Lewiston, MI, January 29th 2011: Cline Racing Sports / Exedy Rally Team own, Evan Cline and Grzegorz Dorman piloted their 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX to a 14th place overall and 6th place in Super Production class during the opening round of the Rally America National Championship Series presented by RallyCar, Sno*Drift Rally.

Cline commented: “As a team we gained a lot of experience during this difficult event. I even thought this was our very first ride together with Greg and we seemed to be working great in the car and only expect to improve from here on through the season”. Team would like to thank local businessman Jeff Evans and his wife for having the team as a guest in their heated garage in Lewiston, MI. Jeff, owner of local business in Lewiston, MI, AMI Industries.

Cline Racing Sports next event will be at 100 Acre Wood Rally based in Salem, MO on February 25th and 26th, 2011.

Gymkhana is a motor sport where a driver negotiates a complex designed course with obstacles such as, cones, tires, barrels and K-rail, with 180 degree spins, parking box maneuvers, figure 8s, and other advanced skills. Two side-by-side courses are set up to provide for head-to-head competition between two cars.

Mohan’s next event is the fifth round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship, next weekend, August 20-21 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

EXEDY's Vaughn Gittin Jr. takes 2nd place

Before the weekend’s intense competition, Vaughn participated in the annual “Throttle Thursday” hosted by Gary Gardella and X Games BMX Gold medalist Scotty Cranmer. Vaughn took Scotty for a ride-along in his Mustang at Wall Stadium on Thursday afternoon, allowing him to get a good feel for another type of action sport. Later that evening, Formula Drift drivers and teams were invited out to the Incline Club – a skate, bike, and scooter park owned by Cranmer – to have some fun and watch some professional BMX demos. The event was a great way to bring together different action sports communities and allow the Formula Drift drivers to have some fun before the busy weekend.

Vaughn qualified in 5th place on Friday and was set to match Robbie Nishida in the battle of the top 32 on Saturday’s main event. After a fan-filled autograph session and a final night practice, Vaughn was ready to do battle on game day.

On Saturday, Vaughn dominated his way through Robbie Nishida in the top 32, as well as Falken Tire teammate Tyler McQuarrie in the top sixteen. Vaughn was paired with Drift Alliance brother Justin Pawlak, driver of the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang, in the top eight. After two strong runs from both Mustang drivers, it was apparent that Vaughn had the advantage over Justin and would be moving on to the final four.

Vaughn was faced with two-time Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust in the final four. Vaughn led first, with a high line on the bank. Tanner tried to mimic his high line, causing him to hit the wall and disrupt his drift. Vaughn maintained his line, angle, and speed throughout the course as Tanner struggled to keep up. Vaughn gave chase next, and kept close to Tanner throughout the course. The advantage was given to Vaughn, and he would move on to an automatic podium position.

It was déjà vu for Vaughn when he was matched up against Falken Tire teammate Daijiro Yoshihara in the finals – as the two had battled for 1st place at Round 2 in Atlanta a month earlier. During the final battle of the night, the Falken RT615-K tire smoke filled Wall Stadium during two amazing runs from both competitors. After the smoke cleared, Dai had once again been deemed the winner of the battle and the event. Vaughn would finish the night in 2nd place, rounding out his third consecutive podium of the 2010 Formula Drift season.

After three rounds of Formula Drift, Vaughn remains the Championship points leader; 21 points ahead of Dai in 2nd place, and 63 points ahead of Tanner in 3rd place. He moves into the northwest next for Round 4 July 9-10 at Evergreen Speedway, where he hopes to keep his podium streak alive while maintaining his Championship points lead.

“It’s a great result,” said Comrie-Picard, “everything went according to our strategy and the win is an important one at this point in the season. It’s great that the car, the team, and our partners are all working so well.”

Comrie-Picard and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey, in their NOS Energy Mitsubishi on BFGoodrich tires, started off the three-day event with a strong performance at Portland International Raceway and took a narrow lead into the first night over rivals Ken Block (Ford/Pirelli), Dave Mirra (Subaru/BFGoodrich), and Antoine L’Estage (Mitsubishi/Yokohama).

Early on the second day of competition, in the Hood River region of Oregon, Block set two fastest times and briefly overhauled Comrie-Picard for the lead, but on the next stage rolled the car and was unable to continue. The same corner had claimed Mirra with a roll earlier in the day. L’Estage cracked a wheel and dropped back in the field but was able to claw back to third place overall by the end of the competition.
William Bacon, in a Mitsubishi Evolution similar to Comrie-Picard’s, put in a steady and fast drive with no major problems to finish second, 44 seconds off the winning time.

“We just went out with a pace in mind and stuck to the plan,” said co-driver Wimpey, “we pushed a bit on the first night to get the lead then paced ourselves for the next two days to be where we needed to be at the end.”

The event included a wide variety of road characters and surfaces, from tarmac and mixed tarmac stages on Friday, to twisty, technical, and rough gravel stages on Saturday, to very fast, smooth, and silty stages on Sunday. Hot weather tested the endurance of cars and teams.

The result vaults Comrie-Picard past Block and into to a tie for fourth place with Dave Mirra in the Rally America Championship.

EXEDY's Andrew Comrie-Picard wins at Oregon Trail Rally

Having no such problems was the No.99 Mazdatrix / Nexen Mazda RX-7 Turbo II of Kyle Mohan. While the team did encounter some problems early in the weekend in testing, the Mazdatrix crew was able to quickly fix the car and have it ready for the timed sessions on Sunday afternoon. Having never previously visited the road course at Las Vegas, and competing in only his third Redline Time Attack event, Mohan wanted as little down time as possible as he found more speed with each practice session.

In Sunday’s timed sessions, Mohan was able to lay down a laptime of 1:50.16, good enough for second place in the Drift class – earning his second podium in Redline Time Attack and the first one for Mazdatrix and Nexen Tires. While several other cars were unable to take part in the timed sessions due to failure, Mohan’s RX-7 – and the Mazdatrix-built 13B engine in it – ran flawlessly throughout the day.

“I’m really happy to get a good result for everyone at Mazdatrix and Nexen Tires,” said Mohan following the event. “This was also our first weekend on the new Nexen N9000 tires and they worked really well on our car. The engine and setup in this car has been the same since it last competed in Formula Drift in the 2008 season, and it is still essentially a drift car so we are happy with the performance that we are getting out of it. Now we plan on dialing it in for a win very soon.”

The next event for Mohan will be the second round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship, which will be held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on May 7-8, while the next Redline Time Attack event will be the weekend of May 28-29 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

EXEDY Sponsored - Kyle's Mazda RX-7

EXEDY Sponsored - Vaughn Gittin Jr's Ford Mustang & Rhys Millen's Hyundai Genesis

Coming out to the track on Friday, I could not have been any more excited to get into the Mustang and tear up the Streets of Long Beach. Being only the second time that I drove the new car, getting some practice was much needed. Right off the trailer the car felt great; I was able to find my line that put me right up against the walls and the new Mustang chassis paired up with the new Falken RT615-K tires gave me the grip I needed to carry good speed throughout the entire course. I was having so much fun!

Going into qualifying, I just ran the same line that I had practiced all day and was able to put down a score of 84.7 on my second run that put me in third place overall. This paired me up to go with Dennis Mertzanis the following day in the top 32 round.

Saturday was a sold-out event and you could definitely tell by the amount of fans that filled the stands and walked the pits. The vibe at this event every year is electric. It seemed like there was always a crowd surrounding the Mustang. The response to the Monster Energy/Falken Tire Ford Mustang has been huge.

I was all set to go up against Dennis in the top 32. I put down a solid leading run – mimicking the same line, speed, and angle as I had all weekend – and put the pressure hard on him when following. I got the win and would be moving on to face a fellow Mustang driver, Tony Brakohiapa, in the top sixteen.

Moving on the top 16, I led first and ran my qualifying run; unfortunately, while trying to follow my line coming into turn 9, Tony backed it into the wall just out of the first turn. When following, I ran on him pretty hard. He drove great; however, I was able to stay on his door pretty tight throughout the course. I was awarded the win and moved on.

It was in the Great Eight that I met my Drift Alliance bro, Ryan Tuerck, for a battle. Our runs were close and probably would have gone to a one-more-time, except that Tuerck straightened up after tapping the wall at the first outer zone. Tuerck is such a good driver and a great friend; I really enjoy running with him as there are no games – just go out and drive the best you can. I was so happy to be moving into the Final Four!

EXEDY Presents checks to the winners Vaughn Gittin Jr & Rhys Millen

What an amazing week it has been. First with the announcement of my new partnership with Monster Energy, then reveal of our new competition car at an awesome party at the Fantasy Factory, and now winning Round One. Everything has fallen into place after months of hard work, and with the season starting on such a good note, I can’t wait until Atlanta. Thank you all for the support; you are an integral part to my success and I sincerely appreciate it!

The 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI with EXEDY racing clutch

His Subaru Rally Team USA teammate, BMX legend turned rally pro Dave Mirra, finished 6^th overall with co-driver Derek Ringer.

The Sno*Drift Rally was held on over 130 miles of snow and ice-covered roads in northern Michigan. Constantly changing weather and road conditions historically make this rally extremely challenging. This year’s event featured forest roads that were a virtual skating rink after recent warm weather melted the snow cover which then refroze this past week, leaving the roads covered in a thick sheet of ice. Rally America rules prohibit the use of spiked or studded ice-tires, placing a high premium on traction.  Many competitors commented that conditions were the most treacherous they have ever experienced due to the lack of snow cover over the ice as well as the extremely small snow banks, which when present, help keep errant rally cars on the road and away from the trees.

Pastrana led from the second stage and never looked back, advancing his lead to nearly fifty-five seconds after only the first of two days of competition.  With a healthy lead in-hand, Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom spent the second day focusing on a safe and conservative driving strategy but were still able to extend their lead even further, eventually winning by one minute and thirty-seven seconds over former Canadian Rally Champion Antoine L’Estage.  Thirteen of the event’s twenty stages were won by Pastrana.

“I drove as smoothly as I could because my shoulder was so sore,” said Pastrana at the finish. “We didn’t put a wheel wrong all weekend and really the key to the victory was the perfect setup of my Subaru for the conditions.  It enabled me to stay calm, smooth and mistake-free.”  Pastrana had broken his collarbone last Sunday during a motocross ride and had to undergo surgery this week to plate it back together before he could drive.

”Travis really put in one of his best driving performances given his recent injury and the very challenging stage conditions at this year’s Sno*Drift Rally,” acknowledged James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc.  “An incredible effort by our team helped support our winning result, from the car preparation and development made by the staff at Vermont SportsCar to the time dedicated in testing and car setup performed by Dave [Mirra].  Our team cars, based on the 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, maximized traction via their Subaru symmetrical all-wheel drive systems even in these slick roads.”

EXEDY supplies Subaru Rally Team USA with high performance racing clutches

Subaru Rally Team USA heads next to the second round in the Rally America championship, the 100 Acre Wood Rally, scheduled on February 26 – 27 in southern Missouri.

“This is a terrific result, especially given that we were working on developing the new rally car throughout this first competition season for the Evolution X,” said Comrie-Picard. “But our sponsors and our team came through and we won a very tight championship race.”

A late-season push, including a win at Rally Colorado and a second-place finish at the Rally of the Tall Pines, sealed the driver’s title for Comrie-Picard. Co-driver Jeremy Wimpey joined the team to secure both of these top finishes.

ACP wins the North American Rally Championship

The season-ender was unusually dry and warm and made for very fast speeds and intense competition. Fans and media at the contest noted Comrie-Picard’s aggressive driving throughout the event — which saw him tearing off bumpers, bending bodywork, and even taking out a finish board — in contrast to his normally tidy style.

“We told ACP to win the championship or leave it in the woods,” said crew chief Eric Vlasic. “He actually did leave some of the car in the woods, but he brought in the championship!”

“We had this car wide-open the whole time,” added Comrie-Picard. “I just wasn’t lifting in most corners or over crests and fortunately, the Ohlins TTX shocks were amazing, the Yokohama tires took the super-high sideloads at 200 km/h (120 mph), and our K&N filter kept the engine safe even through some deep water splashes.”

The team is already preparing for 2010 and looks forward to defending the championship and competing at the X Games for a fifth time. The NOS Energy Drink motorsports team has had an exceptionally successful year, winning four major racing titles: the North American Rally Championship, the Formula Drift Championship, the Redline Time Attack Series, and the NASCAR Nationwide series.

ACP and the EXEDY sponsored Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

Pastrana's Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Pastrana’s Subaru teammate Ken Block, with co-driver Alex Gelsomino, finished in third position overall and won the Super Production class.

The Lake Superior Performance Rally is headquartered in Houghton, at the northern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  The rally is revered by rally drivers for its difficult conditions, which typically include high speeds on tree-lined roads with variable weather making stages a white-knuckled affair.  Adding to the challenge are over seventy miles of night stages where visibility can be in short supply.

“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!”

Pastrana’s goal of winning all of the event’s seventeen stages was interrupted only by former Canadian Rally Champion Antoine L’Estage who narrowly beat Pastrana on two stages on the first day of competition.  Pastrana went on to win all eight competitive stages on the second and final day of LSPR cruising to a victory of over four minutes.

Pastrana wins the 2009 Lake Superior Performance Rally

“It’s sometimes difficult to believe that Travis only began his rallying career a few short years ago,” said James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc.  
“In that time, he has really developed into a devastatingly quick and well-rounded driver who can also maintain a consistent pace and provide the team with sufficient feedback to maximize car set-ups.  Achieving four consecutive Rally America national titles is quite a testament to Travis and his co-drivers, the strength of Subaru’s technical partner in Vermont SportsCar, and performance from  our Subaru Impreza WRX STI.”

Pastrana’s Subaru teammate 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.