Marquette’s Sarasin earns spot in ESPN X Games this summer
By Renee Prusi, Journal Sports EditorArticle Photos
Sarasin’s dream is about to come true, but in a different sport.
Come Aug. 3, the 19-year-old Marquette native will be competing in the 14th Annual ESPN X Games as a rally car driver. His event at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles will be shown live on ABC-TV.
Sarasin, the 2007 Rally America Rookie of the Year, qualified for the X Games through his 2008 performances to date in rally racing.
“To qualify, from the first five races, the top six people in points get invited, so it’s how you start the season,” Sarasin said. “I was invited.”
He’s in the second full season of rally driving with CPD Racing of Minneapolis. Along the way, he has worked himself into the sports record books, becoming the youngest BMX racer to become an expert in the state of Michigan; the youngest driver in the Lake Superior Performance Rally (once known as the Press on Regardless); the youngest Rally America podium finisher (at the 2008 SnoDrift event in downstate Atlanta); and the youngest Rally America stage victor (earlier this year in Wellsboro, Pa.).
In a little over a month, he will become the youngest driving competitor in X Games history
To get ready, in addition to driving the Rally America schedule, Sarasin has been given permission by Delphi International at K.I. Sawyer to use the facilities there for training.
With former World Rally Championship crew chief Graham Evans of Wales coming to town to help, Sarasin is preparing in earnest for the X Games challenge.
“I have never competed on this surface before,” he said. “There’s not a lot of asphalt or concrete in rally driving.”
He and his team at CPD racing has been beyond busy readying for both the rallies and the X Games.
“There is a (rally) race in Maine next month, plus there are two cars to get ready, one here to test and one to get to Maine,” Sarasin said. “They’re building an X Games car in Minneapolis. And there isn’t much time.”
Sarasin enjoys his sport for many reasons.
“There’s the adrenaline, the rush of driving,” he said. “It’s cool because it’s a team sport that tests your own abilities.
“Rally driving is you and one other guy (the co-driver, who gives directions). You put your life in his hands at 100 mph.”
The rally season brings races all over the country that offer all sorts of different challenges, from the flat fields of Colorado to the mountains of Oregon.
“The conditions can change from sunlight, to rain, to snow in the course of one race,” he said. “So there’s definitely a different set of challenges than in traditional racing.”
Sarasin, a 2007 graduate of Marquette Senior High School, said his inspiration for becoming a rally driver was close to home, indeed.
“Both of my parents were involved in rally,” he said. “My dad (Stuart) drove in the late 1980s and early 1990s. My mom (Joyce) was his co-driver for a while, so that sparked my love for it.
“My dad kept bringing me to the races, which continued my interest in it.”
Sarasin is an instructor at the European Rally School in Florida and a friend there — Marquette native Alex Abernathy — has become his camera operator this season, recording races for posterity and as a learning tool.
While he’s following a hectic schedule, splitting his time between Marquette, Florida and wherever the races take place, Sarasin has remained close to his family and friends.
He’s hoping to bring some of them to Los Angeles when his X Games adventure begins with training in late July.
“Johnny (VandeZande) is coming to the X Games and hopefully Alex,” he said. “And my dad, my sister Sydney and hopefully my mom will be going, too.”
As for longterm goals, Sarasin would love to ultimately compete in the World Rally Championship series in Europe.
“Really, I would love to try everything, driving-wise,” he said. “Anything with four wheels that goes fast.”
