L’Estage Still Leads Championship OCEAN SHORES, WA — Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana wins his second event of the 2010 Rally America National Championship Series on the tricky gravel roads of the Olympus Rally held on Washington State’s picturesque peninsula. Pastrana started strong from the very first stage of the event and maintained his lead over Rally America points leader Antoine L’Estage. By the end of the weekend Pastrana won 8 out of the 13 stages and built a 1:42.8 minute cushion over L’Estage. Pastrana said, “This rally was hard from the start. It was definitely the most intense field that we’ve had, unfortunately a lot of guys went out on the first day. It was a really technical course, more so than we expected!” Unofficial results after Olympus moves Pastrana from a third place tie with Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block into second place overall. Rockstar Energy Mitsubishi driver Antione L’Estage keeps his Championship points lead with another 2nd place overall podium finish for the third event in a row. L’Estage was keeping pace with Pastrana until a gap opened when their windshield fogged over after a water crossing. However, the team’s consistent 2nd place finishes from the first three events keeps him at the top of the leader board. L’Estage said, “I’m feeling great! I wanted to win because that’s what we’re always trying for…but at one point yesterday we had to think of the Championship so today we took it easy and kept our second place and we’re still leading the Championship. We’re very happy to still be on the lead after three events!” Subaru Rally Team USA’s Dave Mirra completed the Olympus Rally in third place for his first-ever national podium finish! The BMX legend and most decorated X Games athlete won in an Open Class rally car after moving up from the Super Production Class the previous season. Mirra’s strong finish is particularly sweet considering he recently recovered from a bout with Bacterial Meningitis and did not know whether he would be able to compete at this event. Unfortunately, the Olympus Rally concluded early for notable Championship-caliber teams looking to improve their standings. Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block suffered an Olympus-ending gearbox failure between stages 4 and 5 for their second “Did Not Finish” of the season. The team was already under considerable stress and fatigue traveling from Rally Turkey the weekend before. The Icelandic volcano’s ash cloud forced the team to take alternative routes back the United States to make it back in time for Olympus. Block incurred a 3-minute penalty for checking into a stage too early due to a timing card calculation error and later spun his car, but set the fastest time on Special Stage 2 before retiring. After a 2 year absence from rally, Ramana Lagemann won Olympus outright in 2008 and returned to win the Super Production Class with a new Rally-Tire.com team. Current Super Production points leader, Travis Hanson crashed on Stage 4 but still maintains his SP class lead. Amazingly after 103 stage miles, Pat Moro and teammate Tim Rooney tied for 2nd place in Super Production, but Moro had more stage miles giving his sole position of the 2nd podium spot. In Two-Wheel Drive Class competition, Chris Duplessis continues to dominate the season with another first place win. Nick Allen and John Conley completed the class podium and 2WD champion Dillon VanWay retired after having an off on the final stage of the rally. Dave Hintz and co-driver Rick Hintz won both the John Nagel and Gene Neilson regional rallies. The unpredictable Washington coastal weather lived up to expectations and gave Olympus Rally competitors plenty of challenges to overcome. Strong winds and rain squalls made the gravel roads slippery, but sunny skies rewarded teams on the second day of competition for a beautiful coastal victory celebration in South Bend. For complete Olympus Rally video coverage please visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/RallyAmericaSeries Olympus Rally Results: http://www.rally-america.com/events/2010/Olympus/results/ Olympus Rally Photo Gallery: http://www.rally-america.com/events/2010/Olympus/gallery/ Olympus Rally Video Interviews and rally action: www.youtube.com/rallyamericaseries Round 4 of the Rally America Championships returns to the Oregon Trail Rally on May 14-16 in Portland, OR. 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.
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