It was a good weekend if you were driving a Mitsubishi EVO at the Rally America Oregon Trail Rally held in The Dalles, OR and not such a great weekend if you weren’t. Three EVOs swept the podium with ACP (Andrew Comrie-Picard) taking 1st place in his NOS Energy Drink EVO, followed by William Bacon in 2nd and Rally America points leader Antoine L’Estage in 3rd.
ACP took the win at this year's Oregon Trail Rally
ACP had a substantial lead at the start of the final day of the rally and coasted to his first victory of the year. Bacon decided to focus on maintaining his position ahead of L’Estage instead of chasing ACP in hopes of making up some ground in the points standings. L’Estage battled back to 3rd after suffering mechanical issues early on day 2 and dropping to 17th position, claiming stage wins on every stage on the final day of the event. L’Estage maintains a lead in the Rally America points standings, followed by Bacon just 8 points behind. The reigning Rally America champion Travis Pastrana is in 3rd in the points standing after sitting this event out, as he was tied up with previous commitments with Nitro Circus.
Bill Bacon took 2nd place in his EVO at the Oregon Trail Rally
It was a rough weekend for a few other drivers. After claiming his first podium at the previous event, Dave Mirra rolled his Subaru World Rally Team STi near the beginning of Stage 6 and was forced to retire. After suffering mechanical issues at the Olympus Rally, Ken Block rolled his Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta on Stage 8 and was also forced to retire from this event as well. “Looking at the turn again after our roll, I realized my recce notes for this turn were too optimistic. We were carrying way too much speed when we hit a rather loose section causing the car to understeer, I corrected to try to keep us on the road and next thing you know, I was seeing sky, ground, sky. This is just part of the learning process in adjusting the paces notes to allow me to drive at the limit between safe and recklessly flat-out,” said Block.
Antione L’Estage and Nathalie Richard on stage eight, in the Oregon Trail Rally Saturday afternoon.
For full coverage and results visit the Rally America website. The next event is June 4th & 5th, Susquehannock Trail Rally, in Wellsboro, PA.
