By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

NEWRY – Travis Pastrana has transitioned from a cult hero to an immediate superstar in one of the world’s most popular spectator sports.

Funny thing is, where the 22-year-old motocross world champion hangs out these days, people would have a tough time picking him out of a police lineup. America hasn’t quite caught rallying fever yet.

“Compared to motocross, this (fan base) is very, very small. It’s good, because I can actually go places and take time and talk to everybody,” Pastrana said. “I can’t go to a motocross race and not be noticed, which sucks, because I love the sport.”

Not that he’s starved for attention, mind you.

Pastrana spoke from a chair in front of the South Ridge Lodge at Sunday River on Thursday evening, enjoying a break after 30 straight minutes of smiling, schmoozing, shaking hands and leaving his loopy signature on posters, books, DVDs, shoes, shirts, purses and motorcycle fenders.

More than 200 autograph hounds, a majority of them women and children, waited out a one-hour delay in Pastrana’s announced arrival time and swatted away dozens of persistent, late-season black flies. Their reward: A chance to meet one of the biggest names in extreme sports.

Best known for his X Games exploits in the dirt and while hanging perilously from his bike, 50 feet in the air, the Marylander has made the jump to full bodied sports cars. Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom will be among the favorites when the Maine Forest Rally begins this afternoon in Mexico.

“I started out driving go-karts,” Pastrana said. “My dad owned a construction company, and when I was 16, I had a chance to play around with his Subaru. That was enough to convince me that this was something I might like to do in the future.”

The future is now. In only his second full season of competition, Pastrana is tied for the point lead in pursuit of the Rally America 2006 national championship.

Even though he’s new to the off-road racing scene, Pastrana suggested that he already has unfinished business in Maine.

“I was in second place last year, and then I hit a tree,” Pastrana said. “We’ll see if I can keep it out of the woods this time.”

Pastrana is a legend on two wheels. You can buy his action figure in stores or take a tour of his house on the MTV series “Cribs.”

From AMA champion to Daytona Supercross winner to X Games and Gravity Games gold medalist, he has claimed virtually every major prize on both the conventional side of the sport and its aerial offspring.

This weekend, instead of soaring above a mountain of earth with the masses screaming his name, Pastrana will compete against a clock on mountain logging roads with few sounds but the humming of his Subaru’s engine and the voice of Edstrom reading a map.

“There aren’t 60,000 people at a show screaming your name,” Pastrana said, “and the day is a lot longer. Motocross is mostly a physical challenge. This is more of a mental challenge. You’re going all-out for 60 miles at a time, and then you roll in at 1 o’clock in the morning and there are maybe five people at your checkpoint cheering you on.”

What his new sport lacks in notoriety, it delivers in safety.

Freestyle motocross is a world of broken bones and short careers. While most rally cars are registered to operate on the highways along with our family sedans, they’re also purpose built like their distant NASCAR cousins.

“When you wreck in motocross, you’re not tearing up your bike at all. You’re just tearing up your body,” said Kenny Bartram, a longtime friend and bike rival of Pastrana who is following his lead into rallying. “If you crash one of these cars, you’re not usually tearing up your body.”

“(The cars) get safer every year,” Pastrana said. “I’ve had two really bad wrecks already. The last one I rolled over my car eight times, and all I did was get out and say, Wow, that would have been fun if it wasn’t so damn expensive.'”

Pastrana isn’t exactly severing ties with his motorcycle roots.

Next month, he’ll compete in both freestyle and rally competitions at the Summer X Games.

“I’m entered in four events,” he said. “That’s enough to keep me out of trouble or get me in trouble. I’m not sure which.”

More than enough to keep him carrying a Sharpie just about any time he leaves home, too.