Double wins at New England Forest Rally

Last Ditch Racing, defending 2007 Rally America Eastern Open Class Champions, took the overall and Open Class wins in both the Mexico Regional Rally and the Berlin Regional Rally in the New England Forest Rally. Their performance was enough to earn them a fifth place overall in the national portion of the event, after starting 16th.

The team set several top 10 stage times and set personal team records on seven stages.

The New England Forest Rally held in western Maine and parts of New Hampshire is Round 6 of the 2008 Rally America National Championship and regarded as one of the roughest and difficult events in the championship.

The team began 2008 by taking the overall win at the Team O’Neil Rally in New Hampshire in icy conditions. The team continued the winning streak by taking an award for the longest jump at the recent Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs in Quebec and finishing 10th overall in the national event.

The recent wins at the New England Forest Rally give the team a commanding lead in the Rally America.

Driver John Cassidy and Co-Driver Dave Getchell drove a tidy and quick event and brought their 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi home relatively unscathed. “This result is the equivalent of a win for us.” Cassidy said. “To be fifth overall after a past production car world rally champion and two series contenders is amazing. Maine is known as a rough event and this year was no exception.”

Those not familiar with the team were surprised with their impressive finish, but Cassidy expects more of the same in their remaining events this season. “We really struggled with development of our current car early on, leading to some poor finishes and a season where we went from fourth in the championship to not scoring any points at all. Since last fall, we’ve hit our stride with the car, and recent additions to our service crew have bolstered our confidence.”

The team had close battles with Dave Mirra and Jeff Moyle, both piloting Subaru STi’s prepared by Vermont Sportscar. “Our ace in the hole was our experience and perhaps our advancing age. Both Dave and Jeff were right there throughout the event and our ability to avoid drama put us in a position to take fifth. On the final stage, we caught two cars near the end and literally had to stop in the thick dust because we just couldn’t see the road. Mirra told me when he came through he didn’t have any dust to contend with and that made me worry that he had perhaps caught us. He took 30 seconds out of us, but it wasn’t enough and we held station.”

The Maine Forest Rally 1999 was Cassidy’s first event in a Honda CRX. “The team has made obvious significant strides over the last 9 years,” he said. “We’ve still got plenty of room for improvement, but our hard work over the years as a privateer team is starting to pay dividends when we achieve a result like this. To have our career best finish at home after such a long time in the sport is a dream come true. We’ve been asked recently if we’d consider a full U.S. national schedule next year, and while we’d love to do that, we’d need far more external support to do it properly.” The team’s next event will be the Rallye Defi-St. Agathe in Quebec.

Cassidy and Getchell credit their crew for hard work and support, both on and off event. Crew members are Bronson Crothers, Duncan Matlack, Ken Anctil, Drew Simpson, John Cassidy V and Rob Sockalexis.

For more information on Last Ditch Racing, visit www.lastditchracing.com.