PORTLAND, OR — Australian Andy Pinker is looking to score some serious points at Rally America’s Round and is cautiously confident he can turn his season around this weekend at the Oregon Trail Performance Rally.

“These are the best roads in the country,” said Pinker, who has won this event the previous two years. “Their technical nature suits me.”

The Rockstar Energy driver said Friday he is headed for the podium to pull himself out of an early season points deficit that has him in a four-way tie for 19th overall in the standings.

With X Games invitations decided by early-season performance in the serious, a poor showing so far this year leaves Pinker -- the 2007 championship runner-up -- a long shot for the big show in Los Angeles later this summer.

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block, the current championship leader, won’t make it easy for Pinker. He has scored back-to-back victories in Missouri’s Hundred Acre Wood Rally in February and the Olympus Rally in eastern Washington last month and could be looking to make it three in a row.

Block’s teammate Travis Pastrana, who has been contesting a partial Production World Rally Championship season this year, said he is hoping to bring some of his global experience onto the podium.

Also looking for X Games points is Andrew Comrie-Picard, who has driven his Mitsubishi to second in the title hunt heading into Round 4. And former PGT champion Matt Johnson, who has proven fast so far this season as he takes on the more challenging Open class, said Friday he feels he and his car are well prepared to take on the contest.

“I’m learning what it takes to run at the front of the pack,” he said.

Drivers took to a series mixed tarmac and gravel demonstration stages Friday night at the Portland International Raceway, before making the move to the challenging logging roads near Vernonia, and Hillsboro for Days 2 and 3.

The roads here are technical in nature, featuring what’s known as a crown – where the road is higher in the center and slopes down to the ditches – that can easily unbalance a competition vehicle if the driver strays off the ideal line.

Unpredictable weather in the area often means damp conditions, but drivers arrived at the Portland International Raceway on Friday to temperatures hovering in the 90s. Heat and dust are more likely to be a factor than the snow that threatened the region just weeks ago.

The 2008 Rally America National Championship series consists of nine exciting events throughout the country in many different weather and road conditions spanning the forest logging roads in Minnesota, the high-altitude Yampa River Valley in Northwest Colorado to the Pacific Northwest forest and coast paths.

Rally America drivers are competing for valuable points in the first six races in the 2008 season to qualify for spots to compete in X Games 14 as Rally Car Racing will make its third showing at this summer’s X Games in Los Angeles.

The Oregon Trail Rally also serves as Round 1 of the Max Attack! Triple Crown Rally Series, a three-event series is set up to reward drivers of two-wheel drive vehicles.

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 Pomeroy, Wash., to Bethel, Maine. Rally America competitors reach speeds well over 100mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses of gravel, dirt or snow. Additionally, through a partnership with ESPN, qualifying Rally America drivers will be 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.