Subaru Rally Team USA(SRT USA) driver Travis Pastrana put an authoritative stamp on his fourth consecutive Rally America National Championship(RANC) with a dominating win at the 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR) , round nine and final round of the series which was held from 16-17 October.
Pastrana mathematically won this year's RANC at the Ojibwe Forests Rally in late August. With nothing to lose and no pressure, Pastrana entered LSPR stating he was intent on simply driving to dominate, taking risks and putting on a proper show for the fans. He lived up to his claims by leading from the start at the wheel of his 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car and finishing fastest on fifteen of LSPR's seventeen stages. Pastrana won by a comfortable margin of over four minutes. The win at LSPR is Pastrana's 6th of the nine-event 2009 Rally America National Championship and caps the most successful season of his rally career. Pastrana's Subaru teammate Ken Block finished in third position overall and won the Super Production class.
"I drove flat out, took some risks and had a lot fun," explained Pastrana at the podium ceremony. "Christian [Edstrom] and I wanted to win as many stages as possible and really show how fast we can go, its definitely a different strategy when the points and the championship don't matter!"
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Ken Block entered LSPR in a Super Production (SP) Class 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The production-based, minimally modified, Subaru stood in as a replacement for Block's usual Open Class STI rally car which sustained heavy damage in a crash at the Ojibwe Forests Rally. Block performed well to wring out all he could from the car and achieved a podium result, a rarity for a Super Production class car amongst the more powerful Open Class specification vehicles. In the latter stages of Day 1, Block found himself having to measure his pace as his car began showing signs of engine trouble. Block backed off considerably but was still able to handily win the Super Production class overall as well as finish in third position overall.
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