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07.04.2008
For Immediate Release
July 4, 2008
Bangor, Maine USA
Last Ditch Racing flew high and far at the recent Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, in New Richmond Quebec. Round three of the Canadian Rally Championship, the event, is known for it's driver's stages, combining technical sections with fast flowing sections. Conditions this year were especially difficult due to recent rain.
Finishing 10th overall, the team set 8 top 10 times out of 17 stages. A record 46 competitors took the start of the event, 27 finished and 19 DNF'd, attesting to the difficulty of the stages.
The team took the DC Shoes sponsored, "Longest Jump Award," after flying their 2003 Subaru WRX STi 116 feet off the famous jump at the end of the Camp Brule stage. Said driver John Cassidy, "The first time through Brule, we had a flat on the rear so couldn't take the jump with any speed. We only had one more pass and wanted to give the fans something to remember, so took the jump in fifth gear!" The team landed hard, nearly knocking co-driver Dave Getchell unconscious. Said Getchell, "That's the biggest hit I've taken without crashing!" DC Shoes principal Ken Block, suggested the award and won the rally outright in his 2008 Subaru Impreza STi, driving for the Subaru USA Rally Team. Block's jump was 115 feet. "Ken has really progressed in his driving over the past few seasons and devoted himself to the sport. His progress has been impressive and I think we'll see a lot more of him in the years to come," said Cassidy.
The event was universally praised by the crews. "We've been coming to the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs and have encouraged other US teams to do so. It's almost like one of those secrets you don't want to share with anyone, but we love the event and encourage all our fellow US teams to come up. It's clearly the top event in the North American calendar at the moment. We'll be back in 2009 and I'm sure more US teams will as well!"
The team's next event is their home event-The New England Forest Rally. Held in Rumford, Maine and based out of the Sunday River ski resort, the event is known for it's fast and flowing roads that are also filled with car breaking rocks. Said Cassidy, "This was our first event in 1999, and we've been there every year since. Because it's our home event, we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Coming so soon after Baie adds another degree of difficulty as there's car re-prep to do as well. The Fourth of July weekend will be a work weekend here at Triple Caution Farm!"
The team is hoping for a repeat of their 2006 10th place finish. "Erik and I finished 10th that year after a really clean run over the two days. We're hoping for a repeat and will do our best to give the home fans something to cheer about this year!"
Last Ditch Racing would like to thank their 2008 partners:
Triple Caution, LLC, http://www.triplecaution.us
Hydra EMS, http://www.hydraems.com
Team O'Neil Rally School, http://www.teamoneil.com
A special thanks to Planet Motorsport for their on site support at Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs. Thanks to Subaru Canada for their support of the Canadian Rally Championship in 2008.
Dave and John would like to thank their crew for the event: Duncan Matlack, Ken Anctil, John Cassidy and Drew Simpson
For more information on Last Ditch Racing, please visit: http://www.lastditchracing.com
To Purchase Last Ditch Racing Gear, please visit: http://www.cafepress.com/lastditchracing
For more information on the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, please visit: http://www.rallyebdc.com/
For more information on the New England Forest Rally, please visit: http://www.newenglandforestrally.com/
04.15.2008
A big congrats to Mark Fleming for his recent win at the Adobe Photoshop World 2008. conference. He won the Best in Show Prize/Guru Award for his photo of T-4 airborne at the 2006 New England Forest Rally. He also won in the photography category for a separate photo.
To see more of Mark's fantastic work, check out his blog site at:
Mark Fleming
Congrats Mark, and thanks for making us look soooo sexy! :-)
Cheers! John
06.20.2006
The team is no stranger to the event, the 1999 edition being driver/owner John Cassidy's first ever competitive event. "I can't say enough good things about the event. The roads are awesome and it's one of the few events close enough for our fans and family to attend." Historically one of the most popular rounds of the US Championship series, relatively few Maine residents know of it's existence. "I hope we see more Mainers out on the stages this year to experience this awesome event!"
02.07.2005
The one day event saw driver John Cassidy and co-driver Dave Getchell cover 233 km of special stages and 435 km of total distance over the 13 hour event. The event challenged the competitors with one of the longest stages in North American rallying at 50.40 km. "To drive a stage that long is exciting," said Cassidy. "It speaks to the way rallies used to be and really tests our ability to maintain focus over a long period of time. It's a challenge Dave and I enjoyed."
11.15.2004
The team completed the 2004 Canadian Championship in second place in both Open Class driver and co-driver categories, behind Canadian Champions Patrick and Nathalie Richard. The team stands 7th overall in the Canadian Championship among all drivers.
"To say that we're pleased is an understatement," said driver/owner John Cassidy. "The crew and the team set a goal of being a top 10 team in the Canadian Championship this year. We were able to do that by being consistent and finishing in the points. To be second in the Open Class is a monumental achievement for our grassroots team. We couldn't be happier."
11.15.2004
The 2003 edition of the event saw the team find the first ditch, putting their Impreza WRX into the woods shortly after starting the first stage. Said driver John Cassidy, "We learned a hard lesson about running the wrong tires for the conditions and were lucky we didn't damage the car or ourselves more."
The team has had an outstanding 2004 season, and is currently sitting third in the the Open Class and 8th overall in the championship. The team also sits 4th overall in the North American Rally Championship.
09.12.2004
Just starting the event was an achievement for the team. Their Open Class Subaru Impreza WRX was not running the day prior to the event. On the way to St. Agathe, the team delivered the car to LaChute Subaru Performance for diagnosis and repair. While LaChute worked on the car, the team participated in recce for the event, not knowing if they'd have a car to start the next day.
The hard work of the LaChute crew paid off as the car was done one our before the deadline for technical inspection. Driver/owner John Cassidy said, "The efforts of LaChute and the Last Ditch Racing crew were Herculean. We toiled over and worried about the car for quite some time. Dave and I ran recce as we normally would, checking in with LaChute mechanics when we had cell phone service. I really don't want to see my cellphone bill!"
08.07.2004
The 2003 edition of the rally saw the team take their first top 10 in a Championship event, taking ninth. The team had previously placed as the top American team in 2002.
The team is coming off a solid finish at the SCCA Maine Forest Rally ProRally. "We had a spin into a ditch at Maine, but were able to drive out of the stage. By that time, we had lost a lot of time," said Cassidy. The team then had to stop and change a flat, leading to more time. "It wasn't the way we would have liked the rally to go, but it's typical for Maine Forest!"
The team has been making some improvements to the team infrastructure as well as the car. John Cassidy, driver/owner, is pleased with the team's progress. "We always push ourselves to improve some aspect of the team between events." The team has made some improvements to the car as well as a new car trailer they recently acquired.
08.04.2004
The team started Friday's stages in 52 position, and ended the day in 27th position. The team completed the ProRally in 29th position and 15th in class. They completed the ClubRally in 17th position, 12th in class.
Saturday saw driver/co-driver John Cassidy and Dave Getchell run wide on a corner 4/10s of a mile from the finish of Special Stage 5-Magalloway.
Said Cassidy, "I got a little too wide on a turn near the end of the stage and the right rear of the car entered the ditch hard, breaking our Revolution rally wheel off the hub on some rocks. I thought the whole rear suspension was gone, but we drove it out-that's what we do on our team, drive it until it won't go."
Cassidy and Getchell put a new wheel on the car and limped back to the 11 minute service stop without brakes. "We radioed the team that we had significant damage. We knew we couldn't repair it completely in the allotted 11 minutes," said Cassidy. The service crew pulled the wheel and found that the brake disc had shattered, and the brake pads were gone. The trailing arm was cracked halfway through and a lateral link was quite badly bent.
07.02.2004
Friday's stages saw the team climb from a 24th position start to 14th at the end of the night. Said driver John Cassidy, "We were pushing, as we knew the stages were rough and we thought we could put a little distance between ourselves and some of the other teams."