There was certainly no shortage of excitement during race day at round two of the 2012 Global RallyCross in Fort Worth, Texas. While SUBARU PUMA RallyCross Team USA was kept off the podium, they were front and center for much of the drama throughout the day's racing.
In the first heat, Sverre Isachsen led the pack off the line and drove the #11 Subaru WRX STI with aplomb to secure a spot in the A-final race with a second place finish in his heat. SUBARU PUMA RallyCross Team USA's Bucky Lasek finished fourth in that same heat and was seated in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). Dave Mirra in the #40 WRX STI was also placed in an LCQ, where he put up a tough fight and finished just a few seconds short of advancing to the final.
The greatest spectacle of the heat races, and possibly the event, occurred during Bucky Lasek's running in LCQ B. After a tight start, Lasek was chasing through the chicane behind Liam Doran, whose car started leaking fluid. When Doran ducked to the left as though he was pulling off, Lasek went for the pass only to have Doran pull back in during the lead-up to the narrow steel jump. Having braked hard to avoid the car in front him, Lasek scrubbed too much speed to clear the jump and had to drive off the side of it. In an amazing maneuver more suited to a skateboard than his #80 Subaru WRX STI, Lasek rode the water barrier on two wheels and stuck the landing!
With his teammates eliminated in the Last Chance Qualifier, Sverre Isachsen entered the battle of the A-final with the podium in his sights. Starting in the back row, the Viking Warrior muscled his way forward through the pack and onto the joker lap. A brush with Marcus Gronholm forced Isachsen halfway into the grass, but he stayed on the throttle and made it through that scuffle. Things really got tricky on the next lap. "We were heading towards the big jump, when the car in front of me suddenly braked. I had two choices. I could hit him and crash both cars, or I could brake. I braked and stopped just before the gap. The A-final was red flagged," explained Isachsen. The final race would be started two more times after that, but SUBARU PUMA RallyCross Team USA was denied a spot in the restarts. Sverre remained confident in his decision and his future campaign in the #11 Subaru WRX STI as he stated, "I donât understand why I wasnât allowed to start again. All I did was try to avoid a big crash. But on the positive side the car was awesome today, and Iâm really looking forward to the next race which is a part of X Games."
X Games 18 kicks off in Los Angeles on June 28 and runs through July 1. Similar to last year, the RallyCross course will run on the streets of downtown L.A. in the vicinity of the Staples Center.
