Bangor, Maine, USA -- Defending Rally America Eastern Regional Open Class champions, Last Ditch Racing, took the overall win at the recent Team O'Neil regional rally in Dalton, New Hampshire. The team won 4 of the 10 special stages. The first round of the 2008 Rally America Eastern Regional Championship, the event was held on technical snow and ice covered roads in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. The team, fresh from a strong finish at the recent Rally of The Tall Pines in Ontario, Canada demonstrated a strong pace from the start, trading times with the VW Golf of Chris Duplessis/Catherine Woods and the Mitsubishi EVO crew Enda McCormack/Bernard Farrell.

Said Cassidy, "This was a storybook event for the team. We nearly ended our rally career with a very hard crash at the same event last year. Dave(Getchell) and I were confident in the car, crew, as well as in the conditions, and that's what put us on top. As students of past rally champion Tim O'Neil(one of many in the event), we were really pleased to support Tim, the rally and ultimately take the win!"

The event also sees the implementation of a new requirement for the use of approved head and neck safety devices by crews. Said Cassidy, "Dave and I were early adopters of the HANS device for rallying. The LDR crew has tested the efficacy of their HANS devices on more than one occasion, with the team still physically able to rally. At the end of the day, we want to return to the stages and do it again. These devices, combined with side head-restraint seats, are a step in the right direction to improve crew safety."

The team, consisting of driver /owner John Cassidy and Co-Driver Dave Getchell, have been steadily developing their Open Class Subaru Impreza STi over the 2007 season. Their next event will be Round 2 of the 2008 Rally America Championship, the 100 Acre Wood in Salem, Missouri. The event sees class champions from across the United States invited to face off on the fast stages in the woods of Missouri. The Last Ditch Racing team is excited and no stranger to events far from home, having raced in California, Newfoundland, Mexico and British Columbia, Canada. "Racing far from home is a logistical challenge for a privateer team and we'll be working hard over the next few weeks to make sure the car is 100%," said Cassidy.

Last Ditch Racing would like to thank their 2008 partners:

• www.triplecaution.us
• www.hydraems.com
• www.mainehost.com
• Team O'Neil

Dave and John would like to thank their crew for the event: Duncan Matlack, Rob Sockalexis, Nate Sockalexis, Zach Geery, Drew Simpson, Kevin Sennett.

For more information about Last Ditch Racing, please visit: www.lastditchracing.com

To Purchase Last Ditch Racing gear, please visit, www.cafepress.com/lastditchracing

For more information on the Team O'Neil Rally, please visit: rally-america.com/event.ONEIL.2008.php
For more information on the 100 Acre Wood Rally, please visit: www.100aw.org