Foust Wins X Games Rally Car Super Special; DQ'd Pastrana Takes Bronze
Aug 06 2007 / Los Angeles, CATanner Foust, a stunt driver on movie screens this weekend in "The Bourne Ultimatum," surged ahead in the home stretch to take the checkered flag – and the gold – in the Rally Car Racing Super Special competition, the final event of ESPN X Games 13.
Rally Car, which features a driver and a co-driver racing street legal cars on closed sections of roads called "stages," is in its second year at X Games, and this year's race marked the first time teams raced head-to-head. They did so before a sellout crowd at The Home Depot Center.
Foust and co-driver Chrissie Beavis led early in the final race but lost the lead to Ken Block and his co-driver Alessandro Gelsomino – only to blast forward in the last inches of the course and cross the finish line .68 seconds ahead of Block and Gelsomino.
"[Block] was leading us going out, and on the way back he must have caught bad breaks because he got really close and I was thinking ‘Oh my gosh, there's no dust at the finish line, we might have a chance at this,' " Foust said afterwards.
"Big finishes somehow always happen at the X Games," Foust shrugged.
Travis Pastrana, the Moto X Freestyle legend of double backflip fame, said recently that Rally Car Racing now occupies "99.9" percent of his time. During a semi final heat, Pastrana crossed into Faust's lane in a similar push for the finish line, and was disqualified. He later took the bronze in a heat run to determine third place.
"I thought [Foust] might be a little bit ahead – I just totally overtook that corner a little bit, and completely ran right through the barrier," Pastrana said. "They made a call, and we've been on the other side of calls a lot…[w]e'll take it – we're still at the podium."
Robinson Named Most Outstanding Athlete
At the medal ceremony that followed, BMX Freestyle rider Kevin Robinson was named Subaru's Most Outstanding Athlete of X Games 13. He will receive a 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX.
Robinson won gold in this year's BMX Freestyle Big Air event and bronze in the BMX Freestyle Vert competition, where he landed a double flair. He remains the only rider in the world who has successfully landed the trick in competition. A native of East Providence, RI, Robinson competed in the very first X Games in 1995 and has only missed one of the 13 total X Games to date.
Rally Car Racing Super Special Results
Final standings from the ESPN X Games 13 Rally Car Racing Super Special event held at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on August 5, 2007.
Driver / Co-Driver / Hometown / Hometown
1. Tanner Foust / Chrissie Beavis / Steamboat, CO / San Diego, CA
2. Ken Block / Alessandro Gelosomino / Encinitas, CA / Los Angeles, CA
3. Travis Pastrana / Christian Edstrom / Annapolis, MD / New York, NY
4. Ramana Lagemann / Mark Williams / Boston, MA / North Potomac, MD
5. Colin McRae / Carolyn Bosley / Lanark, Scotland / Burlington, VT
6. Andy Pinker / Robbie Durant / Perth, Australia / Oxford, England
7. Paul Choiniere / Jeff Becker / Shelburne, VT / Great Neck, NY
8. Andrew Comrie-Picard / Marc Goldfarb Edmonton, Alberta Canada / Atkinson, NH
9. Boris Said / John Buffum / Carlsbad, CA / Colchester, VT
10. Pat Moro / Mike Rossey / Dublin, OH / Rochester, MI
11. Matt Iorio / Ole Holter / Marlborough, NH / Long Beach, CA
12. Otis Dimiters / Alan Ockwell / Great Neck, NY / Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
