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2006 American Rally Championship(Rally America=RANC) round five, "Maine Forest Rally" was at Ramford, Maine held on 21-22 July. After extremely tough battle, Travis Pastrana made success finish with second overall.

The battle is on in Maine this weekend as top competitors go head to head for the last remaining rally slots in the upcoming "X Games" event. Travis Pastrana and Ken Block whom are both already invited did not have the added pressure of trying to secure a spot in the games, but did see some tough competition on the four stages run this afternoon.

Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom had the fastest lap on Stage one, then settled into a fifth overall position at the end of the day. Ken Block on the other hand had a much more complex start to his rally. Running second for the first few stages, Ken while at full speed on Stage four apparently hit a log or rock that had been bumped into the road by another competitor. This likely broke the control arm and pointed the front wheel out. Block made the decision to press onwards, and with Alex Gelsomino sitting in the back to help balance the car they finished the stage and managed to drive the fifteen miles back to Service.

Copyright © Subaru Rally Team USA

When they arrived back at Sunday River, the expert Vermont SportsCar technicians wasted no time and attacked Blocks car with full force. Within minutes of arriving under the glowing tent the damaged pieces were off and #43 was soon looking much better. With a ten minute delay Block & Gelsomino have scrapped any chances of a podium finish, however, Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom are only seconds out of a top three finish.

With a triumphant finish, Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom claimed second place overall after a tough battle that in the end only separated the top four cars by nine seconds. The last two stages of the rally were run as a dual stage using the same road. This meant that all competitors as they finished Stage 8 were able to compare their times and everyone knew it was extremely close. Travis & Christian needed to make up about five second to catch Matt Iorio and with throttles at 100% they did just that, beating him fair and square by a total of two seconds.

Next week X Games Twelve begins in Los Angeles. Subaru Rally Team USA will be there in a major way and rally.subaru.com will be live from LA to bring you the latest stories along with dazzling photographs. Colin McRae will be full force in a brand new STI along with Tanner Foust who will also be spinning the wheels on a fresh SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI. More details soon.

Next round of RANC, round six "Ojibwe Forest" will be held on 25-26 August at Bimedji, Minnesota.