BANGOR – Last Ditch Racing, Maine’s Open Class rally team, has brought home the 2007 Rally America Eastern Championship in its Subaru Impreza WRX Sti.

Strong performances at the New England Forest Rally and the recent Rally of the Tall Pines in Ontario saw the Bangor-based team push to a late-season victory.

Team member John Cassidy took top Open Class Driver over Irish hotshot Patrick Brennan, with Dave Getchell taking the top Open Class Co-Driver spot over Brennan’s navvie Noel Gallagher.

Cassidy and Getchell are ecstatic.

“Dave and I are very excited and proud that we’ve been able to bring this championship home to Maine. We drove a strong race at the New England Forest Rally despite exhaust and power issues and followed that up with a measured drive at the snowy and icy Rally of the Tall Pines. We had a very difficult 2006 season, with many development issues with the new car,” Cassidy said. “It was a situation we weren’t used to being in, and frankly I’m glad we’re on the other side and picking up speed.”

Getchell said, “This season took a whole lot of wrenching on the car, many long tows and hours of hurtling through the woods trying not to hit things, but in the end it all worked out. One advantage we were able to capitalize on was our experience with recce [scouting the stages beforehand] which we developed over several seasons racing in the Canadian National Series. Recce is an important skill-set for this sport, and we hope that Rally America continues to offer recce at both national and regional events.”

Last Ditch Racing is planning to cap its championship season with a visit to the 100-Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Mo., in February.

“All the top regional teams from across the country are invited to 100-Acre Wood for an annual Regional National Championship showdown, and we’re ready to go,” Cassidy said.

The team is grateful for their crew, whom they described as “fantastic.”

“We are a team racing at the highest level on a shoestring, and we couldn’t do it without the support of our families, sponsors, friends and most of all our crew,” Cassidy said.

Crew members for 2007 are Bronson Crothers, Duncan Matlack, Rob Sockalexis, Nate Sockalexis, Tim Chevalier, Alan Moody, Zach Gerry, Steph Jazlowiecki and Mike Rademacher.

The Last Ditch Racing congratulated fellow Mainer Chris Duplessis, who took the Overall Driver spot in the R-A Eastern championship and who also won the Group 2 National Championship.

“Our hats are off to Chris and co-driver Martin Headland for an awesome season,” Cassidy said.

Next year will see the team tackling the Team O’Neil rally in Dalton, N.H., in January before the 100-Acre Wood. “Although we ended our race after a brief encounter with a tree at last year’s event, we’re looking forward to some more snow and ice experience on some great roads,” Cassidy said.

The remainder of the season will see the team contesting both U.S. and Canadian events as support allows.

Last Ditch Racing team partners are Triple Caution LLC, Hydra EMS, Team O’Neil, Turn in Concepts, Kartboy and JSC Speed.

Technical expertise is provided by Iain and Nam at Planet Motorsport, and Dave and Gen at Rallispec.

For more information, visit www.lastditchracing.com.