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GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG: The Wild Story of Ken Block’s ’22 Rally Racing Title Chase

Mar 26, 2024
Sometimes you gain much more from a failure than from a victory. It would be very easy to walk away and not go out and get the result. We have done this before. We won and we crushed it again. It was one of those accidents that mark you mentally. Oh, fuck. There are two of us in that car. I have someone else's life in my hands. When in doubt, full steam ahead. Move forward regardless. Go

fast

,

risk

every

thing. These are terms you hear a lot in

rally

ing, because

rally

ing is a very, very different type of motor sport.
go fast risk every thang the wild story of ken block s 22 rally racing title chase
You won't take the same curve over and over again. It is a driving style that is rewarded, but also severely punished. It's what makes the rally great. It's also what makes rallying extremely frustrating as a driver, co-driver or as a team, because you have to drive at that absolute limit that may be different for you and for the person who is maybe 30 seconds behind you. This will be the

story

of why going

fast

and

risk

ing

every

thing sometimes puts you on top and other times leaves you at the bottom. So enjoy the next eight races in the

story

of Ken's journey to the top, to the bottom, back to the top and see how it ends.
go fast risk every thang the wild story of ken block s 22 rally racing title chase

More Interesting Facts About,

go fast risk every thang the wild story of ken block s 22 rally racing title chase...

Ken Block, the shoe magnate turned rally car driver. That's what the first story said about him. He did not start competing in rallies until he was 36 years old. That's usually the age at which most people retire from rallying. Unfortunately for him, he's been behind the ball since day one. The only thing he has is the commitment to just get by and that's a big part of what made Ken who Ken is. Well, the biggest challenge I encountered when I started working with Ken is that he is an extremely busy person. You know, when we met, he was actually still wearing DC Shoes.
go fast risk every thang the wild story of ken block s 22 rally racing title chase
Alex Gelsomino is probably the only sensible person in the rally car with Ken. Rally is all I know. He has taught me everything I know. I never learned anything in school. Don't tell that to the children. Alex is a big part of why the team wins when they do. People who arrive at an event after a day and need to use the laundry service, what the hell is that all about? Derek Dauncey is one of the best people in the world. Hands down. Dear Dad, as we like to call him. 2006 was our first year working with Derek and he has been our team manager ever since.
go fast risk every thang the wild story of ken block s 22 rally racing title chase
He's the one who has the strategy and without Derek, we wouldn't be here. I think Derek is the most important person on the team. Sorry Ken. Travis Pastrana is a psychopath. Absolute. He is someone I have a lot of respect for. His talent is incredible. Yes, Travis and Ken have been competing against each other since the beginning. Brandon Semenuk is a professional mountain biker turned rally car driver. And to be honest, when he first came into the sport, I don't know if anyone really took him seriously, but now he's a real contender. I can't say much, but what I know is that he is a very fierce competitor and has allowed Ken and I to take a step forward this year.
So even though I don't know much about him, I'm grateful to have him in the championship. Unfortunately, the decision on what he would ride in 2022 came very, very late. The Subaru was a great race car. Vermont SportsCar offers a great package, but it didn't necessarily feel like the right fit for me. I've been in shorter wheelbase cars most of my career, and the Subaru is a bigger, longer car. As we narrowed it down, only a couple of them became very obvious. So we ended up with a Hyundai i20 WRC car run by a company called 2C Competition from France.
Hyundai i20 WRC. Such an amazing machine. It's something that, for a co-driver's career, a driver's career, is definitely a highlight. Hyundai has been really committed to the WRC over the last five years, running a factory team in the World Rally Championship at the highest level, so they make a Rally 1 car, which is the highest level, and a from Rally 2, which is the second. level, and at the highest level they have obtained, in the last five years, 41 victories, 104 podiums and two manufacturers'

title

s as well, so they have been killing it. Okay, so what makes the Hyundai i20 WRC the perfect car for Ken?
Well, first of all, it's small and agile. Look, this is the driving style Ken likes. He likes a car that he can turn, position sideways and have a lot of confidence in its position on the road. And not only is it a WRC level car, but it is a modern WRC. It has a big arrow, which means it's a full commitment car, but to make it legal here at ARA, it had to go through some modifications. The first one has a little less power. It works with a 34 thousandths restrictor on the turbo; Less air coming in means less power.
On top of that, the folks at ARA added an additional 200 pounds of ballast to slow this bad boy down. We knew that it is possible to be competitive here because there is a WRC car that is currently competing in the US Championship, but it actually has a bigger engine, a 2-liter engine. So we knew that all these cars run at approximately the same level, at the same speed, although they are all quite different. That's why we think that the Hyundai WRC car, even with the 1.6-liter engine, could be competitive. But it was a mystery how competitive it would really be.
So for me, coming into this championship in 2022 with this, you know, WRC car which is actually, you know, 400cc less than Barry's Fiesta, but 700cc less than that Subaru, so you take my car more a sports bike, and you have the Subaru. We think this will work, but we don't know. There's just one big question. We won't know until we're on the stages competing against these other high-spec cars. We will find out very soon. 100 Acre Wood is in central Missouri. It is known for its very fast stages, its grip and its very consistent surfaces. The story of the 100 Acre Wood team is probably the best.
Ken and I have won the rally seven times and I think six wins in a row. 100 Acre Wood was an event where, unfortunately, we weren't able to do as much testing as we wanted to because the car arrived late from Europe. We saw a certain lack of professionalism in the transportation industry, which led us to basically show up to the 100 Acre Wood trials without a container. Dude, where is my car? -Where is your car, friend? And we got the car the night before the test started and we had to wrap it. It's one of those things and no one really saw what was going on in the background.
But it's like a swan. Everything looks great above, but below, everyone was pedaling like crazy. I need to rev the car up, make sure it's running and keep it in excellent condition because we race only a couple of days after this test so I can at least start the first stage semi comfortable. And everything became even more difficult when we had a small accident in the test. The worst thing that could happen in this test was it happened, like going down a hill with wheels, and it's just a quick little section, and suddenly I'm sideways into a tree with my rear end.
It wasn't Ken's fault, it was impossible to get around the corner and he just ripped the rear right corner off the car. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but looking at the tire, it looked like it had some damage. It had deflated and I didn't know it. So he threw us sideways against this tree. When the team showed up and they just looked at me and said, "It's over." And now we are in a major rebuild of the car. Alright, this is the situation. The team is in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. It's not exactly the capital of motorsports parts for rally cars, and this is a new car, which means we don't have backup parts.
So right now the team is trying to locate a container that's supposed to have all the parts we need to get Ken back. I think the technical definition is screwed. Long story short, we were driving down the highway at a legal speed to try to intercept a container coming toward us, knowing that if we went 40 minutes one way we could be faster than he was driving back. That's how desperate we got. A lot of paddling with your feet underneath. A calm, but exhausting exterior. The car is repaired, the team was able to perform a miracle to prepare the car to run 15 miles of testing.
So the first few kilometers of today's stage will be the first real test of the car after having it reassembled, but it is what it is. Thanks to our knowledge of the roads and stages we were able to compensate and found ourselves leading the rally at the end of the first day. The advantage continued until the second day. The truth is that we are doing very well. Confidence was quite high. The lead at that point is about 45 seconds. Unfortunately we ran into a deer three miles from the end of the event. Wow! S***! Right after we hit the deer, what's going through my head is that we only have three miles left and I'm thinking we can do it.
We can limit the damage here. And a few more seconds passed and a broken oil line began to leak oil onto the windshield. -Give me one. -It's on, it's on. 3 long. Yes, it is fluid, it is oil. That made it really difficult to the point where we had to basically drive at walking speed. We ended up losing the rally by 10 or 15 seconds. The really disappointing thing is that the team made such a great effort. You know, Derek, Alex, everyone, and then I felt really good because all that effort went into, you know, this great result. You know, I won my eighth time there.
But unfortunately, a deer had a different plan for me. I don't think it would have turned out better than expected. I leave with some good points to start the championship. Second in general, a second is much better than giving up. So I'm happy at least for that part. You know, the crazy thing is, you know, a new car for us, the first day of the championship with a new

racing

team and our competition somehow thinks we're cheating. Some accusations that the car did not comply with the technical regulations, including removing the gearbox and disassembling it in front of everyone, which was not very professional to show that we complied with the regulations.
Alright, those aren't exactly the results we know Ken wanted. After all, 100 Acre Woods is his race to lose. He's won it so many times that I don't think he knows what it's like to not be at the top of the bracket, but for the team, that puts us in second place overall heading into Olympus. So the Olympus Rally is a classic of the American Championship and is based not far from Seattle. The roads are simply legendary. You know, these are all forest roads. There is a lot of gravel. And depending on where the roads go, there may be open areas or they may be fairly dense forests with trees right on the edge of the road.
There are notoriously difficult stages, but we have done it many times and we are confident. Now that we have finished 100 Acre Woods, although we had bad luck that relegated us to second place, we are sure that this car is what we like. Ken will be able to drive that car to win. He really wanted to do the Olympus Rally because he knew we would have a great test and we would have a lot more time in the car and we could explore some setups and have more confidence in the races. The rally started quite well. The first stage is very difficult, so I started a little conservative.
We were second fastest on this stage. Ok, 803. Moving into the second stage, I decided to pick up the pace a little. We won the stage. It was also a very fast and complicated stage. And then moving into the third stage, I felt good. I felt the rhythm was going well. Check. 100. To the left six more on the ridge, equal to four to the left in length. 3 more! Again, 3 more. E two to the right five nice lengths. 4 less hook, long. Again 4 less hook length. There are 20 3 less left. my two. Oh shit. And unfortunately, we had one of the biggest crashes of our career. ****in hell.
I'm sorry! It was one of those accidents that mark you mentally. Something that has haunted me for many months. Only recently have I been able to put it out of my mind. No matter how fast I turned the wheels, I couldn't get the car to go in that direction. So we hit a tree with the left rear end, which caused us to spin around and hit another tree head on. I remember looking at the book and calling that next corner slower and feeling like the speed was slightly off. We should go slower. Alex did exactly what his job is to do, and even though it was a dangerous corner, and he even repeated the note, then I knew it was a dangerous corner, so my brain had two chances to hear that and react, and I didn't. . t.
And when you realize that there is going to be a sudden stop is when you ask yourself: are you going to quit? So the rally insurance team recorded that impact as a 12G impact. He obviously destroyed the car from the rear left side and from the frontal impact. There's no way they're going to fix that car. There is no way we are ending this rally. And our biggest competitor, Brandon, who won the previous rally, goes on and wins this rally as well. Our team provides us with the safest car with the best safety equipment. Their work and the fact that they selected the best safety equipment was what, in my opinion, kept Ken and me alive.
So I amgrateful for that. But it was a nasty accident. A nasty accident. I have control of the steering wheel, the brake, the clutch, the gearbox and we race around the stage, trying to go full speed to win. And there are two of us in that car, you know, and I have someone else's life in my hands. So I really felt that weight on my neck. You know, I go back and start reflecting and trying to figure this out and a big factor in that rally was that I had an injury. on Monday the week of the race.
So I start that process of getting massages, chiropractic work, pain relievers, all that kind of stuff. On Friday we started the race and I had only stopped taking ibuprofen for a day or two and through a lot of research I found out that that much ibuprofen can really affect your brain, even a disconnection of your brain from your brain. audience. So that makes a lot of sense to what happened to us there in scenario three. You know, I'm researching everything from supplements, nutrition, exercise, trying to cut things down, and as I got closer, I was able to reach out to a friend of a friend, a guy named Andrew Huberman who does the Huberman Lab podcast and he tells you all about it. the scenario and raises the possibility of this ibruprofen thing and he says, "yes, that's most likely the case." But man, that accident and what it did to us as far as championship standings goes, it made it so the rest of the year we really had to be as perfect as possible to try to take this

title

.
So, in standard Ken Block fashion, he has too many things on his calendar. So, in addition to the ARA championship, he also competed in the East Africa Safari Rally, one of the coolest rallies out there. On top of that, Ken has had a lot of Hoonitron tests, both Gymkhana tests, some snow tests and a lot of different things. But Ken's biggest project of the year is fulfilling a childhood dream. Actually, what made him react. To go run Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. And to do that, we've decided to build an absolutely beastly machine. the Hoonipigaso. We love working with artists outside of the space.
So this year we turned to Trevor Andrew, aka Trouble Andrew, aka Gucci Ghost, to help us design a lever. And what he brought to the table was something completely different from anything we'd ever done before. For the Hoonipigasus, Gucci Ghost created a symbol pattern that sat on a pink base, which we loved because it paid homage to the original 917/20 or also known as the first pig. So to connect the WRC i20 with the Hoonipigasus, Trevor took his classic ghost pattern and laid it on black with a multi-colour interior, tying the whole package together for the year.
Oregon Trail Rally is a beautiful rally. It runs in the Hood River area and just to the north crosses the Columbia River in Washington state. Very, very fast stages, without any trees. It is something like a big desert. You know, just very open stretches and the roads, you can tell they weren't built that long ago. It's one of my favorite events. We had never won it before. So I really wanted to go this year. For now, the pressure is mounting. We must win Oregon. There is no second place. Third place will be of no use. Without trying to push too hard, it was basically a matter of life and death.
I was pretty nervous coming into the Oregon Trail Rally. I knew we needed to win this event. But there was still a bit of a lack of confidence before the event. What happened in Olympus cannot have happened and we have to go and win. We have a plan to push hard on the second day of the event and take the lead and we did it. We want to believe that all the stages of the second day put us in a solid advantage and manage the third day. Third place overall Alex Gelsomino and Ken Block. Alex and I made a great effort.
It was great to fight with these guys. We knew what we had to do. I was nervous doing it. But in the end, the result was exactly what we needed to get this championship back on track. The Southern Ohio Forest Rally is a new addition to the championship and the roads are quite gravel, but have a lot of curvature. They are very well built for the rain, so they are a lot of fun to drive from the driver's perspective. The Southern Ohio Forest Rally is actually one of my new favorite rallies in our American championship. They are simply incredible stages.
It is quite slow and technical compared to the rest of the American Championship events. Technical, fluid, lots of great turns and my confidence was really starting to come back. It all started when we got the exact position on the road we wanted. We won the first stage, which was on Thursday night on the city asphalt, and the Friday stages went the same way. We were able to get a good lead. We started very strong again. Same strategy as Oregon. Push it the first day and maintain it the second day. And Alex and I were able to be there and be at every stage and make good times throughout the event.
And its overall winners, Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino. Brandon Semenuk got two wins, Alex and I got two wins. Travis is still there. He just hasn't won any events this year, and we were starting to get back into the championship title hunt. We are back in the game and ready to fight. Alright, here we are, halfway through the season. Four events down, four left to finish. And it's been

wild

. From deer attacks to some pretty big incidents, Ken and Alex haven't had it easy. And unfortunately, New England, historically, has been a place for other great moments.
New England for its rally races in New Hampshire and Maine. Again, forest roads are quite wide and fast, but those roads are built with a lot of rock base, so punctures and other mechanical problems are common in that event. So it's the New England Forest Rally and it's been

wild

for me from my first moment in care,

racing

a Rallycross car there and having it run me off the road, to riding with Cossie. It's been a wild event for me, but I got a couple of wins there. And one of my favorite things about the New England Forest Rally is that we always test well. the previous week at the O'Neal Rally team's school.
So we set up a big test for me, Leah and Lucy, and we brought in a great instructor for Leah, which is Brendan Reeves. A little bit from the left up to the right and the same here, just to settle the car. He came in and gave some great instructions to Leah and Leah really went up a couple of levels in speed and she was becoming very confident and very happy. And then the worst happened. She went off and crashed, which is really disappointing for her because she has all this new kind of confidence and skill, and now she's not going, she can use them in the rally.
Alex and I are feeling great looking forward to the New England Forest Rally. Now we have a couple of wins under our belt, so everything is going well. Yes, the pressure is increasing. It's one of those events where we have a lot of experience, so we feel confident. -Have a good rally, Ken. -Yes, you too Alex. At the short 6 on the right, take the open left 6 to the left 6. The first two stages are Concord Pond. So we do it once and then we regroup and then we come back and do it the second time. It is a place where all the spectators line up to see the cars in action.
It's one of Ken's favorite stages, so we're always excited to go compete on that stage. Right 6 plus, jump, 250, trainer to the right. 100! 49.0, 2 seconds away from the record. He finished the stage one second overall, just under a second behind Brandon, who won the stage. We went and regrouped, came back and won the stage, setting a new record. Yes, that's a stage record. Wow. I'm sorry. The third stage goes very well and we won it by a couple of seconds. Now we are leading the demonstration. We have two more stages left in the day and stage four and literally putting on my helmet thinking about minimizing mistakes and making everything perfect, I go to click on my intercom and I can't hear Alex.
I can not hear you. And then Alex and I ended up panicking, like we had a backup intercom. We are trying. Go back to the original. In the rally, you register and after a couple of minutes you start the stage. They are not waiting for you. and we realize that there is nothing we can do. These cars are very noisy. There is no other way to communicate with the driver. The rhythm notes and the only thing I can do is use hand singles. You know, we have very little time to figure this out. I just say, "Alex, give me, you know, the numbers in your hand, or scream.
Whatever you can do to get us off the stage." In any case, if you can do four, three or five. Imagine how difficult it is. You have this controller focused. His eyes are on the road, you know, and you have a hand that appears and points you to the corner. Manual signals will only give 15% of the information the driver needs to attack a section at full speed. Alex and I are really disappointed. But we know that this is just one stage among many that will exist for the rest of the event. So, you know, we regrouped in traffic, moved on to the next stage and tried different things, from cables to the different intercom systems to the helmets.
We discovered that the best system would be to change the helmets. 5 less long, seconds, 4 longer. Air. Seconds, 4 or more long. Shake completely, press 30, JUMP to right 5 and more. We finished the day and went from leading the rally by three or four seconds so far, to Brandon by 21 seconds. Look, it was disappointing. but again, after 21 seconds of knowing what challenges the second day will bring for everyone, not just us, we knew it was far from over. On the second day of the New England Forest Rally we were ready for battle. You know, we are smelling blood, you know, we are 100% sure of our knowledge.
I was in it, I was in it from the first start until the end of the day, so we won the first stage by about six seconds. For the rest of the morning, we continued to take time with Brandon. We are choosing the right tires. We had the right setup. And the notes were perfect for what we were trying to do. In the midday service, we reduced that deficit from 22 seconds to six seconds. 30 5 less left. Open 30 S 5 less, few seconds. Open 200. Halfway through the second day, we are starting to see dust hanging in areas. We texted race control and warned them, "Hey, dust is starting to be a problem." That is why we request additional space.
But then going into the last major group of stages, there were four more stages with very fast support and then one last stage of the day. But at the end of the first leg of that loop, Brandon took like nine seconds off of us. I felt a little discouraged for a minute, but I knew the task at hand. So we took more time from the next two stages. And so we took the lead by 2.9 seconds. In fact, we are in the lead with one stage remaining. What happens next is out of our control. The team had requested an extended three-minute powder window, but unfortunately, it was never granted.
So what that means is that Ken and Alex have to drive perfectly according to the notes. Literally drive blind, listen to the notes, take the curve and push yourself as hard as you can at 100+ miles per hour through the woods. Brandon takes off ahead of us. We have a two minute gap. I saw some dust hanging after he left and thought, "Oh no, I hope that's not a problem." 30 5 less left. Open dollar C2. 50. 50, brake. Once we go through the first change back, just about 300 meters past the start of the stage, and we see that dust hanging, we know it's going to be a challenge.
Little over tread. Little about tread and line. Left 5 less, 30 right 4 more! I think the driving couple gets into a situation where it's life or death in that last stage, with the dust they were driving through, the notes they wrote were 100% what they were driving towards. Open. Air, line 30, 5 left... That was definitely one of his best performances. That Saturday was really the best drive of my entire career. Best teamwork to Alex and I along with the team. And 50 left 5 lengths, hook, 50! Just 3 less long. Left 5 long, hook, right 50 3 long opens towards ridge. 150. Line. Sorry man, I asked for three minutes there to clear the dust for the course.
So Alex and I walked away from the final control, without having a concrete answer if we won or lost. -Do you have a confirmation? -It is very close. Within one or ten tenths. In fact, we ended up losing by 0.9 seconds. In the end, the New England Forest Rally was, yes, a disappointment. You're going to have them. I mean, you'll never make it through a championship. It was devastating. It was really. And Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino, driving the stage of their lives, this is the best stage I've probably ever seen through the dust to be within a second of the end of this rally for everything.
I mean, seeing the times and knowing how hard we're pushing and how scared I am and seeing how fast these guys were going, it was a real honor and a privilege. Sometimes you earn much more witha failure than a victory, and these moments this year have really pushed me to become the best driver I have ever been. So I hate these moments. I really hate the moments of struggle, but I like who it has helped me become. Very well, here we are, five races later, two of them with victories and the other two second places. But unfortunately, Brandon Semenuk has three wins.
Ken and Alex are going to have to work hard. They will need to win at least two, if not all three, of the upcoming races to truly secure that championship. Ojibwe Forest Rally is located in Minnesota. It is a difficult test because once again we are entering a rally where the grip and surfaces are completely different. The stages are sandy, it used to be Ken's least favorite rally, but I think he appreciates it now. Okay, important point in Ojibwe. I would just like to tell you, Ojibwe, open your damn restaurants at nine at night. What the fuck?
The Ojibwe Forest Rally is Travis Pastrana's event. He has won it seven times. He has to try to win the last three championship events to win the title. So we at Ojibwe are very aware that we basically don't give Travis time. The thing about this rally is that it is fast, but there is a lot of grip and there is more grip than you would expect because it is sandy, so you can throw the car a lot harder. And I think that's why Travis likes it so much. He really he can exaggerate. In fact, it really works.
I need to learn to drive more aggressively heading into this event. 4 less safe, again, 4 less safe. Coming into the first stage, I knew I needed to try harder than last year, and I did and still lost to Travis by 10 seconds. He was fast in the first loop of stages. So we knew we had a moment of fight. But then I hit a rock and got a flat tire. I kept driving as hard as I could and we ended up only losing nine or 10 seconds to Travis. But Ken and Alex were good. In fact, they reacted and continued with the work.
Unfortunately for Brandon, he cut the same rock, I think I did, and ended up losing a lot more time, 30 or 40 seconds. And then for us, it looked pretty good if we could get past Travis and

block

Brandon, that was like an eight-point gap. So now the game begins. And then we started chopping, you know. And then we won. I think the next two stages. So we reduced the gap to Travis to just five and a half seconds. Coming into the second day, it was going to be a big battle for Travis. A tight bottle like that in our sport, you know, is a recipe for disaster.
First stage, I know the stage well. I really like the setting. Water in, late, water in late. 20 correct 2 more. We were able to get the win on that stage and reduce the lead over Travis to, I think, a second and a half. Travis knew the pressure was on. And unfortunately, three laps before the next stage, he postponed it. I remember starting the stage and we could already see Travis running back to the start. Then Ken says, "Hey, he's leaving." They go through a couple more corners and I tell Ken that he's three minutes ahead, Ken. Three minutes ahead.
Because that was our lead on Brandon Semenuk. He recognized it, and from then on he got closer to the end. 3 plus tie shipping. On sheet 3 plus. Water inside. 20 correct 2-- More. We were calm for the rest of the day, kept a good pace with Brandon and were able to hold on to win. Alright, here we are. There are two rallies left. Semenuk has three wins, Block has three wins and we know Ken and Alex have speed on stage. But, unfortunately, they have also had a couple of incidents here and there to ruin their entire rally. So it all comes down to every inch of the next race.
STPR is northwestern Pennsylvania, known for mega-fast stages. The STPR rally, I would say, is the most dangerous rally in the American championship. It's generally an event where if you have an accident it's going to hurt and it's a place where, because of the high speed, you don't want to go off the road. We actually had two days off on this rally, which is a bit unique for a national round. and we were very confident in what we had to do to win this rally. And now there are two tests left until the end of the season.
Again, it's another one we need to get right. We must win. Alex and I made good time on the first stage, but Brandon Semenuk was only half a second behind us. It was very close, I think there was like half a second of difference in the first stage, and it was like, "oh, here we go, it's going to be one of those seconds of trading and trading everything." Travis, on the other hand, took it very easy and was more than 20 seconds behind us. The second stage is quite technical, it starts very fast and then enters one of the most dangerous downhill sections. throughout the rally.
I think Ken put those two guys in the Subaru cars in a bit of a difficult, do-or-die position for them, and then Brandon turned the car off. Unfortunately for Brandon, his recovery is all but over. So for the rest of the day, the first day, we had some good battles with Travis, but we were able to maintain a good lead until the end of the day. Going into day two, we knew we had to keep Travis in line. Brandon was able to return. Subaru repaired his car. He was able to come back and run all day.
Alex and I had a very good race in the power stage and were able to beat the two factory Subaru drivers by about seven seconds each. We won the test during the screeds because we made some very precise notes, which were not too aggressive, you know, but at the same time they allowed us to carry good speed on those specials. Great team effort. Definitely one of the best events for Alex and me during the year. We go into the last event of the year with a two-point lead. Here's the last rally of the year, LSPR, also known as the Lake Superior Performance Rally.
With only two points ahead, whoever wins takes the championship. So, unfortunately, Ken and Alex can't sit back and take this easy. They have to try, but it's a rally. Everything and anything can go wrong. So, the Lake Superior Performance Rally takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a classic event. The roads are absolutely beautiful. They are a little wider than the last rally in Pennsylvania, but still very fast. It's a rally that I really love but hate at the same time. Alex and I have won the event three times. But I hate it because it's the site of one of the worst accidents of my career, which happened in 2013, when we were fighting David Higgins for the championship title.
Quite a scary crash. and a terrible way to end a great championship battle. But I hope I can make up for that this year. What we have to do in Michigan is what we have done in the last five rounds. Yes, we lost New England by nine-tenths of a second for reasons beyond our control, but the strategy was the same as Oregon, Ohio and the same as the Ojibwe and the STPR, so I feel confident, you know ? Yes, we are nervous because we don't want something out of our control, a puncture or a mechanic, to get in the way of our work.
The boys have worked very hard. Everyone has to get to this point. Do we have to convert it now? Friday morning, first day of LSPR. It's like snowing. Looks like it's going to snow this afternoon. It's about doing the best we can. I know the grades are good. The car is ready and we are ready for whatever conditions there are, so let's get it going. And on the right 6 over the ridge, 100. Small ridge on the left 5 inches! Repeat, length 5. Second final at 6. 5 hooks. Repeat, 5 hooks. 50. It started very well, you know, in a kind of final round of the championship, with all this pressure on us.
Good job. -If you too. Crest, 70. Caution. . There are 5 more to go, that's fine. We were second on the road, which was a good place, but I was feeling very confident until it started snowing. That just throws this unknown risk into things. During the first four stages, we can put a 10-second lead on Brandon, who we needed to beat. You know, in this rally to win the championship things were going very well. We returned to assistance after those first four stages. The team made some good changes to the car. We had a good tire plan. We made some changes that we knew would hopefully give us more grip on the last four stages of the day.
So I went out and really attacked the next two stages. 65.01.1. -Yeah. Keep cutting. -10 flat point three. -Yeah. So I tried really hard to really put us in that position. So we were excited. We were like high-fiving on the way to the seventh stage -Derek? -Yeah. Ken's tracker went to zero miles per hour and the engine died. You know, I knew I had to drive conservatively and cleanly, the stage was going really well until I got to a peak and I was pretty fast. You know, I am located on the left side of the road, and the line turned out to be further to the right.
So I suddenly went off the line and found myself in the mud. Then I ended up between the trees and with the damage that you see there. Are you kidding? Damn hell! I honestly couldn't have been more frustrated. I was shocked because I was off the road and in the woods. All the work of the whole year, all the team effort, Alex's effort, Derek's effort, everyone to get us to that point and all the driving I did, the best driving I've ever done in my career, it's all gone. thanks to those 70. Meters of mud. So a true hero to zero, from leading the championship, leading the rally, doing exactly what he had to do, to being left stunned and devastated on the side of the road.
We still finished second in the championship, but that's not what we fought for, that's not what we all worked so hard for. Hearts have definitely been pounding this year through all the things that have gone up and down, so when you get to taste success, you want more success. First place is the only thing you want. Second place, oh, I didn't want second place. Who wants second place? Victories are memorable. Four wins this year. It has been fantastic, but the championship has left us with those memories this year. The battle and fierce competition have made this championship special.
Derek once told me that Ken's biggest problem is that he doesn't know how to drive fast or slow. What that means is that he is very good at 11 tenths. It's where Ken has won the majority of his races and is taking risks far beyond what most people are willing to take. But look, there is one key thing in rallying which is attrition, which is simply getting to the end, and that means driving at seven or eight tenths. For some reason, that's where Ken seems to lose focus or just not be fully engaged. And when he's not fully engaged, there's just something wrong.
So when the roads got slippery at LSPR, this is where Ken had to slow down. Ken will tell you that he did a little, but maybe not enough. Unfortunately, what resulted was an accident that cost them not only the race, but an entire year of chasing, actually almost 15, 16 years of chasing a championship. This is where Ken punishes himself, saying that he should have gone slower. He should have done this, he should have done that, but unfortunately, his style of going fast and risking everything is the reason he got to where he is and sometimes that puts him at the top of the podium.
Other times he throws it into a ditch. Unfortunately, today we have ditches.

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