FIRST VICTORY FOR KEN BLOCK AND THE MONSTER WORLD RALLY TEAM FORD FIESTA IN RALLY AMERICA
Posted: March 2, 2010 3:15 PM
American action sports icon Ken Block and his Monster World Rally Team have scored their first victory in the Rally America series with a win for the Ford Fiesta at the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Missouri.
Ken Block proved the strength and reliability of his Monster Energy Drink Fiesta by winning the 2010 Rally America 100 Acre Wood Rally by 21-seconds over second place Antoine L'Estage. The win is the first for the Ford Fiesta in a North American Stage Rally and the first for Fiesta in Rally America competition. The win for Block was his fifth straight victory at the two-day 100 Acre Wood Rally.
"I can’t tell you how difficult and challenging this weekend has been," said Block. "This is the location of my first national rally win, so I have now won this rally five years in a row and it is a pretty good feeling to get the Fiesta home in first. The Fiesta is a big change from the car I was racing before, but I am finally starting to come to grips with how to drive it and how to go as fast as I can. It is very fun to drive and I am really enjoying the Fiesta."
Block started the second day over a minute behind the leader and in third place. Overnight changes to his Fiesta allowed Block to win three of the ten stages and overcome the deficit and secure victory.
“Two months ago this program did not exist and today Ken Block and the Monster World Rally Team have celebrated Ford Fiesta’s first Rally America victory. It has been nothing short of amazing to see Ken’s Fiesta program develop before our eyes,” said Jamie Allison, Ford Director of North America Motorsport.
"The Ford Fiesta is proving to be an incredibly competitive platform for rallying," said Gerard Quinn, Ford of Europe's Motorsport Manager. "Within the last six months Fiesta has won X Games gold in North America, our UK-based rally partner, M-Sport, took a Fiesta S2000 to victory on the 2010 Monte Carlo Rally and now Ken Block's car has claimed its first stage rally win in the United States. What an incredible start for Fiesta!"
The two-litre turbocharged Monster Fiesta Rally America car is prepared by Swedish team Olsbergs Motorsports Evolution (OSME) and is based on the successful production-based Fiesta Rallycross car that competed in the FIA European Rallycross Championship in 2009. It was OSME that took a Fiesta Rallycross car to last year's famous Pikes Peak hillclimb in the United States and two weeks later won the X Games event.
Block's four-wheel drive Monster Fiesta Rally America car has been modified to comply with Rally America's Open class regulations. It is fitted with a turbo restrictor to comply with championship regulations and produces around 330bhp (326PS).
But the Monster World Rally Team has precious little time to enjoy its victory as the team is moving on quickly to Mexico where Ken Block will make his FIA World Rally Championship debut for Ford in a Focus RS WRC.
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Ken Block Wins His Fifth Consecutive 100 Acre Wood Rally
Posted: March 2, 2010 3:08 PM
Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino of the Monster World Rally Team have claimed their fifth consecutive 100 Acre Wood Rally win. Block drove the Open Class Ford Fiesta to victory despite having a tough first day and starting the second leg over a minute behind rally leader, Travis Pastrana. The Ford driver was able to gain some ground after Antoine L’Estage dropped to third place due to a water crossing visibility issue and a puncture on the second stage of the day.
Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana held a fast pace and a comfortable lead over Block and L’Estage until Pastrana broke his car’s left rear control arm on the Super Special Stage in Potosi and was unable to continue. With Pastrana out of contention, L’Estage pushed to catch Block and posted comparatively close stage times with him, but Block was able to maintain his lead to the end.
An ecstatic Block said, “This is the location of my first national rally win, so I have now won this rally five years in a row and it is a pretty good feeling to get the Fiesta home in first.”
Having secured his consecutive second-place finish this season, the Rockstar Mitsubishi Evo driver from Quebec now leads the Rally America Championship with 34 points. Privateer Bill Bacon joined L’Estage on the podium again despite having some difficulties with his Mitsubishi’s new set up, but Bacon’s consistency has now put him second in the overall championship standings with 28 points.
Subaru Rally Team USA's, Dave Mirra, driving an Open Class car for only the second time this season placed 4th overall for his best finish to date.
The father-son team of Travis and Terry Hanson had another remarkable performance, winning the Super Production class by over two and a half minutes over their closest rivals. Attrition was heavy in Super Production, with several crews retiring throughout the rally with various mechanical issues. Tim Rooney and Dennis Hotson placed second in class followed by Wazoo Racing’s Tim Penasack and Alex Kihurani.
In the 2-Wheel Drive Class, Chris Duplessis and Catherine Woods remained dominant with another win in their 1990 Volkswagen Golf. Duplessis had reported alignment problems on the first day of the rally, but finished 10th overall with a nearly six minute spread over reigning Group 2 Champ, Dillon Van Way. John Conley and Keith Rudolph finished third in class.
The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood also hosted the Rally America Regional Championship, where regional winners from 2009 gathered to shoot it out for top honors. This year, the husband-wife team of Henry and Cynthia Krolikowski won the showdown for the Central Region in an Open Class 2000 Subaru Impreza.
The next national event on the Rally America calendar is the Olympus Rally in Olympia, Washington this April 24-25.
Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.
This year there will be six forest events from Maine to Washington, before X Games 16, plus three new European style rallycross events after X Games -- all based in Southern New Jersey.
Top teams in the series are also invited to compete in the Summer X Games, the leading action sports event broadcast live on ABC and ESPN.
All results are considered provisional pending official post-event race processes.
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Posted: March 2, 2010 3:06 PM
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