I'm gonna go brute force on this. I've admired them for too long, and I want in.

I gotta make a plan, I gotta somehow make a large company get on my side, get some support! how am I gonna get proper video footage? how to I show I'm worthy? I'm no ride buyer, I don't got the hollywood video crew, and I gotta take a different approach from the typical skateboarding "sponsor me" video.

Perhaps I should go underground on this. I've had to make do practicing in parking lots, backroads, and rural areas. Yes I know it's illegal what I did, but hey. I gotta make do somehwere, somehow.

FUCK! it's frustrating (pardon the language)

DC Shoes if you're out there, I'm gonna find a way to get you guys to notice me!

See the full story here with sweet WRS pictures: http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/events/the-road-to-oregon/

The Road to Oregon | By Ben Slocum

Big offs hurt. Physically sometimes, confidence wise always. The only way to overcome is to get back on stage at the first chance.

Following our Olympus wreck, our crew chief, Mark Richard, and pro-from-Dover (Wales), Graham “Whiskers” Evans, worked their tails off to get us back in the game for Oregon. The damage was extensive, but with new glass, fenders, quarter panels, hood, roof, floor, motor mount, lights, bumper, cage bars and hundreds of hours of work we were ready.
Map - Carencro, LA and Minneapolis, MN

Despite a three week time crunch, Mr. Mark and Whiskers got us back in the game a full week before Oregon, giving us a chance to run Nemadji Trail in Minnesota as a shakedown. As a tulip instead of stage note based regional, Dillon and I didn’t fully open the car up. We just wanted to make sure the car was mechanically sound and that we were focused and ready to push out west when it would count.
Map - Nemadji, MN

The road was good, but my odometer didn’t work, causing me to sit through most of the stage and look at trees. Dillon was bored too, wanting to open up the throttle on every corner. A new-found-since-Washington sense of maturity kept his foot light on the gas and the Focus on the road. We placed first in class, but would have preferred to have been fighting for an overall win. It was a successful shakedown none the less.
Orange + Plaid + TF = Awesome

Before heading to Oregon we also got a new wrap. The freshest of Terra Firma wraps in fact. The only requirement for the design was more orange, and more is what we got.
Map - Portland, OR

With a successful shakedown and a clean new look we were ready to push. We recce’d with purpose, looking for any opportunity to gain a second. We stayed calm, clear and ready.

Thursday press activities went well. Pioneer square was a busy environment filled with Rally fans, interested locals and street kids. Practice runs at Portland International Raceway were key, allowing Dillon to fully push the car for the first time since sailing off a mountain three weeks prior. The only bit of drama through the day was a busted drive belt on the car, which was better than on race day.

Friday started well. PIR stages aren’t at all like the forest, but they have their merits. Lots of fans, a mixed surface and a fun atmosphere. We pushed within reason but kept focused. Oregon Trail can’t be won on day one, but it sure as heck can be lost. We took a few stages, lost a few seconds on others, but left the day with a 3.7 second lead. Although small, any amount of a lead helped to boost our confidence.
Map - The Dalles, OR and Dufur, OR

Saturday morning followed the good mood of PIR. Stages five and six were both solid wins, each putting another forty five seconds between us and our competition. We decided to give the car a break and maintained our pace while our competition sped up on repeat runs over seven and eight. We kept a decent lead heading to the prairie stages near Dufur. This is where the balance tipped out of our favor.

Dust. Dust is the only word to describe the remainder of our event. Everyone had to contend with hanging dust from other cars, we were possibly the only car that couldn’t see out of our own windows. During the repairs from Olympus several holes were missed in the Focus’ chassis. There just wasn’t the time needed to fill them. Over each stage the dust in the car got worse and worse. Dillon was able to keep his mind on the game, but I could hardly choke out stage notes while I coughed up black mucus. We wore tea towels like makeshift bandito masks for the final leg, but they became more of a hindrance to me than a help.
Team 600 | Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocum | Oregon Trail Rally

After Stage 11 I could hardly think. I was coughing and hacking, and the trapped moisture in my face mask was causing me to hyperventilate. I missed a transit call, causing us to get hit with a 30 second penalty. The final stage didn’t go so well either. Although we kept pace with the competition, I had to bail at the finish line to keep from up-chucking in the car.

We were down by 1.2 natural seconds heading into Sunday, 31.2 counting our penalty. The only option was to do our best on the first loop. Over the first leg we eked a few seconds back from our competition, despite the car misfiring for several miles following a water crossing. With one loop of three stages left we had to make our presence known.
Team 600 | Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocum | Oregon Trail Rally

Stage 13 was ours. It’s where the event turned. The notes were perfect, my calls were perfect, Dillon’s drive was perfect. We won the stage and took the lead back. Our main competition also suffered some major issues, giving us a wide berth through the final two stages. Our new found maturity came into play again.

Not wanting to risk another Olympus style last minute error we didn’t risk anything on the penultimate stage. Our only goal was to finish. When we crossed the final time control we had it, we won Oregon Trail by two minutes and MaxAttack! by one. Olympus’ bad juju was behind us.
Map - Wellsboro, PA

The Lanark Highlands Forest Rally is back for its second year, and this year it’s a lot drier. The overcast sky above didn’t bring any rain, thus making this years rally a completely different experience from last years.

The event uses the Lavant Mill Road, which was used in the 1974 WRC Rally of the Rideau Lakes. The road will be run 5 times to make up the 50km of competitive mileage, and the competition couldn’t be hotter. Last years champion Nick and Kelly Mathew are returning, along with many OPRC regulars. This year also saw the surprise, last minute entry of Crazy Leo.

The competition was intense all day in all classes. Leo set the pace for his day right off the start, setting a new stage record of 6m56s. Right behind him was Nicola Narini, followed by Nick Mathew. Leo held his lead all day, but the fight for second was on. On the second stage, Nick took back second place by 4s. The next stage Nicola fought back, and was back in second by 3s. He would beat Nick Mathew in the next two stages, claiming second. The fight for fourth was also gearing up, until a slow final stage by Martin Donnelly solidified him in fourth.

The Group 2 class was dominated by Peter Kocandrle, finishing 6th overall. The battle for second and third came down to the wire between Sergei Grishechkin and Patrick Rainville, both drivers were fighting hard, finishing just 7s apart.

Group 5 saw only two entries this year; Martin Walter in his 91 Nissan 240SX and Thierry Menegoz in his 2000 Dodge SRT-4. Martin would go on to win Group 5. Production GT had three entries, with the winner being Warren Haywood. Production Sport had several entries, with a good battle between Eric McKinnon and Grant Riddell. The two drivers swapped stage times throughout, but a 1m penalty to Grant pushed him back to finishing second in Production Sport.

A great time was had by all, the day saw lots of smiles on both the competitors and the volunteers.

Hello all. My second Rally New Zealand was more of a success then I thought! What a fantastic event based in Auckland but of course the stages were way out of the city in very beautiful landscaped regions!

Early mornings to head out to the stages, surprisingly of course the World Rally Drivers are there before us. And I'm talking about 5am wake ups for me, and an hour or so drive to the stages. I've posted up a gallery here on WRS which can be found here: http://www.worldrallysport.com/content/rally-new-zealand-2010

Let me know what you think. I've also got previous Rally Australia, Rally NZ and Rally Japan photographs on my website: http://MattJelonek.com. All World Rally Rounds from previous years.

I do photograph for a living and I had the best set up and access this year. I'm keen on heading over to Japan in a few months for the WRC as well as France... but I might just have to pick one... Ok maybe both!

It was a fight right to the final stage for those of you who followed live where ever you were around the world. The most hardest part is actually getting to know the results when your going and at stages. But you do get to find out. Ogier crashed 3 corners before the end of the stage which he could set him to winning his first World Rally event! Loeb wasn't doing so well on Day 1, picked it back up on Day 2 after slamming into a bridge and then climbing back up to the top 4 positions on the final day but then also spinning a few corners on the final stage! P. Solberg hit a telephone pole on the final stage in which he could have had the chance to win rally in so many years. After struggling with Subaru and finally in a winning car he's coming back!

Out of the blue with the consistency Jarri-Matti Latvala won the rally! Excitement and surprise from everyone out on the stages spectating it was defiantly an event to remember and too of course bring back into the calendar for 2012!

Mark Tapper leading kiwi until he gets a "brown eye"

Loeb has an early slip on Day One of the 2010 WRC Rally New Zealand.

EDIT: I was trying to embed a Youtube video, but I can't get it to work... here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FVJ-wUsK0

Rally Turkey - Spectacular jump by Aleksander Saluk!

CRC TV is back with over 20 minutes of Canadian Rally bliss covering the opening round of the National Championship from Maniwaki, QC this past February. Teams were competing on glare ice-coated stages in what turned out to be a very unusual event after the typical podium contenders all encountered mishaps. In addition to the battles, there's also plenty of oversteer and understeer induced spins and offs included for your viewing pleasure.

Links to PHOTOS from Rallye Perce Neige 2010 are posted below.

Video after the yump.

TV coverage of the 2010 Canadian Rally Championship is presented by Subaru and supported by Yokohama. Coverage courtesy of TV2GO, CARS, and FOC.
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PHOTOS by Mat Janiak:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/node/5561

PHOTOS by Mike Proulx:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/node/5552

PHOTOS by Max Poirier:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/node/5562

ALL PHOTOS on WorldRallySport.com:
http://www.worldrallysport.com/imagegalleries
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Fiesta Movement agents are ready to kick-start their adventure, and their first mission has them showing off why Fiesta is all about urban adventure. Agent teams will create a wallscape mural that doubles as a functional guide to their 10 favorite places and activities that make their city buzz. Many teams have partnered with local artists and graphic designers to bring their map to life.

The mural will be in place for three weeks and during that time each agent team will host an event at one of the featured locations, where the community can meet the agents and fellow Fiesta Movement followers. Followers will be able to check in at the wall mural and each of the 10 locations via FourSquare. Each mural will also be tagged with a unique SMS code, which fans and followers can text for more information.

Throughout the mission, agents will document their adventure and post it on their team page where fans and followers can be part of the experience online at www.fiestamovement.com. The best content will be recognized based on community engagement and online consumer interaction and will then be amplified locally and nationally.

The wallscapes will be featured at:

Atlanta – 755 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE
Boston – 1486 Tremont Street
Chicago – Intersection of N Milwaukee Avenue & W Evergreen Avenue
Chicago – 2500 N Halsted Street
Dallas – 2820 Greenville Avenue
Denver – 3900 W Colfax Avenue
Detroit – 323 E 4th Street
Houston – 811 Richmond Street
Los Angeles – 7753 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles – Intersection of Ocean Front Walk & 19th Avenue
Miami – 46 NW 36th Street
New York – Church Street (between Spring Street & Houston Street)
New York– Intersection of Classon Avenue and Greene Avenue
Orlando – 730 N Mills Avenue
Philadelphia – 1108 South Street
Philadelphia – Intersection of W Girard Avenue & N Mascher Street
Phoenix – 301 North Gilbert Road (Gilbert, AZ)
San Diego – Intersection of 30th Street & Redwood Street
San Francisco – Intersection of 26th Street & Mission Street
Seattle – Intersection of 2nd Avenue and Bell Street

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