Bangor, Maine, USA -- Last Ditch Racing, Maine's premiere ProRally team, displayed their two Subaru Impreza rally cars at the 16th annual Northeast Motorsports Expo in Augusta Maine, January 2-4. The team was pleased to receive a, "Best in Class," trophy. The show drew thousands of racing fans over its three days.

The team was kept busy during the show introducing the cars and the sport of rally to the predominately circle track/drag racing/pulling crowd. Said owner/driver John Cassidy, "We were both surprised and pleased with the reception the team and the cars received at the Expo." Cassidy attributes part of the warm reception to a higher general public awareness of rally as well as the fairly recent introduction of four cylinder cars in the world of circle track racing.

The teams' cars were the first rally cars at the Expo since the late Carl Merrill displayed his Chevy S-10 rally truck many years ago. Many people had little-to-no knowledge that the Maine Forest Rally, the SCCA Pro-Rally's most popular round of the championship, occurs in Rumford each summer. "When we told people that this sport is happening in their backyard, they were both amazed and dismayed that there had not been marketing to inform the racing fans in the state."

The team had recently repaired their Open Class car, T-2(Tulip-2) after an off at the recent Rally of The Tall Pines in Ontario. Said Cassidy, "We had little time to effect repairs for the show, but we had to get them done in preparation for our first rally of the season, the Rally Perce-Neige in Ontario Feb. 7."

Last Ditch Racing would like to thank their team partners: www.mainehost.com, www.teamoneil.com, www.triplecaution.us, www.primmracing.com for their support as the team mounts a challenge in the 2004 Canadian Rally Championship. The team will also compete in select events here in the US.

Triple Caution Inc., New England distributor of MOTUL products held a Colin McCrae 3 challenge on their Playstation 2 with the best time on SS1 of Finland winning two bottles of MOTUL RBF-600. The winner was Kyle Allard of Allard Motorsports. The team was also pleased to donate a hood and rear spoiler to a charity auction benefiting the Shriners.

• For more information about Last Ditch Racing, please visit: www.lastditchracin.com or e-mail John@lastditchracing.net
• For Last Ditch Racing apparel and gifts(including the thong), please visit: www.cafeshops.com/lastditchracing#top
• For more information about the Northeast Motorsports Expo, please vist: www.northeastmotorsports.net/index.htm
• For more information on the Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, please visit: www.lino.com/~rallyperceneige/