For Immediate Release

March 3, 2010

Bangor, Maine USA

Maine's Last Ditch Racing had a mixed weekend at the recent 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri, ultimately claiming third overall of sixteen regional entrants and third in Open Class in Saturday's 100 Acre Wood Regional Rally.

The 100 Acre Wood Rally, round 2 of the Rally America 2010 National Championship, also comprised the Regional Rally Championship. As 2009 Eastern Region Open Class Champions, the team had come down to race again other regional champions in an attempt to take overall honors. The woods of Missouri had other plans for the team, however.

Friday's event was eventful, but not in a positive way. A slight off early on SS2 rattled Cassidy and Co-driver Adam Kneiip, and then halfway through the stage the team's exhaust manifold on their 2003 Subaru STi fractured, causing hot exhaust gases to blow onto components in the engine compartment. "In addition to not having any power due to lack of boost, we started to see smoke and smell burning rubber," said driver John Cassidy. "We were forced to make the decision to retire from Friday's event in order to save the car and ensure we'd be able to compete in Saturday's event."

Friday night saw the crew of fellow competitor Dillon Van Way weld up the team's header. As it was the second such failure in the same manifold in a couple of weeks, the team did not trust that it would hold and looked for an alternative. A local media person and Subaru enthusiast soon heard that the team was searching for a manifold and met the team at their hotel with the replacement. New part in hand, the crew replaced it in the early hours of the Saturday morning and the team were ready for Saturday's stages.

Morning came with the crew feeling fresh and confident in the car. The first stage saw Cassidy and co-driver Adam Kneiip continue to acclimate to each other's styles. At a low water bridge on the second stage, a slip joint in the exhaust system separated, creating worry in the car that they had another serious exhaust system failure. "Even with our noise canceling intercom, it was incredibly loud and I thought we had another hole on our hands. Driving a bit further on, I realized that, despite the noise, we still had full power and all systems were go."

Saturday saw the team chasing fellow Open Class crews of Henry/Cindy Krowlikowski in their ex-Prodrive Subaru and Chris Gilligan/Joe Peterson in their EVO 4. Said Cassidy, "I wish we could have pushed Henry and Chris a bit more, but we did all we could with the car we had. We'll continue to work hard to increase the performance of the car on our next outing!"

The 100 Acre Wood Rally saw Colorado co-driver Adam Kneipp sit with Cassidy for the first time. "It was obvious from the first time that we talked over the phone that Adam is meticulous and goal oriented. Adam slotted into the car and team seamlessly. We had a great weekend overall and perhaps we'll be able to get him back into the car later in the season."

The Last Ditch Racing crew were highly regarded in the service area at the event, and Cassidy/Kneipp want to thank them publicly. Drew Simpson, Zachary Sennett and Drew Gladu swarmed on the car each service and worked into the morning hours making sure that everything was perfect for Cassidy/Kneipp. "This event saw the crew really coalesce. I was amazed by the ownership and assertiveness the lads showed this weekend. Their strong work allowed Adam and I to maintain our focus on the race and developing our relationship within the car. Our helmets' are off to them!," said Cassidy.

Last Ditch Racing would also like to thank the Organizers for a fantastic event, as well as the fans/residents of Salem and Rolla, Missouri and all the towns the event travelled through. "The people of Missouri are some of the friendliest folks we've met in rallying and we felt right at home in Missouri. Maine feels a bit like Missouri, but without the awesome BBQ!"

2010 sees LDR with several new partners. LDR has partnered with VP Racing Fuels in the Northeast to run the new 109e race fuel. "We've run VP in the past, but rule changes meant we had to switch to another brand. Now that VP has come out with a newly formulated fuel, we're able to use our preferred brand. We'll soon be remapping our ECU to take advantage of the new fuel." Kartboy products, maker of short shifters, shift knobs, swaybar links and other performance oriented parts is also stepping up support this season. "We've run Kartboy decals on the car in the past, but now they're bigger! Kartboy makes products in the USA that are second-to-none in quality and performance. We'd only consider Kartboy for our mission critical suspension and driver interface parts."

Luke Dobie, of Luke Dobie Designs worked with California graphic artist Craig Woida to create a graphic design for Cassidy's Peltor helmet for 2010. "Luke has been doing custom paint at the pro level for some time. When he approached me about putting custom paint on my helmet, I jumped at the chance. Between he, Craig and I, we came with a design in short order and Luke made it happen incredibly quickly, even hand delivering the helmet to me here in Maine." Openpaddock.net is an online motorsport news clearinghouse and community. LDR has partnered with Openpaddock for 2010 to help share some insight with fans into what it takes to field a rally team. Cassidy has appeared as a guest on two Openpaddock podcasts to discuss rallying in the US as well as share his thoughts on the WRC as a rally fan and driver.

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

VP Racing fuels. http://www.vpracingfuels.com
Kartboy, http://www.kartboy.com
Triple Caution, LLC, http://www.triplecaution.us
Team O'Neil Rally School, http://www.teamoneil.com
Luke Dobie Designs, http://www.lukedobiedesigns.com/
32North.com, http://www.32north.com/
Openpaddock.net, http://www.openpaddock.net

To view the Rally-America official highlight video, please visit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8VnxwTu4OY

For more information on Last Ditch Racing, please visit: http://www.lastditchracing.com
Social Networking: Please search for us on Facebook and Myspace.
To follow us on Twitter, please visit: http://www.twitter.com/lastditchracing
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LastDitchRacing

To Purchase Last Ditch Racing Gear, please visit: http://www.cafepress.com/lastditchracing

Back. Dear God does it feel good to sit on an object that's not hurtling through space(as LDR co-driver Dave Getchell is fond of saying). :-)

First off, we're not in Mexico. :-( The rental agreement was not as we had expected, so we decided to cancel and spend our hard-earned money elsewhere later in the season. We're hoping that Ken Block has a fantastic ride in his first WRC event in the Focus WRC! Wish we could be there in person, Ken! :-)

Missouri is a long way from Maine. About 3,000 miles round trip to be more exact. We do the trip down and back in 2.5 days each way, taking our time. The two days end up being 12 hours each, so it's not really a leisurely drive...

We arrived in Missouri as prepared as we were able to be. Day 1 saw the exhaust manifold break at a weld(no, not my weld!), leaving us with no boost, and a nice hot stream of exhaust gases blowing on everything under the engine. Worried about fire and other collateral damage, I decided to pack it for the day. The crew worked all night, and found another team that graciously welded the headers back up. Worried that the repaired headers might be too thin, the team sourced a stock pair of headers from a local Subaru enthusiast.

Friday had only given new(to the team) co-driver Adam Kneipp and I just two short stages to get acquainted with each other's styles.

Saturday dawned with promise and, although out of the Regional Rally Championship portion of the event, we were ready for the day's 100 Acre Wood Regional Rally.

Second stage saw us pull an exhaust slip joint apart, necessitating Adam yelling to me over the Peltor intercom. Slowed because of worry that something more sinister had happened, we gave up even more time to competitors Henry Krowlikowski and Chris Gilligan.

The giving of time continued through the day, despite us feeling as if we were giving a pretty good effort. Discouraging, but as I like to say, "A bad day at a rally is better than a good day at work." :-)

We ended the day third overall and third in class, with Henry first and Chris second. Not a bad showing and some points taken home, but definitely not the pace I'd hoped for.

But what had I expected? I had expected we'd be closer to Henry, but also knew that a new co-driver in the car would slow me somewhat. No matter how good the chemistry(and it was good), there's a relationship that needs to be built. It only happens with stage miles, and we didn't get a lot.

What's with the title of the blog then, JoMo?! Reflecting on the trip, it was an amazing time spent with friends. Getting to talk to fellow competitors and media folks I haven't seen in awhile. Watching the LDR crew coalesce into an amazing team was probably the most rewarding aspect. Drew, Drew and Zach took ownership of the team and equipment on site and simple made things happen. Maybe this is the first time I've actually given them the ability to do that? ;-)

Regardless, we had great team meals, team sauna time, team problem solving time. The only reason any of us were there was, "because," of the rally. The rally gave us all a framework to have these other experiences, and for that I'm grateful. :-)

The car is too slow, and perhaps I am too. We'll do some more work on the car and see what we can make happen between now and the next event. Until then, I'll keep smiling thinking of the smiles on the kids' faces as they sat in T-4 and the great times I had with my crew/friends and fellow competitors.

Cheers! John