WELLSBORO, PA -- Defending North American champion Matt Iorio, from Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and co-driver Ole Holter, from Long Beach, Calif., scored their first Rally America win at the fiercely competitive Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR), round #4 of the Rally America championship , in north central Pennsylvania early this morning.

And Lauchlin O’Sullivan, San Francisco/Scott Putnum, Richfield, Minn. (third overall) and Andrew Pinker, Australia/Robbie Durant (England) —by finishing third and fourth respectively, earned automatic berths for the Rally segment of the ESPN X Games to take place in Los Angeles August 3 – 6. Iorio/Holter had already been named to the competition list.

Iorio/Holter won three stages in a row mid-day to slide past extreme motocross champion Travis Pastrana, from Davidsonville, Maryland and co-driver Christian Edstrom, from New York City. The pair continued to widen their lead as day faded to night to finish more than a minute ahead of the Pastrana’s Subaru Rally Team USA team. Travis tried to make a run during the last stages of the event, but a run into a ditch and two flat tires ended his chances to catch up.

“You have to pick and choose when you’re going to show your magic,” said a grinning Iorio, as he stepped out of his car at the finish to accept a round of enthusiastic back-slaps from his crew.

Iorio was so excited by the win that it took an observant bystander to point out that his Open class Subaru rolled into the finish with a slowly-leaking right front tire. In fact, Iorio and Holter experienced electrical problems late in the rally which caused them to lose their rally lights intermittently as well as Holter’s reading light, without which he couldn’t see the route book.

The STPR Performance Rally is a form of auto racing in which the cars race against the clock, one at-a-time, on closed public roads of the Pennsylvania State Forest, at times bordering on the famous “Grand Canyon of the East” near Wellsboro. Each car has a driver, plus a co-driver, or navigator, who reads from a route book and barks out instructions while the driver is negotiating the course at high speed. The teams competed on ten different roads – or stages – covering 125 miles of racing over a 14 hour period, with the team having the fastest time over the whole course winning the event. The excitement of two and four-wheel-drive cars traveling on gravel roads at more than 100 miles-per-hour – especially on a blind course where no practice has been allowed – is exciting both for spectators and competitors.

The drivers meet their crew every couple of stages for service on the cars, and drivers must obey all local traffic regulations when their cars are not actually driving on the closed stage road. Unlike traditional racetrack driving, where repetition on the same course can lead to the “best line” or “best setup” for each corner, rally drivers must react to blind conditions at racetrack speed.

Second-place Pastrana had been fighting illness all day after he returned from the Erzberg Motorcycle race in Austria last week with a bout of strep throat. He said late Saturday he was feeling better and was already looking ahead to the rest of the season.

”I’m a little disappointed we didn’t win, but we are running for the Rally America National Championship, and with all the problems we had, we are grateful to snag second place points.

In third-place overall was former Mitsubishi USA driver Lauchlin O’Sullivan. The podium finish earned the driver a chance to compete at the first-ever X Games rally activity in August in Los Angeles.

“To go to the X Games and hopefully to do most of the rest of the season would be just a dream,” said an excited O’Sullivan after emerging from his Open class Subaru at the end of a long day of hard driving. “It just hasn’t even hit me yet.”

The two fastest drivers who had not already been invited to compete earned an automatic invitation to the X Games at this rally. With a host of top-tier drivers pushing for a shot at the contest, STPR saw one of the strongest fields assembled in its 30-year history.

Fourth overall and the second X Games qualifier was Australian Andrew Pinker in his Open class Subaru. Pinker assumes the Rally America points lead with his finish.

As is typically the case at this very fast rally made more difficult by Friday’s heavy rains, attrition was high. After a strong early drive, Canadian points leader Antoine L’Estage from Quebec, driving a John Buffum-built Hyundai Tiburon, suffered mechanical trouble in the final stages that put him out of contention. Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block, Encinitas, Calif. rolled his car on the seventh stage, while veterans Seamus Burke, from Powder Springs, Georgia, and Frank Sprongl from Toronto, crashed out of the race late in the day. The Italian entry of Alfredo DeDominicis/Massimo Daddoveri in their Mitsubishi Evo VII withdrew on stage #7, citing engine problems and a broken front differential.

Sprongl’s brother and co-driver, Dan Sprongl, had to be extracted from the crumpled Mitsubishi Evo VI, and was taken to Wellsboro’s Soldiers and Sailors Hospital for observation after he complained of a sore back.

Eight top teams have already been selected to compete at the X Games, including WRC veteran Colin McRae, motocross superstar turned Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana, eight-time U.S. champ Paul Choiniere, and 2005 Rally America champion, Pat Richard.

Although Rally America had originally expected that only one driver would qualify into the games at this rally, the selection committee opted just last week to open another spot. The two final X Games spots will be earned by top finishers at the Maine Forest Rally next month.

Also selected to compete at the August X Games Rally are: drifter Rhys Millen (son of ‘70s and ‘80s rally champion Rod Millen), D.C. Shoes founder and Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block; 2005 Production GT champion and stunt driver Tanner Foust (13th overall and third in PGT at STPR); and 2005 North American and Rally America Open class champion Matt Iorio, this morning’s STPR winner.

Other class winners at STPR included Doug Shepherd/Pete Gladysz, both Chrysler engineers from Detroit and former STPR winner, in a Dodge Neon SRT4 (Group 5); Matt Johnson, Apex, NC/Kim DeMotte, St. Louis, in a Subaru WRX (Production GT); Otis Dimiters, Great Neck, NY/Alan Ockwell, Ontario, Canada, in a Subaru WRX (Group N); Jon Nichols/Carl Schenk, both from Quebec, Canada, in a VW Golf GTI (Group 2); and Kenny Bartram/Dennis Hotson, both Stillwater, OK, in a VW Beetle (Production).

The Rally America national championship is a challenging, all-season series comprised of nine events across the country, beginning with Sno*Drift in January and wrapping up 12 months later with the Reno Rally in Reno, Nevada.

The annual X Games is the premier action sports event in the world, featuring athletes from across the globe competing for medals and prize money in sports including BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, Surfing and Rally. X Games 12 will be telecast live on ESPN and ABC.

Rally America, a Minneapolis, MN, based corporation, holds the sanctioning and marketing rights to the Rally America Championship. The company was founded in 2002 by rally driver and CPD Rally Team owner Doug Havir.

The rally’s organizing committee, Finger Lakes STPR Motorsports, LLC—formed in 2004 after the Finger Lakes Region of the Sports Car Club of America could no longer lend support to the event—is based both in Wellsboro, Penn. and Rochester, New York.