Can Travis Pastrana be stopped? Judging by his driving in the Rally Car Racing event on Sunday, the answer’s no. Travis dominated the event, slipping by a competitor or two and KO’ing the rest to take the gold. On top of that, there was drama and crashes and close battles to make this year the most exciting Rally Car Racing event yet. Read on.
The format for Sunday’s final was the same as last year, which was a good thing because it’s damn fun to watch. Two rally cars hit the course at the same time, starting out side by side before parting ways to attack two separate courses in and around the Home Depot Center. At the halfway point the cars would re-enter the stadium then make a killer crossover via a 70-foot plus jump inside the stadium. The first to cross the finish line progressed to the next round of the elimination-style event.
That jump is where most of the action and drama went down. For a lot of drivers, this was the first time they’d even jumped a rally car, let alone try to race and jump at the same time. We saw bent front ends, some hard slams, and even an engine catch fire from an especially bad slam. Dave Mirra, who looked solid and KO’ed a few fierce drivers, came in a little hot over the jump and slipped off the course, getting caught in a bank… he’ll be back.
Ken Block, who’s certainly no stranger to jumping rally cars (note the 171 footer for “Stunt Junkies” and him on the cover of this month’s “Racer X”), even succumbed to the jump. He slightly overjumped it, coming down on his front end and cracking his radiator. He finished and won the race, but...
… next up Ken was slotted to go against Travis Pastrana. Both guys were really looking forward to the battle… they always seem to have a pretty friendly competitive spirit as DC-slash-SRT USA teammates and good friends. But after Ken slammed in the previous heat his radiator was done. He pulled up to the line with hot engine and his crew yelling “Don’t let it stall!” That’s when ESPN announced commercial break… three minutes to start. 180 seconds is long time to sit idling with no radiator, so Ken had two choices: sit there idling with no radiator (no good), or shut off the Subi and try to restart it right before the race. He chose the latter, and when he tried to restart two minutes later he got nothing back from his car. He sat at the line as Travis sped away and cruise to the semi win. There was nothing Ken could do.
Travis went on to the finals, beating Tanner Faust in a great battle. Serving as co-driver for Travis was Bosley, who subbed in after his usual co-driver Jim DeChamp broke his back in Moto X Best Trick. Bosley was the co-driver for the late great Colin McRae, so her winning the gold with Travis this year was emotional and pretty amazing. Sharing the final podium spot(s) were Ken and Dave, bagging some bronze before hauling their cars off the course. What an incredible end to a great weekend and X Games 14.
