See you at...  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
the next round of the Rally America National Championship which is Olympus Rally in Olympia, WA on April 18 and 19, 2009.

Continuing updates are available between now and then on Rally-America.com - check back often!

Final Results for Rally in the 100 Acre Wood  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #43 Block / Gelsomino 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi has again won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. This is the fourth time that Block has won this rally. Following Block is as follows:

Car #20 Comrie-Picard / Durant 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutio finished 43.1 seconds back
Car #34 Foust / Beavis 2009 Mitsubishi Evo X finished 58.6 seconds out

Foust slowly made his way up the leaderboard as he was getting accustomed to his new car.

In Super Production, Car #46 Johnson / Wimpey 2003 Subaru WRX took the win. Johnson held 2nd throughout the day as Mirra, in his new Super P car flew. Mirra found the car much to his liking and said he felt more confident and comfortable in it than his 2008 Subaru that he has previously driven; He did however had a long stage time on SS14 that cost him several overall positions and the SP win. It was at the final stage that Johnson overtook him. Behind Johnson, the leaderboard is as follows:

Car #40 Mirra / Ringer 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi - a mere 3 seconds behind
Car #61 Wiktorczyk / Dorman 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi - .38 seconds behind

In 2 wheel drive, Car #54 Tuglu / Wilburn 2001 Ford Focus won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. Following Tuglu is as follows:

Car #600 Van Way / Knott 2002 Ford Focus - 6 minutes back
Car #724 McClelland / Price 1987 Toyota MR2 - 17 minutes back

Regional Rally Championship has been decided.  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Bragging rights and the Overall Regional Rally Champion will be Car #198 Gruszka / Wronski 2006 Mitsubishi EVO IX. The team won win with a margin of victory of more than 5 minutes over Car #110 Cassidy / Getchell 2003 Subaru WRX-STi for both the open and overall championships.

In Group 5, the first and only finishers in the class were Car #701 Miller / Miller 1995 Ford Mustang GT.

In Group 2, Car #319 Greenhouse / DeRose 1995 Plymouth Neon won the Group 2 championship in a very exciting and ever changing battle. The team had alternator problems last evening and were able to continue, but only after being imposed a 10 minute penalty. While being excited to continue, the team had heavy hearts about their chances of winning. Rally luck as it is, the team was able to secure the Group 2 win over Car #724 McClelland / Price by a mere 11 seconds. Following McClelland, was Car #687 Eixenberger / Luikart. Car 687 and 319 had hoped for a good battle this weekend, but Eixenburger finished 13 minutes back after he suffered his own troubles today.

Quick notes  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #44 Krolikowski / Krolikowski blew a turbo on SS12 and were unable to continue. This is the first time in a very long time that the husband and wife team have not finished.

Car #176 Mancin / Wislawski suffered through the morning with a bad turbo, but after the first service had the car dialed in and had subsequently gained several positions over the last stages.

Car #523 Hanson / Hanson have determined that the teething problems they are having with the new car are related to a final drive problem. The car was bought used and the assumption was made that the transmission was something that it turn out that it was not. The car has been rear wheel drive all event and is now getting no worse or better. Unfortunately, the team will also need to replace the motor as well - it has been using 1 quart of oil and ½ gallon of antifreeze every stage. “It is just teething problems, we will get them figured out,” stated driver Travis Hanson.

Wiktorczyk/Dorman hoping for a podium finish  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #61 Wiktorczyk / Dorman is running 44 seconds off of Car #46 Johnson / Wimpey. Wiktorczyk had hoped to be able to set comparable times to Johnson, but they have slowly lost time throughout the day; “at this point, we need to focus on a podium finish in Super P now, if we do, we will be leading the class in the championship and it will set us up well for the West Coast events and hopefully, the X Games” stated co-driver Dorman.

The team is ecstatic that they nearly won stage 9, where they were only 1/10 of a second off of ACP for the stage win.

The team reported that the early stages today had been lightly snow covered gravel, but they were anticipating more snow covered roads and subsequently, were planning to run on snow tires for the later stages.

Was that a Lagemann siting?  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Former Subaru factory driver and X Games competitor Ramana Lagemann was seen in the service area and spectating this weekend. Lagemann has not been seen since his X Games appearance three years ago.

We could not resist the urge to see if there was anything behind his reappearance in rally. “I am hoping but not hopeful about the prospects. There are a lot of things happening in rallying in the US and I would like to see things happen for rally as well as myself” stated Lagemann in a purposefully vague manner. It seems the possibility exists that we will see Lagemann around more often in the near future.

Photo courtesy of: Ramana Lagemann.

Conley/Rudolph running own rally  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #155 Conley / Rudolph not really focusing on times today - “we are just trying to survive this one. We want to go as fast as can, but not wreck the car.” The team has found that if they follow scores, that they will focus on that, instead at this event, they want to run their own race and finish - “to finish well will be a bonus” co-driver Rudolph stated.

McClelland very happy with car and crew  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #724 McClelland / Price 1987 Toyota MR2 are currently leading Group 2 in the Regional Rally Championship. Jim and Jon would like to thank their crew (Darlene, Scott Canon, and Aaron Taylor) for helping get the car to this spot and for getting them back on the road. The team is in it to finish.

Cars are delayed.  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
The weather has caused a delay in the start of SS15. At this point, it appears that the cars will be transiting the 15th and final stage of the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood 2009.

Phot courtesy of Beryl Ann Burton.

Cars are coming in to the last service  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
The snow has impacted tire choice. Some have chosen to continue on gravels, some on winters, and some have grooved their own.

One of the teams that chose to go on winter tires was Car #20 Comrie-Picard / Durant. Driver Comrie-Picard stated, "I made the right choice, just a service a early". ACP noted that some of the stages were snowy and others were not. With his winter tires, he swapped stage times with Car #34 Foust / Beavis all morning. The two are locked in a very tight battle for the second spot.

Once the cars go out, they will run the final two stages of the rally and will proceed to Salem for the champagne spray and awards banquet.

Car #243 Fox / Blattner having a solid run  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #243 Fox / Blattner are have a solid rally. Day 1 went well on stage on the fast, flowing roads of Missouri. The only surprise was a broken axle on the last transit. That was easily remedied by the All Wheels Drive service crew of Barrett Dash and Chris Blattner.

Day 2 is going well with the exception of the weather, which has turned from 65 of Wednesday to the 30s and snowy today - Such is Rally, says the team - "we will press on".

The Fox/Blattner team would like to thank White Oak Constructions, the National Guard, Ace Hardware, All Wheels Driven, Silverstone Tyres/Tabor Rally Team, and Surgeline Tuning for all the help prior to and during the event. The team would all like to give a shout out to all of their friends and family in the Northwest that are rooting for them! Rally On!

Caption Contest  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Subaru Rally Team USA and Rally America would like to announce a caption contest.

The rules are:
Go to the Rally America Forums and post your caption. www.rally-america.com/forums/index.php
The drivers and co-drivers of SRTUSA will be the judge.
A prize will be issued shortly - so don't dawdle in getting your caption posted!

Newest Rally Member  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Missy (short for Missouri) Piggy Roo "boost leak" Metcalf.

This puppy was mistreated in Missouri and with the right paperwork, will become a very happy resident of Canada.

She goes by the name Boost leak, because when she whines, well...she sounds like a boost leak.

Car #59 Moro / Rossey getting accustomed to Super Production car  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #59 Moro / Rossey is struggling to get accustomed to the anti-lag and differential controller that is allowed in Super Production; coming from Production class, Moro has not previously been able have these luxuries.

Currently, is setting in the 4th position is Super Production Class and 10th overall.

Will Car #110 Cassidy / Getchell leave here with unfinished business again?  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #110 Cassidy / Getchell had an interesting night. They struggled with a dysfunctional power steering pump that would work sporadically. One minute that had power steering, another they did not. The team struggled through the last 3 stages with this problem. During a particularly challenging section of stages where the power steering pump was dropping fluid onto a hot exhaust pipe, with the car filled with smoke, sparks were being thrown into the car. At this point, co-driver Dave Getchell noted to his driver there was a fire, who looked over, in a very low key manner, and said, “those are only embers, what is coming up?”

The team is about 3 minutes back at this point off rivals Car #44 Krolikowski / Krolikowski; While it is unlikely they will be able to make up that much time, they are quick to note that the positions were exactly reversed last year and they are in it for the fight!

Regional Rally Championship standings  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Currently, the leaders in each class in the Regional Rally Championship are as follows:

Open and Overall Car #44 Krolikowski / Krolikowski 2000 Subaru Impreza
Group 2 Car #687 Eixenberger / Luikart 1988 VW Golf
Group 5 Car #701 Miller / Miller 1995 Ford Mustang GT

Car #724 McClelland / Price trying to run clean today  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Car #724 McClelland / Price is running for national points here as well as the RRC. They were trying to run a penalty free event, but unfortunately they missed a note on the transit that caused them to be late to the start of SS5. By being late to the start of SS5, they were put behind several slower cars and have several cracks in the windshield because they were catching cars on stage. “Today, we are going to try and get through competitively without any trouble” stated driver Jim McLelland.

Tough weekend for Pastrana  - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Travis Pastrana had high hopes here for winning this event. He was quoted yesterday as saying "I am going to go fast enough until either I hit something or I beat Ken". Unfortunately for the team and himself, it was the former.

The car is sufficiently damaged such that they will not be continuing on today, much to the chagrin of many fans.

Winning here again...  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #43 Block / Gelsomino 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

Quick notes from the first few stages  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #93 Olson / Ketelsen are having fun and have moved up 4 spots overall to 9th. Their goal is to keep improving and get more seat time.

Car #125 Wilburn / Crescenti had a small fire coming into the final MTC tonight. It was subsequently put out and they have continued on.

Car #523 Hanson / Hanson is having tuning issues in addition to their differential controller issues. "I am frustrated - we are down on power, and the car is misfiring" stated driver Travis Hanson.

Car #61 Wiktorczyk / Dorman shooting for a good finish (ahead of Johnson/Wimpey)  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #61 Wiktorczyk / Dorman 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi were struggling early with trying to find speed early in the stages today. "We just couldn't find the focus" stated co-driver Dorman.

The team is not trying to catch Mirra, who is clearly flying here; they are trying to stay competitive with Car #46 Johnson / Wimpey. "We are running very similar times to Johnson, we would like to continue doing that - it is a very doable and would bode well for our SP championship and X Games goals" Dorman went on to say.

Conleys are here  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #155 Conley / Rudolph is here to finish. He is one of only two group 5 cars in the field.

Car #477 Conley / Bandel are here in Nathan and Brandy Conley's Subaru that they had their bad crash at Pikes Peak in. This is the first event back for the car.

Nathan and Brandy are spectating at this event. This is the first time we have seen them since their crash - Nathan has been cleared by the doctor to race and Brandy's clearance should be quickly forthcoming. Details of their crash are at www.rally-america.com/story.php

Additional notes  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #510 Scray / Vickman 1972 Datsun 510 had a solid run on the first two stages. The Datsun 510 is in 13th overall in the Trespassers Wil Regional rally and 4th in Group 2.

Car #687 Eixenberger / Luikart and Car #319 Greenhouse / DeRose are squaring off here for the Group 2 Regional Rally Championship. Last year, the stage was set for a Group 2 Regional Rally Cup battle between Eixenberger and Greenhouse. These are two very evenly matched teams and they expect a close race. "Chad is very good on the fast stages and he will be a real challenge for us" stated Greenhouse. Keep a close eye on stage times this weekend as they take aim on the Group 2 RRC.

Car #523 Hanson / Hanson had the car on jacks at the first service. The were checking the differential controllers. They seemingly are suffering from niggling problems. Unfortunately, the differential controller will cause the "limp engine" code to engage; causing power issues as well.

Car #110 Cassidy / Getchell is here with unfinished business. The team won 9 out of 12 stages last year in the RRC, but lost due to a speeding penalty that carried with it a 2.5 minute penalty. They are looking for redemption and for a great battle with Car #44 Krolikowski / Krolikowski.

Car #199 Pastrana / Edstrom off  - Friday, February 27, 2009
No further details are available at this time. Co-driver Christian Edstrom called in to net control to let them know that they are off and all are ok.

Pastrana stated earlier that he really wanted to beat teammate Ken Block and planned on going as fast as necessary to so. Up to SS4, Pastrana was very close to Block, on stage 4, he went a little wide on a corner and bounced to the other side. They are being listed as a DNF.

Scores will be delayed...  - Friday, February 27, 2009
The RA truck needs to move back to the headquarters location in Salem, MO which is a 1.75 hour trek. As such, the scores will be delayed in getting posted.

Stay tuned later for updates!

Quick notes from the first few stages  - Friday, February 27, 2009
Car #40 Mirra / Ringer was reported as being on the back bumper of Car #59 Moro / Rossey at the finish of SS2. Mirra is clearly very fast today.

Car #724 McClelland / Price reported that they are set and ready to go after a flat tire on the practice stage yesterday. Despite not having any suspension damage as a result of the tire, the team did replace the suspension.

Car #61 Wiktorczyk / Dorman - "The roads of 100aw are awesome as always. Smooth, fast and flowing - just incredible. It is good to get on gravel again. I'm hoping to have a good event with Greg and will try for top position in SP. I'm really excited to race against guys like Matt Johnson, Pat Moro and Dave Mirra. This should be very good!" stated Wictorczyk.

Rally in the 100 Acre Wood 2009 is Underway  - Friday, February 27, 2009
The 2nd round of the Rally America National Championship is underway.

In addition, this event is special because it is also the RRC's - the Regional Rally Championships.

As with all national events, two regional rallies - Trespasser's Wil and 100AW Regional Rally's will run concurrently with Rally in the 100 Acre Wood 2009.

The 100 Acre Wood Rally is known as one of the most scenic events of the Rally America Season. Named after the storybook home of Winnie the Pooh, the 100 Acre Wood Rally is a picturesque race with enough twists and turns to test every driver's ability. Set in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri this race is always a favorite due to its pristine surroundings and fast, tight roads. Although you won't see Winnie the Pooh or any of his friends, you will see some of the best rally driving on some of the best rally roads in North America.