Subaru Rally Team USA''s Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom sailed to their fourth win of the season at the New England Forest Rally Saturday, to further extend their lead in the national championship.

Pastrana entered Round 6 of the Rally America championship with a 21-point lead over his closest challenger, and said his strategy from the start was to avoid taking unnecessary risks and get his car to the finish in one piece.

"It''s hard to know you''ve got that little more speed in reserve and not use it, but it''s that little more that can get you," he said. "We weren''t the fastest here this weekend, but I''ll take the win however I can get it."

Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino set a blazing pace at the start, but lost more than 20 seconds to a spin early Saturday afternoon, then had a flat tire. They were unable to make up for lost time in the final stages of the day and finished in second-place overall.

"It''s extremely frustrating," said Block at the finish. "I put myself in the right position to win and it didn''t work out for us."

Even so, the result moves Block into second place in the championship, behind teammate Pastrana.

Pastrana

Bacon

Block

Canadians Antoine L'Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard were also in the running for a win early in this event, but they lost time to a power steering failure in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Saturday afternoon and finished in third.

"It's good to taste champagne again, but I really wanted to win," said L'Estage after the ceremonial champagne spray. "I thought this morning we had a shot at it."

Bill Bacon and co-driver Peter Watt finished in fourth place; Art Gruszka and co-driver Lukasz Wronski rounded out the top five.

Dave Mirra

in service

Pastrana

http://www.rally-america.com/story.php?article=497

http://rally.subaru.com/index.html