When Ken Block Attacks, "There is no doubt! It will be flat out".

 

Newry Maine, July 23, It’s a simple stretch of road that a normal everyday person might drive on to get from “a” to “b” without taking much of a notice, it’s mostly a smooth gravel surface, with a few sections of “rough” broken asphalt, and just a few blind crests along the way. But for a few hours each year this simple quiet stretch of country road transforms into one of the most hotly contested Rally stages on the Rally American Championship calender.

In stage mode, its notorious for its flat-out, tree-lined twists and turns with numerous yumps and blind crests, it is “Concord Pond” the stage that Ken Block has claimed as his own. It is one of the shortest but most exciting stages on The New England Forest Rally.

Ken set about taking ownership of the stage in 2007, when the distance was slightly longer at 5.6 miles.

Since then, when he has contested the stage, Ken was untouchable, but while Block was off racing in the WRC in 2012, Canadian Antoine L’Estage would step up the plate in his Team RockStar/Mitsubishi reset the stage record.

Now, just so we have the facts straight, the stage has seen some modification in 2012,  Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino last attacked the stage in 2009 then setting the fastest time. The changes are not significant, but the distance is slightly shorter so there is 4-5 seconds of turns that have been shaved away.

The record for this short 5.38 stage that has a stark resemblance to some of the roads used on Neste Oil Rally Finland now stands at 4:08.0

Unlike in prior years when Concord Pond was the last stage on day one and drivers could hobble back to longer service  with a blown radiator or maybe say on three wheels due to hard landings or clipping bridges. This year this epic test with be the first stage of the rally, there is very little room for error.  

Drivers will have to consider if they will attack all out, or ease into the long two rally with a conservative run on Concord Pond.  They will have two of the longer stages in the rally coming up as SS4 and SS5 both at 16 miles plus following a short stage and service at Rally HQ.

If we were to ask any of the top drivers, with  the exception of a very few what was their plan for Concord Pond, most would bury their hands in the race suit pockets, look at the ground and kick some rocks, and most definitely dismiss its importance. But deep down they all want to dethrone Block on Concord Pond.

As for Ken, I have no doubt in my mind that he will be in his normal Concord Pond mode comes Friday morning the opening day of the 2013 New England Forest Rally. It also should be noted that Ken Block has to yet claim a victory at the New England Forest Rally. Ken needs a victory this weekend to keep any hopes of his first Championship title alive

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 The 2wd record belongs to Mainer Chris Duplessis, Chris will unfortunately not contest the rally this year, but you can be assures his stage time will be hunted down by a pair of hard Charging Aussies, Will Orders in a Toyota 86 and Brendan Kelly in an R2 Fiesta.
So again we say- "there is no doubt! It will be flat out".

Stay tuned!

For more information check out www.rally-america.com
Photos and Word: Neil McDaid /RallyWordNews

 

Rally America: Battle at The 100AW

Salem, Missouri. After the first four stages of the Rally In The 100AW 2013, Ken Block, who was faced with the daunting task of running first on the road, had somehow managed to open a 19 second lead on Subaru team driver David Higgins after the first leg of the rally. Unfortunately for Ken and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino their impressive drive on the very icy stages would be slowed by an off on SS6. Ken came over a blind crest less than a mile into the stage and hit a patch of glare ice, his Hoonigan Racing Fiesta collided with a large metal gate, proceeded to then take out an 18inch gate before mowing down several small trees before coming to rest in a rest in a farm yard some 6 feet below the road level. Block would have to miss the final stage of day one.  But, his crew has worked throughout the night to repair the car.  All going well Block will return for Day 2 under the super rally rule.

 

 

A very disappointed Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard, who had been running second on the road, would see the Rockstar energy sponsored Mitsubishi Evo X be sidelined with overheating issues after only 4 stages. Antoine had posted the fastest time on SS2, throwing down his marker on what could have been a great battle over the two days of competition.

 

Not the way David Higgins and Craig Drew would have liked to inherit the lead, but that’s rally and they will take it. Higgins eased into the rally conceding stage victories to Block, L’Estage and Burke before taking the stage victory on SS4. Heading into day two David is now faced with the task of running first on the road. They have over a four minute buffer to Joseph Burke who has now moved to second.

Despite being off the pace of the front runners, Privateer Joseph Burke in his “Snowwhite” Mitsubishi now finds himself in second overall with just over a minute buffer to Laughlin O’Sullivan in third. Burke would be well advised to not go chasing after Higgins over the unknowing conditions on day two but more focus on maintaining, if not adding to his cushion on Laughlin. Burke set the fasted time on SS3 the short but always spectacular Spectator Special in Potosi.

Scion Racing's driver Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP) and co-driver  Jeremy Wimpey have eased their Scion XD to a razor thin margin over Dillon Van Way in the Fiesta to lead the 2WD battle heading into day two. ACP has only a 14-second lead on Van Way setting up for a tight battle over the final ten stages of the rally.