BETHEL, ME -- The battle is on for Round 6 of the Rally America championship, the New England Forest Rally, where teams are fighting for crucial mid-season points and a shot at the biggest rally contest on the continent.

At the start of Day 2, defending Canadian champion Antoine L�Estage and co-driver Mark Williams were trailing Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom by just six seconds and were in the hunt for the overall lead.

As winners of the 2006 X Games Rally, Pastrana and Edstrom were the first to receive their invitation for this year�s X Games, but L�Estage - a rare figure on the U.S. scene - was still hoping to earn the remaining "wildcard" invitation.

L�Estage, who is currently leading the Canadian championship, failed to finish the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally earlier this year and said he is eager for a chance to prove he has what it takes to contend with the top teams in the United States.

"We�ll see today where we are," said L�Estage early on Day 2. "I want to keep up the pace and not do anything silly. I want to win, but I�d also like to win that wildcard spot."

In third place after five stages were Pastrana and Edstrom�s Subaru Rally Team USA teammates Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino. But just 21 seconds off the lead, Block said Saturday he was still within striking distance of the top spot on the podium. Late on Day 1, he took the win on the Concord Pond stage and set a new speed record there.

"The top three of us want to win," said Block Saturday. "Travis and I both want championship points here."

In fourth, trailing Block and Gelsomino by 23 seconds after five stages, were Matt Iorio and co-driver Ole Holter.

But L�Estage isn�t the only driver with his eye on the X Games. The lure of the wildcard spot has prompted several teams to change classes for this contest. PGT drivers Kenny Bartram and Matt Johnson have both stepped up into the faster Open class. But both were learning how best to drive their new cars and found themselves off the pace early in the contest.

"I would love to be in the X Games," said Johnson, who began Day 2 in sixth place. "I�m fired up and ready to go today."

And even though Bartram was in 10th at the end of Day 1, he was philosophical about his chances. "It�s rallying. It isn�t about going fast - it�s about going just fast enough," he said.

Series leader Andrew Pinker, meanwhile, was in a surprising ninth place overall after suffering three flat tires in four stages Friday. He came racing into the first service break of the day on a badly cracked rim after slamming into a large rock on stage three that took out two of his tires and damaged parts in the front and the rear of his competition Subaru. His service crow worked until the final seconds of the service break to get the car ready return to the race and Pinker said he hoped to claw back enough time on Day 2 to extend his championship lead.

At the start of Day 2, driver Stephan Verdier and co-driver Scott Crouch were leading the PGT class, while Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson was leading Group 5. The Group 2 leaders were Christopher Duplessis and co-driver Martin Headland and James Robinson and co-driver Andrew Jessup were leading the Production class.

Contender Paul Choiniere was out early with apparent engine trouble.

Notably absent from the contest was Tanner Foust, who opted to sit this one out due to a scheduling conflict with his other competition series - Formula Drift. Also absent were Andrew Comrie-Picard and Ramana Lagemann, who both elected not to race rather than risk damaging their competition cars so close to the California contest.

The New England Forest Rally, which began in the winter of 1991 as the Maine Forest Rally, has grown into one of the most eagerly anticipated races on the Rally America calendar. Round six of the 2007 Rally America championship, the two-day contest challenges teams to take on rough and rugged logging roads with some of the longest stage roads on the circuit. Quintessential northeastern settings such as winding creeks and one lane bridges add not only beauty to the race, but also added excitement at breakneck speeds.

WRC champ Colin McRae, Pastrana, Block, Choiniere, Foust, Iorio, Pinker, Comrie-Picard and Lagemann have already qualified for the X Games, In addition to the driver named here, two others will be selected from the racing community at large.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as "real cars, real roads, real fast." This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

Complete television coverage of the Rally America Championship airs on ESPN2. The X Games Rally goes live-to-air on August 5.