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There was some quick reshuffling of the Open class front runners and at the first service after stage 4 Block was leading with an overall time of 17:47.3, Higgins following close with +0:10.6, L’Estage +0:22.2, Pastrana +0:49.8, and Yeoman +1:18.5.
On stage 1 there was a miscommunication between Higgins and Drew when a hairpin right was called and Higgins steered left towards the spectator access road. Fortunately Higgins realized the error quickly and reacted with a sharp grab of the hand brake then stomping the gas pedal. Thankfully no one was hurt as a result of the wrong turn, but Higgins estimated they lost about eight seconds during the recovery. Two other competitors made the same mistake as the blue striped Subaru, and both managed to correct their mistakes without incident.
At the end of the first day Block and Gelsomino were continuing to hold down first place in Open with a time of 41:30.7. These dudes were going so fast that my camera could hardly keep up and it was tough to get a decent shot off, but this one turned out alright I think. Higgins finished the day in second with a 41:51.3, L’Estage was in third with 42:37.2, Pastrana fourth with 43:39.1, and Yeoman took fifth with a final time of 45:13.0.
Nick Roberts was leading SP after stage four, with some very tight competition chasing his heels. Roberts finished SS4 with a 20:13.3, Sterckx followed with +0:05.0, then Cline with +0:05.4, and Van Way with +0:08.2. After more than twenty minutes on stage the top four in Super Production were still less than ten seconds apart! SP will definitely be the class to watch this year.
The military green ’05 Subaru STi of Evan Cline and co-driver Jake Blattner was hot on the tail of the plaid STi of Roberts during Friday’s racing, ending the day with a 47:48.3, only 22.2 seconds off of first for Super Production. The pair were the overall winners for Friday’s Trespasser’s Wil regional rally and Saturday’s 100 Acre Wood regional rally.
Dillon Van Way and co-driver Andrew Edwards were putting down consistent times throughout the day on Friday. They finished stage one in 12th place overall, and 4th in Super Production. By the end of the day they had climbed to 8th overall and 3rd for SP with a time of 48:07.0. Van Way has landed on the podium in SP for all of the four events hes entered with his STi, and it appeared as though the streak would continue in Missouri.
