably cold weather at this round turned what is typically a gravel event to an ice and snow rally, and Block rose to the challenge yet again.

He and co-driver Alex Gelsomino blazed into the early stages of the event on Friday, building a 30-second lead over Pastrana and new co-driver Derek Ringer.

Although he drove hard on Day 2, Pastrana said he wasn’t ready to risk crashing to gain the lead over his Subaru Rally Team USA teammate. Pastrana had been in the hunt for early season points after he retired late in Rally America’s Round 1 last month.

“I was going as hard as I could and Ken had extra reserves,” said Pastrana, at the finish. “He was faster than we were for the whole event.”

But while the leaders opted to hold position late in the day, a battle was raging between Matthew Johnson and Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard for third place.

The two traded stage times all day and, in the end, it was Johnson and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey who earned the final spot on the podium. It is the second national podium of Johnson’s career, but he credits his previous top finish – at the Ojibwe Forest Rally in 2006 -- to attrition among the leaders.

“Today I felt like I drove fast enough to earn it,” he said. “I kept increasing the pace enough and here I am.”

A former two-time PGT champion, Johnson is expected to become a regular threat for the top-three as he adjusts to the improved power and technology in his new, Open class Subaru this season.

Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb, meanwhile, limped into the finish with heavy damage to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. After cracking their front end hard on Day 1, they spent Day 2 battling a failing transmission. They crashed again late in the day, but were able to hold on to a fourth-place finish – just six seconds ahead of 18-year-old driver Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson in their Open class Subaru.

The contest was tough for many top teams.

Early challengers Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard failed to finish while battling for the lead early in the contest. Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust and co-driver Chrissie Beavis were in third place when mechanical trouble knocked them out of the contest on Day 2. Their teammates Andy Pinker and co-driver Robbie Durant were off the pace from the start, then retired from the contest in the second-last stage.

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.

Stephan Verdier and co-driver Scott Crouch took the PGT win in their Subaru, finishing seventh overall. In two-wheel drive, the fastest competitors were Chris Duplessis and co-driver Martin Headland in their Group 5 Volkswagen GTi.

The Production class win went to Canadian brothers Jan and Jody Zedril in their Mitsubishi Lancer.

This event was the first for Pastrana with a new co-driver after Christian Edstrom’s recent retirement from active competition. Former WRC champ Ringer joined Pastrana in the car and the pairing gelled immediately.

“He did amazing,” said Pastrana. “It didn’t take him more than three corners before we were right on.”

The event also served as an invitational championship for the top drivers from each of Rally America's regional series. Driver Henry Krolikowski earned the top finish in the invitational event on Saturday and was crowned regional champion. Chris Duplessis earned the Group 2 regional championship, while Mark Utecht took Group 5. Driver Jan Zedril was the top Production finisher, while Yurek Cienkosz topped the PGT category.

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.

All scores are considered informational pending official administrative processes.

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.