FIESTA TAKES ON ESPN’S X GAMES

Dearborn, Mich. — The new Fiesta Rallycross cars have already created plenty of buzz in the enthusiast community with word of their North American motorsport debut in July’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado.
Now, the anticipation will be even greater as the Swedish Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution team has announced it will compete in ESPN’s X Games 15 in Los Angeles, Calif., July 30 – Aug. 2. Olsbergs MSE is entering the race with the famous Swedish driver Kenny Brack. The team will also field Ford Fiestas with Rockstar Energy Drink for drivers Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan. All three Fiestas will comply with Rally America Open Class specifications.
Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution will utilize BFGoodrich Tires at both the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and at ESPN’s X Games 15.
“The new Fiesta is already creating headlines around the world,” said Brian Wolfe, director of Ford North America Motorsport. “The announcement that it would compete at Pikes Peak was greeted so positively by enthusiasts everywhere. Now, to back it up with competition at the X Games will just create even more buzz for the car.”
The X Games, considered the premier action sports event in the world, features athletes from across the globe competing in a variety of sports, ranging from skateboarding, motocross, BMX and rally car racing. X Games 15 will be covered live on ESPN's family of networks, including ABC, as well as across ESPN's many digital media assets, including Xgames.com and ESPN360.com.
The three Fiestas will be driven by an all-star lineup, which includes an Indy 500 winner, a former X Games rally champion and a 10-time X Games medalist.
The 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack, who will drive the 2009 Fiesta 3-door hatchback, is making his X Games debut. Brack was the ‘98 IndyCar Series champion and was a factory driver for Ford Racing’s Champ Car entry Rahal Letterman Racing. Brack sustained significant injures in a major accident at Texas Motor Speedway in ‘03 while driving for RLR, but he returned to the car at the Indy 500 in ‘05, subbing for the injured Buddy Rice and posting the fastest qualifying speed (227.598 mph) of the field. Brack has been retired since ‘06, pursuing his music career, but still drives competitively in special events. Olsbergs and Kenny Brack have had a long-term partnership and at present Kenny and Olsbergs are acting as mentors for a new promising Swedish racing star, 17-year old Markus Eriksson.
Rockstar Energy Rally driver Tanner Foust will drive a race-prepared ‘09 Fiesta 5-door hatchback. He is a winning competitor in rally, drift, ice racing and time attack with a proven track record of multiple podium placements and national championships. Foust has seen success in Drift and Rally in the last few seasons. In addition to winning the both the ‘07 and ‘08 Formula Drift Pro Drift Championship, he also took the Silver medal as runner-up in the 2008 Summer X Games Pro Rally race.
Foust won the ‘07 X Games Gold Medal in the Pro Rally for the Rockstar Energy Rally team. He was selected to represent Team USA in the annual Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium in London, UK this past December. He teamed with Ford Racing NASCAR star Carl Edwards to do battle with the world's fastest drivers and riders from Formula One, World Rally Championship, Superbike and Touring Car racing.
Joining Foust will be Moto X star Brian Deegan, a 10-time medalist at the X Games, including three gold medals for Moto X Best Trick (‘02, ‘03, ‘05). Earlier this year, Deegan launched a Pro-Lite class off road truck team in Championship Off-Road Racing under a newly formed Rockstar/Metal Mulisha/Caffaro Motorsports banner. Named one of the Top 100 Action Sports Stars by ESPN in ‘04, Deegan has competed at every X Games rally event and will drive a ‘08 Fiesta 3-door hatchback.
This will be the first time a Ford race car has been part of the X Games’ Rally competition.
"We are very excited to see the Fiesta competing not only at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, but also at the X Games in LA,” said Jost Capito, director of Ford Global Motorsport Business Development. “The competition will be extremely strong in both events, but we’ve put together a strong team with the Rockstar/BF Goodrich Tires Fiestas and our all star drivers. The Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution race team is doing an outstanding job in preparing the cars for both of these world famous events."

Team McShea Will Fly The Flag For Multiple Sclerosis Awareness At X-GAMES 14

Niall Mc Shea [r] and co-driver Marshall Clark will represent, Team MS RACING at X-GAMES 14 this weekend in LA. Picture Subaru Rally Team USA.

By Neil McDaid
By taking the overall victory at the Maine Forest Rally on July 12, Ireland's Niall McShea and navigator Marshall Clark grabbed the last qualifying spot at the X-GAMES 14 Rally, which will take place in Los Angeles July 30-August 3.
The dust had barely settled on the Maine stages before negotiations were underway to secure a car and funds to make sure that McShea would be able to take his place at the Games. Subaru USA was the first to step up with a car and some sponsorship for McShea.

Even at 107mph, on his beloved 1967 Triumph TR6, this Irish American with ties to Co. Kerry has trouble staying ahead of Multiple Sclerosis. Nonetheless, Jim Haraughty vows to continue his race for awareness and a cure (Thomas Graf)

The same group of Irish businessmen from Pearl River, New York who brought McShea to Maine, would come through again with additional sponsorship to make up the balance. McShea will pilot the latest open class 2008 Subaru STI, prepared by Vermont Sports Car at the Games.
With the X-GAMES being televised to millions around the world and just as many again when it hits the very popular website YouTube, Team McShea felt it would be a great opportunity to donate space on the car to a worthy cause. Team McShea will display the Team MS Racing decals on the car, giving much needed exposure to the fight against Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Team MS Racing and Team MS Foundation were founded by Jim Haraughty of Monana, Wisconsin. Jim and his wife Kathleen [nee, Gallagher] have ties to both Kerry and Donegal. In 2003, at the age of 45, Jim was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, November 12, to be exact, "It's a date that is etched in my mind," says Jim.
Jim had been very active all his life, started out as a tennis instructor who turned semi-pro and then was an avid motorcycle racer and cyclist. After being so active, he struggled with the early stages of the disease. "There were days when I just wanted to stop and not get out of bed. It's on these bad days when you need to dig deep and stay active, and not become a lump. If you don't, MS wins."
MS can affect your emotions as well as important cognitive functions like memory and concentration.
People with MS often experience devastating losses-for example of the ability to work, to walk, or even to engage in simple leisure activities.
With a lack of knowledge about the disease Jim's passion for life and family pushed him to explore every possible piece of information on MS. He quickly found out that that information on drugs and treatment was not so readily available.
As Jim began his many different treatments he came up with the idea for Team MS Racing. It was the start of his race against MS, a race to gain awareness, and more so a race to research and a cure.
Jim also started Team MS Foundation which works to assist people living with Multiple Sclerosis in their quest to remain active. It's important for people with Multiple Sclerosis to participate in life by remaining active; it's an essential element in living with the disease. But, Multiple Sclerosis can be a financial hardship that limits this necessary activity.
Team MS Foundation grants are awarded to individuals and members of families who live with, and deal with, Multiple Sclerosis in their lives to help keep them active.
Among his many goals for the team, Jim wanted to set an example that an active lifestyle is not something that needs to be given up while with living with MS. Over the past few years Team MS Racing's efforts on the American Historic Motorcycling circuit have attracted the attention of many in the motorsports community to the struggles of those with MS.
Despite dealing with the everyday challenges of MS, in 2007 Jim tackled a world record attempt at the infamous Bonneville Salt Flats on a production class 1967 Triumph TR6 motorcycle. With the bike stuck in third gear, Jim broke the record for the class reaching 107mph. Unfortunately, with the gearbox toast he could not make a second pass so the record did not hold.
Despite his disappointment at not getting the record, Jim's effort caught the attention of one of the USA'Sslargest motorcycle magazines, Motorcyclist. The magazine ran a story on the racer with MS, bringing MS awareness to their large reader base. For Jim it was "mission accomplished."
All going well Jim hopes to be able to have another crack at a record this year.
I spoke with Jim this week and asked him about getting some exposure for Multiple Sclerosis at the X-GAMES. "It's beyond excitement! I can't thank Niall and his supporters enough for giving Team MS Racing some space on the car. It's a dream come true."
Jim continues to battle new issues with MS with every passing day, but he also continues to add to his list of to-do's - "to keep the race alive, grabbing this life by the horns. And, I need to get a ride in one of these rally cars - I think I could navigate. " I am sure that could be arranged!

Somewhere among the glitz and commercial hype of the X-GAMES, Niall McShea will do his thing as a driver. He'll battle it out with defending X-GAMES Rally champion
Tanner Foust, the crazy car jumping Ken Block and Mr. X-GAMES himself, Travis Pastrana.
Regardless of the final result, Team McShea is already winners to those battling and living with Multiple Sclerosis around the world.
All going well he will also have brought just a little more awareness to the race against this disease.
The X-GAMES Rally will be shown live on ABC television between 3-6pm Eastern. Check your local listings for times in your area.

For More info: www.teamms.org, www.rally-america.com , http://rally.subaru.com/index.html

Niall McShea is locked in for XGAMES 14

“Mission accomplished” we heading to the XGAMES, Niall McShea [r] along with co-driver Marshall Clarke celebrate their first American rally victory and their place at the games. Picture Neil McDaid.

McShea Takes Victory at New England Forest Rally USA

By Neil McDaid

Newry, Maine, July 13, 2008. In what can only be described as a fantastic display of skill behind the wheel of a rally car, Ireland’s Niall McShea drove a very calculated rally and claimed the overall victory at the 2008 New England Forest Rally. By winning the event McShea also lands one of the much sought after spots at the 2008 X-Games 14 in Los Angeles, California.
Niall, who hails from Co. Fermanagh but now makes his home in Donegal, was the 2004 PWRC Champion [Production World Rally Championship]. He has competed all over the globe but until this point had not tackled the vast gravel stages in the USA.

“The men behind McShea” Far left, Sponsors Gerry Coffey and Enda McCormack, co-driver Marshall Clarke, the man himself, Niall McShea with car owner and sponsor Martin Donnelly. Picture Neil McDaid

The deal to have McShea come to the America came together rather quickly over the past few months when several Irish New York businessmen got together and hatched a plan to supply the car and sponsorship. Tyrone man Martin Donnelly supplied Niall with his fully rebuilt open class Mitsubishi EVO 8, while Enda McCormack and Gerry Coffey would offer additional financial sponsorship.
A slight change to the rules meant that Niall was not able to take advantage of any pace notes that were available from prior years but would basically have to write his own notes on a one pass recce.. As McShea’s regular co-driver Gordon Noble was not available, Marshall Clarke was called upon to call the notes for McShea on this event. It was not the first time that this duo had charged to victory; Clarke and McShea took top honors in GPN at WRC Rally Ireland last year.
Although the entries were greatly down from the prior years in Maine, the top 10 cars were all of top caliber. All had raced many times in Maine before, no doubt giving them an edge over McShea.

Subaru USA driver Ken Block had McShea in his sights throughout out the rally, but unfortunately Block would make a costly mistake on SS8 that ended his run. Picture Neil McDaid

Team Subaru USA was there in full force with their new 2008 Subaru STI’s. Travis Pastrana, the defending Rally America and New England Forest Rally Champion, was teamed up with Subaru’s second driver Ken Block who has been on fire throughout the 08 season for Team Subaru. You could be sure that they both had McShea locked in their crosshairs.
Rock Star Energy Drink’s Andrew Pinker would definitely be looking to claim the final spot at the X-Games 14 by finishing well in Maine. US based Irish driver Seamus Burke would be looking to be in the hunt if he could manage to shake the monkey off his back. Burke has had unbelievably bad engine management problems in 2008.
As Maine can be a tough rally for spectators to gain access to the stages, rally organizer John Buffum put on two spectator stages to open the rally. The first was at the Sunday River resort [the rally headquarters] and the second in the town of Mexico.
Andrew Pinker would claim the first short stage at Sunday River and Ken Block would take the run around the part in Mexico to claim victory on SS2. Seamus Burke will have to continue to feed the monkey as once again he would retire after one stage with engine failure.

Aussie, Andrew Pinker turned on the heat Saturday, but it was not enough to catch McShea. Picture Neil McDaid.

SS3 “South Arm S” would be the first true test on the event. Pinker would set the pace by 2 seconds over McShea with Ken Block rounding out the top three.
SS4 “South Arm N” would be a reverse of SS3. McShea must have liked what he saw on the way in as he set a tire warping pace on the way out taking the stage win by 15 seconds over Ken Block, and 34 second over Andrew Pinker. From there the cars would head back to Mexico for service before tackling the stage that has been dubbed “the co-drivers nightmare,” SS5 “Blind Pond”. Although Blind Pond is a short stage at only 5.6 miles it is very fast with a several hair-raising jumps - not for the faint of heart.
Ken Block laid claim to this stage in 2007 by setting the fastest time ever recorded for this test, this after having a disastrous off in 2006. Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino would again set the mark on Blind Pond, but only by 1.6 seconds over McShea. At the close of business on Friday McShea had taken full advantage of his fourth place seeding on the road in day-one, pushing hard where needed to make time. He managed to eke out a 9 second advantage over Ken Block to put himself in first place heading into Saturday.

“O mother” Eamonn Sweeney who was calling the notes for Joseph Burke, was praying for a soft landing on one of the infamous jumps on Concord pond. Picture Neil McDaid

Day-Two

Now running first on the road, McShea would have to deal with sweeping off the loose surface gravel on the stages, but he would not have to contend with the linger dust.
SS6 “Dillon Success” was the first of five stages on the slate for day two. After having to run first on the road on Friday, the Canadian duo of Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard, now running third on the road, found their pace and stopped the clocks 6 second ahead of Block and McShea who almost had the same time for the stage. The advantage went to Block who claimed second.
SS7 “Success Dillon” was a turnaround of SS6, and as he did on day one McShea would take full advantage of the line and take the stage win by 5 seconds over L’Estage. The rally caravan would then head northwest for the final three stages of the rally, and the final showdown.
With hundreds of rally fans, many with the tri-color flying lining the stage, McShea would tackle SS8 “South Mountain.” But, all was not well under the hood of the Mitsubishi. McShea’s car started to overhead and he was experiencing brake fade. For the first time in the event Travis Pastrana finally showed up and tied stage times with Andrew Pinker for the stage victory. In all honesty it was a massive feat for Pastrana to be even in the car, as he had just had knee surgery a few weeks back. L’Estage would take third and McShea would be a massive 13 seconds off the pace of Pastrana and Pinker.

Unfortunately, SS8 would claim Block and Gelsomino who had been running neck and neck with McShea. Block slide off the road and damaged a control arm, ending his rally.
Back at the final service of the day the concern in the McShea camp was obvious. It appeared that the water spray unit for the intercooler had failed, the exhaust had been damaged and the brake pads were steel on steel. It was all hands on deck as McShea rushed out to make the time control, more drama ensued! The exhaust had not been clipped in place correctly! In an instant Niall was under the car, made the repair and just about made the time control.
With only two stages remaining in the rally, even the Moose were holding their breath. With the uncertainty surrounding the condition of McShea’s car it was still all up for grabs. Anton L’Estage was a mere 15 seconds off McShea for the victory. Would we see the tri-color or the maple leaf fly on the final podium?

By the end of SS9 McShea had managed to hold the Canadian off by just one second, and Andrew Pinker in third by 6.9. Feeling more confident with the car McShea would throw caution to the wind and charge hard on the final stage, SS10 “Middle Dam Out.”
Niall would again roast the field, taking the stage win by almost 26 seconds over Andre Pinker, and whopping 50 seconds over Pastrana. Unfortunately, the only thing that Anton L’Estage would roast was his engine; he would not make it out of the final stage on his own power. McShea had claimed victory in his first US rally, and also claimed a place in the X-Games 14. Andrew Pinker would slot into second and the wounded Pastrana would claim the final spot on the podium.

Congrats all round, Joseph Burke congratulated Travis Pastrana on his podium finish, and likewise Travis gives Joseph the thumbs up on taking second in his class. Picture Neil McDaid

Early word is that McShea is going to pilot a partially backed Vermont Sports Car Subaru at the X-Games 14. Let’s hope he will find the additional sponsorship to make up the difference as he would surely be in mix for a medal.

Picture from Maine can be found here

http://AbhusAnseo.smugmug.com/gallery/5441329_wBWZR/1/332681364_CxXpW

Round six Rally America Championship

Pastrana Takes Top Spot in Maine
By Neil McDaid
New England Forest Rally - Newry Maine, July 13, 2007. Defending Rally America Champion Travis Pastrana gets back to his winning ways as he takes top honors in round six of the ‘07 Rally America Championship. It would be no easy victory for Pastrana as he was pressured all the way to the last stage by the defending Canadian Rally Champion, Antoine L’Estage.

Just two days before the rally a massive rain storm hit the Newry area, resulting in scattered flash flooding which took out some sections of road around the rally headquarters. Despite the damage to the main roads there was little or no damage to the forest stages.
The rally would get underway on Friday afternoon with a super special format run twice around the ball park in the town of Mexico. For the second year the rally organizers built a massive clay jump along the back straight of the ball field. It would give spectators and locals a great opportunity to get a ring-side seat to all the high flying action.

Amy shows the boys how it's done [photo Neil McDaid]

After some big air antics last year, most drivers were somewhat cautious over the jump with the exception, that is, of the only lady driver in the event. Amy BeberVanzo would charge the jump hard and launch her Mitsubishi high in the air. Speaking with Amy later in service she commented, “I gave it a little too much power.”
With the super special being only a half a mile long there was very little difference in times between the cars. Nonetheless, Travis would set the fastest time the first run through while his Subaru team mate Ken Block would claim the fast time on SS2.

SS 3-4, “South Arm,” was run as a turnaround stage. At 9.9 miles it would be first true test of the rally. With intermittent rain falling, Pastrana would push his #199 Subaru hard over slippery conditions. He was rewarded with fastest times on both SS3 & 4. L’Estage, in the aging Libra Racing Tiburon, would edge Ken Block out for second on both stages. Multiple time SCCA National Pro Rally Champion Paul Choiniere, in the second of the Libra Racing Hyundai Tiburon’s, would suffer a small fire on SS3, which resulted in his early departure from the rally.

The last stage on day-one, SS5 “Concord Pond,” was a redemption of sorts for Team Subaru driver Ken Block. On this same stage last year, Block had a big moment on this short 5.6 mile technical test that almost ended his rally. Obviously, the memory of last year’s off had little affect on Block as he and co-driver Alex Gelsomino charged the stage setting the fastest time. Just one second separated L’Estage and Pastrana for second and third.
At the end of day one it was Pastrana, L’Estage, Block and Matt Iorio in fourth. Seamus Burke, the top seeded Irish driver was just about holding onto fifth. Once again mechanical problems plagued the Donegal man. This time the gremlins had worked their way into the gearbox; the car was not staying in gear. Burke had to hold the car in fifth through the last two stages on Friday.
In a massive effort by Burke’s service crew, and a few helping hands, they managed to swap out the gearbox and get the car back to Parc Ferme. Unfortunately, the car was checked in a little later than the allotted time, for which Burke was given a two minute penalty.

Day one proved very challenging for Pinker [Photo Neil McDaid]

No joy either for Aussie Andrew Pinker. Pinker, who had just claimed a fine victory in round five of the championship in Pennsylvania in June, was definitely not having the same luck in Maine. 2 punctures along with some damage sustained from clipping a hidden rock slowed the charge of the very quick Jack Daniels sponsored car. At the end of the first day, Andrew found himself back in eighth place.

The River Valley Regional Rally, which was run in conjunction with the national event, would be contested over the first 5 stages on Friday. Mainer Christopher Duplessis would drive the door handles off his GTI Golf to take the overall victory besting out the more powerful all wheel drive cars along the way. John Cassidy and Dave Getchell would take second in their open class Subaru with the O’Leary brothers, Michael and John, taking third overall in their Mitsubishi.

On day two the rally would move west to Berlin, New Hampshire. SS6-7, “Dillon Success,” was again another turnaround stage.
Antoine L’Estage would attack hard on the opening stage on Saturday. His time on SS6 would be good enough for the stage win posting a time 5 seconds faster than Pastrana over the 15 mile test. Block managed third while maintaining his third overall position. Day two was proving to be no better for Andrew Pinker as he was some 29 seconds slower than L’Estage on SS6.
Despite the change of gear box Seamus Burke and co-driver Eddie Fries would park the Mitsubishi on SS6. Things were just not working correctly; sadly it was ‘game over’.
Otis Dimiters and Alan Ockwell, who had moved up from GPN to open class in a hope to be more competitive in their bid for an X-Games spot, also gave up the ghost on SS6 as they lost all gears in their Subaru STI.

A Roll on SS6 would also be the end of the rally for the up and coming team of Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson in the G5 Focus. Fortunately, they both walked away unharmed.
Drama ensued on SS7. Pastrana, running first on the road, would meet a course worker’s car as they tried to remove a lost sump guard not knowing that the stage had started. Pastrana and Edstrom followed protocol and stopped at the first radio point and stopped the stage. After some back and forth the stage was eventually cancelled. With mere seconds between the top three cars the rally would now be decided over “Middle Dam,” one stage road that would be run four times in slightly different configurations to make up SS,8,9,10 and 11.
Pastrana would show massive commitment to the notes as he carved a fine line through SS-8 in an effort to hold off the hard charging L’Estage. Most thought that L’Estage was in Maine to grab the last X-Games spot, but it was obvious by Antoine’s pace that he was gunning for the overall victory as a priority.
Block would struggle through SS-8 & 9 with his Subaru clearly down on power. Rolling in to the final service all three top cars were showing the strain of a tough Maine Rally. Pastrana’s car was spewing fluids, L’Estage was concerned about overheating, and Block would just like to get back on four cylinders.

Pressure all the way from L'Estage [Photo Neil McDaid]

In one final attack L’Estage would push the Tiburon to the max, taking fastest times on SS10 & 11. Despite his great effort it would not be enough to unseat Pastrana who took the overall rally victory by just 7.2 seconds. L’Estage’s podium finish in Maine unofficially secures him the wildcard spot at the second X-Games rally competition.
Despite Block’s problems on the final stages he had done enough early in the rally to secure third. Matt Iorio almost did not make it to the final control as his motor let go on the transit back to the finish. In a fine show of sportsmanship Andrew Pinker and Patrick Moro took turns pulling Iorio home to claim his forth place.
I am sure that Andrew Pinker would rather forget Maine but, nonetheless finishing in 5th keeps him in the championship running. Pinker stays just nine points ahead of Pastrana in the race to the championship. Ken Block’s third place finish leaves him just 12 championship points behind Pinker. With only three rounds left, it looks like this year’s championship is going to be contested right down to the wire.

The Bethel Rally, the second of the regional events, was run over the Saturday stages. It was won by Allen Downs and Bernhard Obry, a great result for them considering that they broke an axle on the practice stage forcing them to miss the Friday stages. Duplessis slid the wee Golf into second with John Cassidy claiming third.
Further down the overall leader board, Michael and John O’Leary would claim the top finish for the Irish in 21st overall. The O’Leary’s would also claim 4th overall in the Bethel Regional Rally which, in all was a great weekend for the Cork men.

In only his first outing, seventeen year old Joseph Burke, the son of Seamus Burke, managed to put his G2 Acura on the podium with a well earned 3rd in his class. Joseph pictured here with his co-driver for Maine Chrissy Beavis. [Photo Neil McDaid]

From here it’s off the X-Games in early August for Rally America’s top drivers. They will be joined by WRC Champ Colin McRae and a few mystery drivers yet to be named. For more details check out http://www.rally-america.com/

Additional pictures from the event will be posted to gallery soon!

PASTRANA TAKES FIRST-EVER RALLY CAR RACING GOLD AT
X GAMES 12
MCRAE ROLLS IT, RIGHTS IT, MISSES GOLD BY 0.52 SECONDS
Los Angeles – August 5, 2006 Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom won the first-ever X Games Rally Car Racing gold medal, but Colin McCrae may have stolen away the
signature moment from the debut final at The Home Depot Center.
McCrae, who entered Saturday’s “Super Special” ahead of Pastrana by 0.5 second
overall, appeared to be headed for the gold as he re-entered the stadium for the final
push to the finish line.

That’s when the car got loose on McCrae and co-driver Nicky
Grist and rolled over. True to his reputation as a rally car racing legend, McCrae didn’t
miss a beat, kept his foot on the pedal, and when the car landed back on its tires gunned
to a silver medal finish – missing gold by just 0.52 seconds.

Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino drove away with the bronze medal.
Even Pastrana, who also took home X Games gold on Friday night in the Moto X Best
Trick, had praise for McCrae following the competition.
“It’s an honor to be next to Colin McCrae,” said Pastrana. “I’m very surprised to have
won the first X Games rally car event. No words can describe it.
It’s been the best week of my life.

I’m so happy that rally racing has a presence in the X Games.”
McCrae, disappointed the gold got away from him, was still excited about Rally Car
Racing’s debut at X Games 12.

“It’s not the way I wanted to finish,” said McCrae, “But it was the best show we could
possibly put on here at X Games. I’m so happy to get the first X Games rally racing silver
medal.”

Block added, “It’s exciting to take the first X Games bronze and to be racing in the
presence of Travis Pastrana and Colin McCrae.”