Motorsports | Subaru Global

Event Bulletin

Copyright © Subaru of America. Inc.

20 September 2005

Saturday

Weather: Clear and Sunny
Temperature: 60's
Road Surface: Dusty Gravel

With spectacular weather and a pack of racers ready for dirt it all kicked off this morning as racers headed into the hills. The competition between the top Group N Subaru contenders can only be described as intense! Stig Blomqvist, Pat Richard and Travis Pastrana were basically setting near identical stage times all day.

Saturday's portion of the race consisted of 9 stages all being run around the Hayden area. The Hayden Fairgrounds was also the service park and featured a spectator stage for easy access to the action. After four stages Stig Blomqvist was in the lead by a mere 0.7 seconds over Canadians Patrick Richard and Nathalie Richard. Meanwhile Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom were only seconds behind Pat rounding out the top three slots.

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino in car #43 were also on fire holding solidly onto a fourth overall position all day, but were slowly loosing time to the top three cars. At the service Ken commented that "I lack the experience of Stig and Patrick. Meanwhile Travis has no fear of high speeds and pushing the limits. I end up lifting on some turns and that definitely costs me time."

"I think I had it floored for about two whole minutes!" Travis exclaimed at service after completing Stage 7. The stage featured very straight and smooth roads along with a descent wind to keep dust cleared off the course. With most of the race taking place at or above 7000 feet of elevation the cars have a noticeable decrease in performance, but still reach speeds in excess of 100 mph. There is no question that turbo chargers and engines are maxing out as drivers try to squeeze every possible ounce of performance from these rigged rally machines!

Sunday

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

Sunday's portion of the Colorado Cog Rally brought out a mixture of emotions. Patrick Richard in an all out battle with Stig Blomqvist managed to clinch overall victory by less than half a second! This was an amazing feat that came down to the very last stage. At the service park prior to the running of the last three stages Pat was about eight seconds down and looked worried. "It's going to tough" he said as he went about looking for a set of fresh tires.

Patrick and his sister Nathalie Richard deserved this win very much and a huge congratulation goes out to the pair! In Minnesota at the last rally just a few weeks ago they were winning the event by a comfortable twenty seconds when their transmission failed just a couple miles from the finish, handing the win over to Stig. Luck was on their side this time and they are excited to see what happens at the final rally in Michigan next month.

On the opposite side of the spectrum today was Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom. With only sixteen seconds separating them from the lead car the number one spot was within reach, although not an easy challenge. Starting the first stage of the day (Stage 10) at full speed, Travis passed a spectator point visibly faster than the other two cars. Shortly thereafter too much speed resulted in a multiple rollover accident ending a short distance off the road. Travis and Christian quickly got out of the wrecked car and were both ok waving teammates Ken Block & Alex Gelsomino past. The race was over for #199.

Ken and Alex had their own fight with Lauchlin O'Sullivan and John Dillon trading stage wins the entire event. When all the dust had settled car #43 was only six seconds off a podium spot. Overall there was little riding on the third place finish for Ken since Lauchlin does not pose a risk to the overall Group N point standings. Ken's goal was to finish the event, especially after his crash at the Ojibwe Rally last month. Mission completed - and fourth is no shabby spot when you're beat by a former open class factory driver.

Behind Block and Gelsomino were Tanner Foust & Scott Crouch in a Production GT class WRX. Tanner who is from Steamboat Springs originally took the class win and placed fifth overall. Second in Production GT were Matt Johnson & Wendy Nakamoto only five seconds back.

This rally was unique in that there were extremely tight times between individual teams. It definitely made it exciting for everyone and forced teams to stay at their peak performance. High speeds stages also challenged racers and resulted in quite a few crashes. There was no lack of excitement this weekend that is for sure. In a month the final rally of the season takes place on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. If you can make it out for the Lake Superior Rally it is also a very scenic event with amazing fall colors! Maybe we will see you there!

The final round of Rally America National Championship, Lake Superior will be taken place on 21-22 October at Houghton, Michigan.