Last weekend DC’s Travis Pastrana took a well deserved victory as the 2008 Rally America National Championship hit Oregon Trail. It’s a solid finish for Travis, who’s now in prime position to defend his Rally America National Championship and make it four in a row.
Oregon Trail started off at the Portland International Raceway as Travis, Ken Block, Dave Mirra, and the rest of the field tore around the mixed-surface track in front of the fans. Travis came out of day one 2nd overall, just four seconds back. Ken was in the mix as well, sitting in 4th place at the close of the day.
From there Oregon Trail moved to the winding forest roads. Clear skies, good conditions and the fact that he was able to hit stages first and avoid dust clouds allowed Travis to fly—by the end of the day he’d overtaken the lead and amassed a 44 second lead.
After that hard fight early on, it was then smooth sailing for Travis as he maintained his lead and cruised to the win, earning it by a strong one-minute margin.
“It was a near perfect rally for us, we fought hard early to establish a lead and then were able to take it easy through the rest of the weekend,” said Travis. “The pressure is off just a bit now but this year the competition is much harder and the battles are tighter so I’m sure it won’t be easy!”
Ken Block didn’t fair so well. After the good start mentioned above, Ken hit a rock on day two and punctured his tire. “Under braking after a high speed section the car suddenly didn’t want to turn and in an instant I realized it was due to a sudden, and very bad, front left tire puncture. I had no choice but to go off the road and over a ditch, which damaged the front left suspension.” Just like that, Ken’s was out competitively for the weekend.
Dave Mirra, however, drove great. He drove smart all weekend, finishing 6th Overall and 1st in the Super Production class. Unfortunately, when officials inspected Dave’s car after the rally they found a spec infraction, and penalized him one position: he officially marked up 2nd overall. “I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the new 2009 STI and feel I was much more consistent with my driving. The best is yet to come.”
Travis and the team now head back east for the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally on June 5. For more info and photos straight from Oregon Trail, click here.
