Four wins in four years! It's official: Ken Block is the driver to beat at 100 Acre Wood, round 2 of the Rally America National Championship. Last weekend Ken chalked up that fourth win on the fast roads of the event, held in southern Missouri.
"I love the flow of the stages of this event," said Ken afterwards. "I love the high speeds."
100 Acre Wood is set-up for just that: high speed. The drivers are able to lay it wide open on the fairly straight roads. This year's event was made more difficult when the weather turned foul; clear skies went grey as eight inches of fresh snow fell. About 15% of the total stages were covered in snow.
After marking up a solid lead on day one, Ken was forced to deal with that weather change on day two. Because he was the leader after day one, he was the first to hit the snowy roads -- his car served as the snowplow for the rest of the field on those select stages. No matter though... Ken made the necessary adjustments to his car and tires before attacking. The strong day one buffer allowed Ken to finish the rally with a big fourty-three second lead.
Congratulations also go to DC's Dave Mirra, who drove exceptionally well (especially for being a rookie) and took 2nd in the Super Production Class. He drove great on day one, running as high as 3rd overall and even leading his class until the very last stage! He ended up with his best finish so far, missing out on taking the win by just three seconds.
What about Pastrana? He entered the rally determined to beat Block at 100 Acre Wood, saying it was do or die; win or crash out. Unfortunately, Travis did the latter and rolled his car on stage 4. No injuries, but the rally was over for T.P.
As far as overall standings go, Travis won the first rally of '08 (Sno*Drift), and Ken won the second. That means the guys are tied for third in the overall Championship standings. With a fierce (but friendly) rivalry between Ken and Travis -- and a long season ahead -- it should be a great year and battle as they try to one-up each other and take over those top spots.
Next, the championship moves west to Washington state for the Olympus Rally on April 18. For more photos and info from 100 Acre Wood, check out rally.subaru.com.
