ABERDEEN, WA — Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block had a narrow lead after the fast and flowing early stages of the Olympus Rally in western Washington.

After five stages Saturday, Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino had a two-second lead in their Subaru WRX STi over Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust and Chrissie Beavis in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

Tied for third place, another 20-seconds back, were Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and co-driver Robbie Durant in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom in their Subaru WRX STi.

The rugged 2009 course promises to test competitors’ range of skills, with roads that transition between flat-out fast on Day 1, to a twisty and tree-lined technical challenge on Sunday.

“It’s a drag race today and I’m losing,” said Pastrana Saturday afternoon. “It’s a drag race, then a corner, then a drag race, then a corner… I’m not sure what’s happening out there but I think I’m just not very good at corners.”

Teams were expected to push their engines to the maximum, hitting speeds over 120 mph on some of the long straightaways Saturday.

Weather in the region is notoriously unpredictable at this time of year, but the weekend promises to be clear and dry. Teams lined up in Aberdeen, Washington, for the opening Parc Expose under sunny skies Saturday morning and forecasters were predicting the good weather would hold until the end of the contest.

Heading into Round 3, Comrie-Picard and Foust are tied for the series lead, followed by the Subaru Rally Team USA drivers -- Pastrana and Block -- who are tied in second place in the championship.

“We’re working on our rhythm out there,” said Comrie-Picard. “It’s fast and the goal is to keep the driving tidy.”

The popular new Super Production class is also hotly contested at this event, with series regulars Matt Johnson, Piotr Wiktorczyk and Dave Mirra among those drivers battling it out on the challenging course.

Johnson was leading the charge after five stages, while Mirra said he was struggling to keep up the pace and had dropped two positions to third in class.

Mirra is the newest Subaru Rally Team USA driver, and he is debuting a new Subaru WRX STi at this event.

“ I’m just trying to get on the page,” he said, after pulling into the second service of the day with a dented left-rear corner.

The storied Olympus Rally is relatively new to the Rally America calendar, having returned to the national series in 2007. But the event has a lengthy history.

It was first run as a national event in 1973 and was a favorite stop on World Rally Championship calendar from 1986 to 1988. Rally racing legends including Rod Millen, Juha Kankkunen and American John Buffum are among those who have claimed victories at the famed 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.

Top teams in the series are also invited to compete in the Summer X Games, the leading action sports event broadcast live on ABC and ESPN. Eight top teams have already been invited to this August’s contest. Among the marques typically represented in Rally America events are Subaru, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Ford and Volkswagen.

About Rally America
Based in Golden Valley, Minn., Rally America sanctions the premier rally racing series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series. In 2008, Rally America will conduct nine National Championship events at venues across the country, from Portland, Ore., to Bethel, Maine. Rally America competitors reach speeds well over 100 mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses of gravel, dirt or snow.

Additionally, through a partnership with ESPN, qualifying Rally America drivers are invited to compete in the Summer X Games, the annual leading action-sport event that is broadcast live on ABC and ESPN. For more information, visit www.rally-america.com.