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Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino make their return to Rally
In the 100 Acre Wood, much to the delight of the large crown of fans in attendance.
Photo: Neil McDaid
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Salem, Missouri. Ken Block
and Ford took a commanding overall victory at round two of the 2012 Rally
America Championship. Ford would also
enjoy success in 2WD class with Chris Duplessis bringing home his R2 Fiesta in first
after a tough battle over the two day rally.
This was Block’s first stage rally in the USA since 2010, as he and
co-driver Alex Gelsomino had been contesting in the WRC throughout 2011. It was
also a first outing for the 2012 Monster World Rally Team’s Ford Fiesta, a car that
is closely based on the most current WRC technology.
The stages for running of the 2012
Rally in the 100 Acre Wood [100AW] were quite possibly in the best condition
they have been in years. Stages at 100AW typically feature a considerable amount
of marble sized gravel, but for the most part they are very smooth and flowing,
not unlike conditions in Rally Finland. With limited spring rains the normally
bubbling brooks that cross many of the stage were low to nonexistent. But, put a
wheel off the line and cut too deep in the corners, drivers would find themselves
encountering larger rocks more than capable of claiming a tire.
The many regulars competing at
this year 100AW rally were joined by Polish
and European Rally Champion, Krzysztof Holowczyc. Unfortunately for the
wildly popular Polish driver his U.S. rally debut would get off to a rather
tough start with a blown engine in this hired Mitsubishi during testing. Despite
the setback the team worked through the night and had the car through scrutiny just
in time for the first stage. Holowczyc
would also have the challenging task of running first on the road, thus clearing
a path for Subaru driver David Higgins, Antoine L’Estage and then Block,
charging hard behind.
The standard 2 minute window was
granted to the first 5 cars on the stage, but with the dry conditions leading
up to the rally and barely a breeze, the fine white dust that can be notorious
in this event would eventfully factor.
It was quickly obvious that
despite the best effort in getting the car running for Holowczyc by his crew, the
Evo did not have the grunt it had prior to the failure. At 10.51 miles, SS1 “Ollie” was the longest
stage in the rally and is one of the fastest stages in the rally, if not the
championship.
Coming into the rally, Ken Block
made no bones about his intentions on making this number six in the win column in
his favorite rally. Not only did Block smash the stage record on SS1, he
bettered his nearest rival, Subaru Team driver David Higgins, by a whopping
12.9 seconds.
Perhaps carrying a little too
much momentum into the slightly tighter stage 2, Block would have what he described
as a “sixth gear moment” resulting in a high speed spin. In an instant Ken went
from being up by nearly 13 seconds after the first stage, to being down by 10,
and back to third, at the end of the second stage. But Block would charge back on SS3 and regain
the lead. Heading into the first service
of the rally Block had a mere 3 second advantage of 2011 100AW winner Antoine L’Estage
who held a 1 second advantage over Higgins in third.
After service, the crews would
repeat the first three stages in reverse direction, with a slight modification
on SS5 and SS6. SS4 would be the end of the line for the Rockstar Energy
sponsored Mitsubishi of Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard with
transmission issues. Block would go on to take stage victories on SS4-6. At the close of day one after 6 stages, Block
had opened an 18 second lead on Higgins.
With the departure of L’Estage, Krzysztof Holowczyc would move to third,
a distant 3 minutes adrift of Block. In 2WD Chris Duplessis was on pace to
repeat his top podium finish for Ford in his R2 Fiesta. Duplessis took stage
victories on 5 of the 6 stages, only losing out on SS5 to fellow Team O’Neill
driver Edward McNelly in another R2 Fiesta.
With the overnight reseed Block headed
into day two now running first on the road. Typically this would be seen as a
disadvantage on loose gravel stages like those seen on this year’s 100AW, but
Block charged ahead and stunned Higgins by taking the first stage victory by 15
seconds. Much like day one, Block would face his challenge on the second test
of the day, SS8. Ken would pick up a left front puncture about half way through
the 10.36 stage and opt to drive through rather than stopping and changing the
wheel. Again Block’s lead was erased.
Down by 8.4 seconds heading into
SS9, again Block would mount a full attach over SS9 and 10. As they stopped for
the first service on day two, Block had edged ahead of Higgins by 0.1
seconds. Chris Duplessis would see some
early pressure on day two from Scion driver Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP). Andrew
would take 2WD stage victories on 3 of the 4 stages before the mid-day halt.
Despite the push by ACP, Duplessis still held a commanding lead.
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With yet another flat tire on SS8 “Crazy Leo” Urlichich charges through the water crossing only to
retire on the next stage with a broken tie-rod. Photo: Neil McDaid
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Deeper in the
field, Canadian Rally Championship contender Leonid Urlichich, with co-driver
Carl Williamson, broke a tie-rod on stage 9 to end their top 10 run. Chinese
rally driver Rick Song, with co-driver Martin Brady, broke their engine on
stage 8 leaving the race in the ninth overall position.
The rally would head east to
Potosi for two back-to-back Super Specials. Up on one wheel at one point, Ken
Block thrilled the large crowd on hand taking victories on both runs through
the Super Special stages SS11 and SS12. Over stages 13-15 Block would continue
his dominance and put more distance between himself and Higgins. As the team’s checked
into the last service of the rally, Block was now 12.6 second up on Higgins. Despite some pressure from series regulars
Travis Hanson and Laughlin O’Sullivan, Krzysztof Holowczyc maintained his third
place standing and final podium position heading into the final stages.
With maximum illumination mounted
up front, it was into the night and the penultimate stage of the rally, SS16 Ollie’s
Camel. There is no question that this stage is a favorite of Block’s. With a gap of only 12.6 seconds, Block and
Gelsomino could not let up and they did not disappoint. Block set a blistering
pace through this blistering fast night stage. Slowed by some of that notorious white dust,
Higgins and Subaru had no answer for Block, dropping 14 second to the Fiesta.
With a short jaunt over the 4.79 miles of SS17, it was victory number six for
Ken Block at Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.
“I’m stoked about winning my
sixth Rally in the 100 Acre Wood,” said Block. “The battle against David
Higgins was intense on every stage. He’s the current Rally America champ and
one of the people who helped teach me how to race a rally car when I first got started,
so to finally compete against him on this level was great. I really enjoyed it.
I’m definitely looking forward to running against him again later this year in
Olympus.”
A somewhat disappointed Higgins
would have to settle for second for the second year in a row. A masterful drive
by Krzysztof Holowczyc, in what was clearly an underpowered car, netted him the
final spot on the podium.
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Chris Duplessis and Karl Atkinson heading toward yet
another podium finish in the R2 Fiesta. Photo Neil McDaid
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Chris Duplessis and Karl Atkinson
in the Fiesta R2 repeated their 2WD Class success with another first-place
finish after winning the season-opening Sno*Drift Rally in dominant fashion.
Andrew Comrie-Picard and Brian O’Kane pushed hard on the second day to snatch
second in class, besting third-place finishers Dillon Van Way and Jake Blattner
by a narrow 2.8 seconds! Maybe one of the more remarkable drives in 2WD came
from Edward McNelly in the Team O’Neill R2 Fiesta, in only his second outing on
the national circuit, McNally was in
podium position several times throughout the rally.
Crews now head west for the third
round of the Rally America National Championship which takes place at the
Oregon Trail Rally May 4-6 in Portland, OR.
Report /Photos: Neil McDaid / Rally World News
Sources: www.rally-america.com
