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February 2011 Archives

02.14.2011



For Immediate Release

Bangor, Maine USA

Maine's Last Ditch Racing rally team began their 2011 season by sliding their Subaru STi onto the podium of the Ontario Provincial Rally Championship portion of the 46th edition of the Rallye Perce Neige, Round 1 of the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship.

Driver John Cassidy and Co-Driver Dave Getchell drove through the forests of Quebec during the epic event that spanned approximately 15 hours. The weekend began on a difficult note for the crew when neither the rally car, nor the service vehicle would start while Cassidy and Getchell were out on recce. What was meant to be a fairly relaxed day for the LDR crew was spent troubleshooting both. "Each rally presents some sort of adversity-we'd find it all on the stages, but the crew had their fair share as well."

"To say that Rallye Perce Neige is a challenging event is an understatement," said Cassidy. "This was our first Canadian winter event in three years, and there was definitely a bit of rust. We struggled to find pace early on." The crew found tire choice to be difficult, using three types of tires during the day-with mixed results, eventually settling on . The stages were often just two clear lines of sheer ice with a small amount of snow in places. Adding to the challenge was that surface conditions changed often on the famously long stages.

Starting 17th on the road, the team dropped down the order before floating back up to an overall finish of 15th in the National field. "The field was extremely deep at Perce Neige and if there's one thing Canadian drivers know, it's how to drive in the snow!" On the second passage through the long Kitigan-Zibi stage, the crew passed cars, and were passed in turn. "It was surreal to spend 30 minutes concentrating-pushing as hard as we could, all the while looking at cars we were catching up and keeping an eye on the rear view!"

Last Ditch Racing's next event will be the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs in New Richmond, Quebec in July, 2011

The team would like to thank the organizers, volunteers, fans and fellow competitors for the wonderful event. John and Dave would like to thank their onsite crew for the event: Duncan Matlack and Michael Rademacher. The Triple Caution Farm crew: Drew Gladu, Drew Simpson and Nathan Haskell.

Last Ditch Racing would like to thank their 2011 Partners for their continued support:

VP Racing fuels, http://www.vpracingfuels.com
Triple Caution, LLC, http://www.triplecaution.us

For more information on Rallye Perce Neige, please visit: http://www.rallyeperceneige.com/

For more information on Last Ditch Racing: http://www.lastditch

02.03.2011



For immediate release

Bangor, Maine USA

February 1, 2011

Maine's Last Ditch Racing will bring their Subaru WRX STi into the remote snowy stages of Northern Quebec this weekend for the Rallye Perce Neige. Headquartered in the town of Maniwaki, Rallye Perce Neige is the first round of the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship.

An extremely strong field of 42 crews have entered the event, ensuring that there will be competition throughout the field.

Although Perce Neige will be the team's only full-on snow/ice event of 2011, Driver John Cassidy and Co-Driver Dave Getchell are up for the challenge. Said Cassidy, "Snow and ice require patience and finesse. Combine those requirements with the demands of the technical stages of Perce Neige, and we have an extremely long day ahead of us on Saturday!" The team will also get to run the famous 32.95km Kitigan Zibi stage twice, once likely in the dark. "Other than some of the older stages run years ago at the Maine Forest Rally, Kitigan Zibi is likely the longest stage we'll run all season-it's one of the few stages we've done that I've actually asked Dave, "how much further!?"

The teams plans to stay quick and tidy and avoid deploying any snow removal equipment during the event. "Once the shovel is out of the car, you're bleeding enormous time that's very hard to pull back. We're not snow/ice experts, but then again, it's not our first rodeo(or snowball fight) either!" said Cassidy. The team has competed many times at Perce Neige, but only once when their current Subaru STi had been freshly built. "The car was suffering significant mechanical issues on that event and the results reflected it. She's had significant development since that time and all Dave and I need to do is try and keep up with her!"

The team is looking forward to a busy 2011 season, which will include all Eastern Canadian Rally Championship events as well as the New England Forest Rally. "We're going to push hard this season, focusing on Canada. We love the organization, the fans and especially the competition-we're very excited to be back!"

Last Ditch Racing would like to thank their 2010 Partners for their continued support:

VP Racing fuels, http://www.vpracingfuels.com
Triple Caution, LLC, http://www.triplecaution.us

For more information on Rallye Defi, please visit: http://www.rallyeperceneige.com/

For more information on Last Ditch Racing: http://www.lastditchracing.com
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