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Event Bulletin
31 August 2005

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Rally veteran Stig Blomqvist drove SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI has got overall win at Ojibwe Forests Rally, Round 6 od Rally America Championship which was taken place in 26-27 August at Ojibwe, Minnesota. SUBARU gained all position of podium as Mat Iorio and Travis Pastrana made excelent drive with finished in second and third respectably.Patrick/Nathalie Richard whose dramatic comeback effort finished just miles from the victory podium with a mechanical failure.

Friday

Weather: Clear and Sunny
Temperature: 70's
Road Surface: Hard Packed Gravel

With beautiful skies and sunshine the Ojibwe Forests Rally got underway after a Parc Expose in Bemidji. Forty three teams started the event and the first car pulled out a little after 5pm. Today's leg of the rally consisted of seven stages, totaling about sixty competitive stage miles.

Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom were fourth on the road, a great position since dust was a non issue. In low dust conditions running a few cars back can be an advantage since the lead cars leave tire marks in the road. When you are flying through the woods at speeds sometimes exceeding 100 miles per hour, having some fresh lines to guide you through turns can be a great help.

Unfortunately Travis and Christian in SUBARU #199 were plagued with problems right from the start. On the first stage they got a flat tire almost immediately, and then had a left front drive shaft failure. This cost them valuable time, but they made it through the stage and into the 5 minute roadside service. Vermont SportsCar technicians replaced the part, but only to have the other side fail on the next stage. Travis lost some significant time, but with the majority of the rally remaining #199 remained hopeful and pushed ahead quickly setting top stage times only seconds behind race leader Stig Blomqvist. Travis and Christian ended the day in fourth overall.

Raging at the front of the pack was the usual Canadian duo (Richard/Richard) and Stig Blomqvist with Ana Goni riding shotgun. Both in Group N SUBARU's, it is always a fair battle when these two push the limits of grip and control. After today's seven stages Stig remained in control and was leading the race, but only by ten seconds.

Saturday

Weather: Clear and Sunny
Temperature: 70's
Road Surface: Mix of Sand and Packed Gravel

The 2005 Ojibwe Forests Rally wrapped up with a surprise ending. Patrick Richard and Nathalie Richard who had been driving exceptionally well all day had shot ahead to the number one spot and were racing towards the finish. With a minimal but sufficient lead, they charged through the evening stages thinking they were back in the hunt for the 2005 Rally America Championship title. Suddenly all this changed when they had a mechanical problem about a mile from the finish of the final stage. Without a running car they immediately dropped out of the race and were faced with the fact that it is now statistically impossible for them to win the championship.

Stig Blomqvist and Ana Goni were right there and re-claimed the lead powering their SUBARU STI into a first place finish. After a truly neck in neck battle for two days Stig noted "It is too bad to win this way but this is what can happen". They had a great battle and both teams certainly pulled out every trick in the book. Both teams should be commended for some great racing and we hope to see more action like this at Colorado Cog.

Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom (#199) and Matt Iorio/Ole Holter (#18) had a similar situation with nearly identical stage times all day. On more than one occasion their stage times were less than half a second apart. This turned out to be quite frustrating for Travis. Even beating Iorio on several stages his mechanical problems yesterday prevented him from even coming close to actually beating out Iorio's Open Class WRX.

Travis knew that winning was out of the question but was really hoping for a stage win like he had at STPR. Up against drivers like Pat and Stig who have vastly more experience, Travis and Christian never got their wish. However, they had a great race and finished on the podium third overall ? second in the Group N. It was great experience for Pastrana and hopefully he will be able to turn it up a bit more at the next rally!

Mark Utecht who is from Minnesota along with his co-driver Rob Bohn put on a great show and came in to a sold fifth overall - third in class. Also in a SUBARU WRX they had some issues on Stage 12 after a long jump that damaged their underbody protection, but it did not hinder their speed. Rounding out the top SUBARU's was Mark McElduff and Damien Irwin in car #676 snagging sixth place overall. Matthew Johnson and Wendy Nakamoto in their unmistakable orange WRX won the Production GT class placing eighth overall.

Next the Rally America Championship teams will head south to the Colorado Cog Rally. This is a fantastic event where open mountain views allow spectators to see the cars approaching from miles away. If you can make it to Steamboat Springs towards the end of September it is positively worth the effort! Hope to see you there.