Travis Pastrana is the first to round the turn at the Stage 1 spectator point at the Lake Superior Performance Rally in Houghton, MI.
I’ve seen the Lake Superior Performance Rally a few times now, but never spectated from the Stage 1 location in Houghton. Now that I live in Hancock getting over to see it on a Friday afternoon is a simple thing to do so I figured why not.
Antoine L'Estage making his pass during Stage 1 of the Lake Superior Performance Rally.
A large crowd was already there when I arrived about 35 minutes before the first car was scheduled to make its pass. Everyone including myself had some sort of camera from SLRs to point and shoots to cell phones. And then there were the photographers and videographers in media vests. They were everywhere as well.
Ken Block accelerates out of the corner during his Stage 1 run.
As an avid photographer I have always thought how great it would be to have a press pass for the Lake Superior Performance Rally. To be able to have free reign to position myself anywhere I wanted to get that really great shot would be awesome, however it could also be dangerous.
Mark Fox sliding his way around the bend.
With my luck I probably would have chose to stand right next to that sign that Mark Fox readjusted with his 2004 Subaru Impreza (car #54). That was a rather exciting moment as a crowd wide gasp was heard from all who watched as he slid toward the ditch.
Mark Fox uses a sign to stop his sideways progress at the Lake Superior Performance Rally.
By the time I could see him come around the corner it was obvious he wasn’t in the right place, but he wasn’t letting off either. He just kept it going sideways with his foot still on the accelerator trying to get traction to avoid the ditch. The motion carried his Subaru right into the sign which was probably just enough resistance to stop his sideways progress and get enough traction to pop him back onto the road. Exciting stuff!
The sign after a readjustment by Mark Fox's 2004 Impreza
I put together a slideshow of the image sequence I captured of the slide. Click the link below to view it.
Note: You can pause the slideshow and click the “+” button to advance through the images manually.
Visit my website for more photos from the Lake Superior Performance Rally: http://MERimages.net
More information and news about the Lake Superior Performance Rally can be found on their website: http://www.lsprorally.com
