Photo: Gregg Feistman
Tanner Foust

RallyCar's inaugural U.S. Rallycross held at the New Jersey Motorsports Park was a successful event where the competition was fierce and thousands of fans cheered the intense action. Rallycross racing has finally arrived and made a lasting impression!

The highlight of the Rallycross event was the dramatic A Main Final, where Rockstar Energy Drink's Tanner Foust driving a 2010 Ford Fiesta won the inaugural event in the 4WD Class. Josh Wimpey hailing from Steeles Tavern, VA won the 2WD Class in a 1987 Volkswagen GTi rally car.

Foust was challenged by Ramana Lagemann (2008 Ford Fiesta), the Subaru Rally Team USA duo of Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra, NOS Energy Drink s Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP), and 2010 Rally America 2WD champion Chris Duplessis (2004 Subaru STI). During the A Main, Travis Pastrana lost control of his car and almost flipped it by running over water barriers in front of spectators on the first lap. Pastrana's incident caused the final race to get red flagged, forcing an A Main restart. Pastrana was allowed to restart the A Main, but was positioned in the back of the grid and fought to win second place overall. Dave Mirra secured third place after battling with both Pastrana and ACP. Chris Duplessis did not finish the race after he spun during the restart and bent his car's steering rack.

Foust's win follows a string of victories, including winning gold medals in both Rally Car Racing and the SuperRally at this year s X Games 16. Foust now lays claim to winning America s first-ever Rallycross. " The American event was great!" exclaimed Tanner Foust, " The Ford Fiesta was built specifically for Rallycross and it performed extremely well."

In the 2WD Class A Main final, Josh Wimpey built a significant lead over second place winner Wyatt Knox and third place finisher Randy Zimmer. 18 year-old and 2009 Rally America 2WD National Champion, Dillon Van Way, looked strong in his first three heat races leading up to the final event, but he made hard contact in the dirt with Knox and spun out at the end of the straightaway after breaking a wheel shaft.

The weekend was bittersweet for newly crowned 2010 Rally America Rookie of the Year Joseph Burke, who suffered a broken gear shift cable and slid off the course in Heat 2, furthering his frustrations with weekend-long brake problems. Burke was towed off the course and had to retire from the Rallycross with a blown turbo.

Ex-factory Subaru Rally Team USA driver, Ramana Lagemann, showed remarkable promise on this weekend s event behind the wheel of an MSE Olsbergs prepared Rallycross 2008 Ford Fiesta. It was Lagemann s first outing in this car with no prior testing, so you can expect he will become a regular threat in the Main events in RallyCar's upcoming events.

"The first event of RallyCar's 2010 U.S. Rallycross Championship goes down as a significant moment in American motorsports history. Spectators, competitors, the track, and sponsors were pleased with how this first Rallycross unfolded and the exciting outcome of the weekend.

This is an excellent racing format and I see so many excited spectators," said NOS Energy Drink's Andrew Comrie-Picard, "and the cool thing is seeing so many excited drivers. You could see it when Dave Mirra and I immediately caught up with each after our Heat race to discuss what happened out there!"

Travis Pastrana acknowledged the enthusiasm the crowd's intense enthusiasm, "I could literally hear the fans cheering from inside my car!"

Over the weekend, a total of 23 Rally and racecar drivers from various disciplines challenged the 1.3 mile Lightning Racetrack, modified to include three dirt sections and Joker lap section. Each car must take a Joker lap once at some point during their Heat races. A Joker Lap is a small detour normally over a jump that adds a level of unpredictability to the heat's outcome by changing a driver s strategy in an instant.

RallyCar's U.S. Rallycross Championship returns to the New Jersey Motorsports Park for the second round of three events in 2010. Join us in Millville to witness this new, exciting, and highly unpredictable form of racing on October 2-3 and again on November 6-7. Tickets are available at: http://store.njmp.com/store/category/9/157/

Throughout the weekend RallyCar distributed exclusive driver interviews and action videos. You can review the videos at: http://www.rally-america.com/events/2010/NJMPRC1/gallery/

Heat and Main event results can be found at: http://www.rally-america.com/events/2010/NJMPRC1/news/