PORTLAND, OR -- With one day of competition to go, Australian driver Andrew Pinker was comfortably in the hunt for an overall win at the Oregon Trail rally, while attrition on the technical forest roads continued to thin the field.

Pinker, who led Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block by a comfortable margin of nearly 40 seconds after 12 stages, said his strategy for the final day of the three-day contest was simple: "Stay in the lead to the finish."

Pinker's driving style is clearly suited to the technical character of western Oregon's forest roads. He took his first-ever North American win at this event last season.

Block, who recently returned from a New Zealand contest, said he was disappointed to be out of the hunt for the lead. He said a foggy windshield in these cool damp conditions was to blame.

"I thought I could win this rally," said Block, "I just had a window covered in fog and I couldn't see."

After Saturday's stages, former PGT champion Tanner Foust was in third place overall after suffering a flat tire and losing a minute earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, dark horse favorite Pat Richard was forced out of the race early Saturday when his brakes failed. It was a disappointment for the two-time champion, who has been running only occasional races over the past two seasons after a virtually dominating the series for two years.

"We had complete brake failure," said Richard. "If you can't stop, you can't go."

But Richard was just one driver of many to retire from the contest. A packed field of over 76 racers took to the start for a series of fan-pleasing track stages at the Portland International Raceway on Friday. By mid-day Saturday more than 20 teams were out of the race. Notable retirements included top contenders Andrew "ACP" Comrie-Picard, Lauchlin O'Sullivan, Ramana Lagemann and Subaru Rally Team USA's Travis Pastrana.

Comrie-Picard was the first driver out, after he suffered a mechanical problem during a demonstration stage just before the start of the contest. The team took the start anyway, pushing the car across the starting line while fans cheered in the grandstands.

"I didn't drive all the way across the country to not even start," said Comrie-Picard early Friday afternoon. "Never say die."

Teams are battling for a chance to compete at this summer's X Games in Los Angeles. It is expected that the top six drivers after the first five rounds will secure an invitation to the wildly popular ESPN contest.

The Oregon race is also the first event in the new MaxAttack! Triple Crown Rally series. Three events across the country this season will feature an $8,000 prize fund to be distributed among the top two-wheel-drive teams.

Group 5 driver Cary Kendall was leading the MaxAttack! charge in his 2005 Dodge SRT-4.

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 2007 Rally America National Championship series consists of nine events nationwide. 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. After Oregon Trail, the series remains in the west for one more round. The Olympus Rally takes place next month in Washington State.

Complete television coverage of the Rally America Championship airs on ESPN2 starting in early June.