Pastrana beats out Sarasin by seconds  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
Though results are still informational, the outcome is certain, Travis Pastrana has won the 2008 running of Rally Colorado in Steamboat Springs.

After a tight battle over the last two stages, the Subaru Rally Team USA driver came out on top and did a few celebratory donuts at the finish before the podium.

For the full story, check for the news story to be posted shortly.

Press on regardless for the rookie Rabbit  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
Alissa Williams and Brittany Kilpatrick have made it into the last service. The team is having fun but currently still struggling with the same coolant problems as yesterday.

“We are having to put coolant in every stage to keep the car from overheating” said Alissa. The all-women team also had a slight off early in the day that had the pair changing a flat by stage end.

In the true spirit of rally the girls are determined to finish. “We will finish! Even if we have to take some extra time in service to get the car fixed, we will be there”

Regional round up!  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
Open class battle continues for the top three entries in today’s Middle Cog 2 regional rally. Separated by only a minute going into stage 16 most teams are concerned about keeping it smooth. Stage 16 is a re-run of yesterdays very rough stage 2, only this time its being run in reverse. The first place pairing of Bis and Moody plan to play it safe, and try not to get a flat in order to maintain their lead. While the team of Rose and Greek currently in forth may push a bit to try to advance in the standings.

“We just have to go flat out,” said Rose.

Pastrana has a flat!  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
What looked to be a fairly secure lead for Travis Pastrana has been reduced to just four tenths of a second after a puncture on the rough Elkhead Flats stage. This is great news for the second place driver Kyle Sarasin.

With less then half a second splitting the top two drivers, and only two stages left in the event, both drivers will have to go flat out to get the win!

The bet is on  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
Coming to the start of Stage 16, Elkhead Flats, Travis Pastrana told us that he and Kyle Sarasin had a dollar bet running on the outcome of the previous stage. Pastrana is leading Sarasin in the rally by about thirty seconds, but the two have been trading times all day.

As Sarasin pulled up to the control at the start of stage 16, we asked for his time and found out that the Subaru Rally Team USA driver, Travis Pastrana had beaten Sarasin on the stage, and won the dollar.

John Conley close to Hoche-Mong  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
John Conley and Keith Rudolph are having a trouble free day so far. The team made a few changes to the notes on the re- run of stage 2 after John cut a few tight corners. “he’s crazy” stated his co-driver. Right now, the pair are in a tight battle with Michel Hoche-Mong. Conley sits only 3.6 seconds behind the VW crew of Hoche-Mong and Cowan.

Colorado Rally Cup contenders  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
Jeremy Brown and Simon Branton-Housley started the day where they left off, leading group 2. “It was a bit slick this morning so we didn’t take many chances” said Jeremy. A good finish today will allow the team to win the Colorado Rally Cup. “The plan is to finish we may push a bit but we aren’t going to take many chances”

Co-driver swap  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
The team of car 31 Michel Hoche-Mong has started the day with a new co-driver. “Jimmy Brandt isn’t feeling well so I had to use my only crew member Peter Cowan as a replacement” Peter hasn’t rallied with notes before so the first stage was a bit of a warm up for the team. “I don’t think I have scared him yet, and by stage 2 we were on"

Bad news for Block, Pastrana pushing  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
The bad news continues for Ken Block today at Rally Colorado. Co-driver Alex Gelsomino explained the issues the pair are having.

“It’s the same as yesterday, with the power steering. We lost power steering for the last two stages. The crew are changing the rack and the pump in service now, so hopefully it will be ok.”

Ken was vocal about the experience. “We went off three times on the last stage, because the wheel just got wrenched from my hands. It’s a good thing there are no trees, because we were way off in the field. I’ve just been screaming all morning, it’s so frustrating.”

Subaru Rally Team USA teammate Travis Pastrana is having a great rally. Though he and co-driver Derek Ringer are losing time to Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson, it is less than a second a stage. “We’ve set a good pace so we’re not taking too many risks, but still going fast. Barring any mistakes we should keep first.” Despite this comment, Pastrana and Ringer had a spin on a tight left the second stage and lost a few seconds.

Kyle Sarasin is really enjoying himself, and happy to be setting such good times against Travis Pastrana. “I keep forgetting I am in second, I’m just trying to catch Travis. We’re pushing really hard, but the car is perfect and we’re taking time out of Pastrana.”

Lauchlin O’Sullivan is having a stellar day so far. In service the crew had so little to do to the car that they were rotating tires. “We’re having a great time. We lost a little bit of time to Carl Jardevall on these first three stages, but not too much. No mistakes and we’ll be fine!”

Cars start a sunny day two!  - Sunday, September 14, 2008
The sun has risen on what will be another stellar day in Colorado, and teams have departed for the second day of action at Rally Colorado, and the Middle Cog 2 regional rally.

Travis Pastrana took and held the lead yesterday, fighting off a hard charging Kyle Sarasin. The start list today has Pastrana first on the road, followed by Sarasin. Ken Block, who was forced to take a ten minute penalty yesterday for an illegal service is third on the road for the sake of his speed, but sits just outside the top ten, ready to claw his way back up the order today. Third place driver Lauchlin O’Sullivan is fourth on the road, well behind second place Sarasin, but with a comfortable margin over Carl Jardevall in fourth place.

Some of the DNFs from yesterday have been able to repair their cars to start the regional rally today. Alissa Williams and Brittany Kilpatrick are back in action in their Group 2 VW Rabbit.

Also back are Michael Kilpatrick and Kevin Turner. Turner had sat in with Erik Schmidt yesterday after Erik and Larry Schmidt were both getting motion sickness on the first few stages. Erik Schmidt is back again today in the regional, this time with Alix Hakala in the right seat.

Scott Leonard and Adam Kneipp have been able to repair their VW Golf and get back to action.

Teams have three stages this morning before service. We’re set up at the Hayden fairgrounds, ready to speak with all the teams as the arrive and bring you all the news from Rally Colorado.

Don Conley gets stuck  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Don Conley and co-driver Jason Bandel in car 477 got stuck before the second service. The pair had the tow rope out, but it snapped on the first attempt to get out. Soon after, John Conley caught up to the pair and pulled them out of the ditch using his own tow strap.

News from the Super Special  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
The all-women team of Car 448, Alissa Williams and Brittany Kilpatrick have DNF'd. The two made it through the Super Special, only to have the coolant lines leading to the heater core rupture, shooting coolant in both the engine bay and passenger compartment. The pair can repair the problem and run the regional rally tomorrow.

Car 477 Don Conley and Jason Bandel have reportedly shortcut the spectator super special and will therefore be assigned the slowest competitor time for that stage.

Schmidts split after stage three  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
The father-son pairing of Larry and Erik Schmidt found a solution to their car sickness problems at the end of stage three. Erik Schmidt hopped back in the drivers seat, this time to be co-driven by Kevin Turner. Turner was the co-driver for Michael Kilpatrick in car 485, and the two had DNF’d on stage three. While the new pairing can’t score points today, they can enter the regional tomorrow and get a full day’s rally together. Larry Schmidt has stepped out of the car and is now crewing for his son and Turner.

Sarasin secure in second  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson are in second place leaving service. Kyle says the plan is to drive smart, and set a good pace. “Second is better than a DNF; we will be going from ludicrous to hyper-speed.” He assures us this means he will slow some.

Pastrana moves into lead  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Travis Pastrana, who had knocked his exhaust apart on stage two was now in much better shape. The crew from Vermont SportsCar had descended upon the damaged Subaru to make the needed repairs. Greg Hamilton, crew chief for Travis Pastrana told us a bit about the damage to the car.

“We have a slip fitting on the exhaust after the turbo. It’s held on by really really strong springs, but the rock caught it and just ripped it off. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The crew also had to replace the passenger side front half shaft. It had been “cooked” by the heat from the damaged exhaust. With all the repairs done, the crew cleaned up the car and Pastrana and co-driver Derek Ringer left service, with a lead of about thirty seconds.

Car 2 Pinker/Durant retire  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
After three stages, Andy Pinker and Robbie Durant were in the lead, while both the Subaru Rally Team USA cars had experienced problems. Two stages later, as cars came into the service park, the story was markedly different.

“We were doing really well,” said Andy Pinker. “Then the transmission started doing weird things, losing drive and getting it back. I committed to a corner, lost drive, and then it came back. We hit the inside bank, and had a three quarter roll.”

Pinker and Durant had to try to roll the car back over onto it’s wheels while alerting rally traffic of their stricken car, sitting in the road.

“We lost about six minutes,” explained co-driver Robbie Durant. “If we’d rolled back onto the wheels, we would have lost maybe 10 seconds.”

The car came into service with a smashed windshield, faulty transmission and likely a damaged engine from having sat on its side. After working to try to assess all the damage and start to make repairs, the team decided to retire.

“We needed a win here, and we won’t get that now, and it’s not worth risking the unknowns in the engine. We’re really gutted right now,” offered Durant.

Updates from the Start of Stage Three  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Car 39 Carl Jardevall / Chrissie Beavis reports that they are keeping pace with O’Sullivan. The teams only complaint is that they wish they were on soft and not medium compound tires. Unfortunately all they have are medium and hard to choose from.

Car 888 George Georgakopoulos / Faruq Mays reports a bit of a rough second stage and a loss of power due to elevation. The team also had to slow considerably to miss a herd of antelope.

Car 418 Jimmy Keeney / Melissa Keeney are reported as finishing stage 2.

Car 777 Scott Leonard / Adam Kneipp is reporting a broken transmission.

Car 35 Jeff Regester / Duncan Smith reports that they felt a bit slow on stage 1 as they look to find rhythm. The team also had a close encounter with antelope

Car 93 Bob Olson / Conrad Ketelsen are reporting lots of car parts on the road after the somewhat rough stage 2

Car 31 Michel Hoche-Mong / Jimmy Brandt are the first 2 wheel drive car on the road. They team is working well, there only moment came on stage 2 as they had to avoid car 199 Pastrana’s exhaust.

Car 155 John Conley / Keith Rudolph are doing well in the G5 class. They are reporting lots of grip with a few “tricky” spots to go slow over. The team has also seen lots of car parts after the dips on SS2.

Car 36 Mark Cox / Brian McGuire are doing well. Brian says its good to be “playing again” He hasn’t run in 2 years and is getting used to the new car.

Car 495 Steve Bis / Brian Moody is reported as finishing on the same minute as the 2 car ahead of them. The team is doing well and are happy that the parts on the road from stage 2 don’t belong to them.

Car 482 Michael Rose / Rebecca Greek Are doing well after SS2. The team reports a flowing stage 2 with lots of rocks and car parts to avoid.

Car 441 Grant Hughes / Scott McCarty reports “Big narly dips” the tires seem to be working well. They have had a few moments where they have been a bit close to the edge of the road.

Car 477 Don Conley / Jason Bandel are doing well reporting lots of parts on the roads.

Car 825 Jeremy Brown / Simon Branton-Housley says the roads are a bit rocky for their low to the ground Toyota MR2

Car 440 Andrew Morton / Aaron Searle plan to keep it safe

Car 413 Larry Schmidt / Erik Schmidt have had to switch sides in the middle of SS2. Apparently Erik was getting motion sickness so he swapped spots with Larry. Larry who is now co-driving said he to is starting to feel sick. The team plans to take it slow and get back to service.

Car 485 Michael Kilpatrick / Kevin Turner would like to say hi to Michaels wife who is co-driving in car 448. This is also the teams first rally in the new car. Unfortunately, their event was cut short when the team almost pulled a “Tanner,” on the very same corner that Tanner rolled. They kept the car on the road but damaged the underside of the engine and were forced to retire.

Car 475 Bryan Short / Kim DeMotte are doing well. Bryan is getting used to Kim co-driving and the plan is to first finish. This is Bryans first time driving in a rally “this ranks as one of the top 10 things I have ever done for fun” he said.

Car 448 Alissa Williams / Brittany Kilpatrick is having a great time “this is way more fun than watching” said Alissa who is running here first rally today.

Car 433 Williams / Hakala Unable to start  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Car 433 Williams / Hakala were unable to make the start this morning due to engine problems. They stayed up late last night changing the engine but were unable to get the replacement engine working either.

Latest Retirements  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Car 512 Hudspeth / O'Hanlon have retired with some sort of fluid problem on SS2.

Car 93 Olson / Ketelsen have requested their service crew come to SS2 to pick them up. No word yet on why.

Ken Block with power steering trouble  - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ken Block Car #43 had the power steering pump fail on SS1. At the fuel stop after SS1 the team tried to fix it on their own, but could not and ended up having their crew change the power steering pump and incurring a 10 minute illegal service penalty.