SHILLINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA -- 3 Stooges Racing guided their Steve Moyer Subaru sponsored Subaru Impreza to a 3rd place finish overall at the Cherokee Trails International Rally ClubRallies this weekend. Relying heavily on the performance and reliability inherent in their basically stock 1996 Subaru Impreza, the team survived an event that saw less than half the starting field finish.

"I'd love to run these roads all day" said driver and owner Don Kennedy. "There were a few spots that were very rough, but the DMS suspension performed great, and I never had to worry ," not even when the car was repeatedly launched into flight due to the numerous dips in the road, some of which sent the car two to three feet in the air! "Not only are Subaru's very durable cars, they're very well balanced. Whenever the car gets airborne, it comes back down pretty evenly, which allows me to take some of the dips and yumps with a little more speed than others." The grin on Don's face said it all.

About all that navigator Matt Kennedy had to say was "wow!" This was Matt's first full event in the right seat, his previous start cut short by a rock along the side of the road. "It took us a while to get the rally odometer calibrated. That, combined with the fast pace of the route instructions, made it difficult to get into a rhythm at first." But by the end of the first day the new combination of driver and navigator were working well together. In fact, the duo was performing so well that despite getting a left-front flat about two miles from the end of the event's last stage, they were less than one minute slower than their first attempt at the 18.5 mile stage. "I knew we were in a groove, but I didn't realize just how fast we were flying until we saw our time with the flat."

3 Stooges Racing Crew chief Keith Kennedy attributed the flat to a sticking valve in the tire. "We checked tire pressures at the last service, but forgot to make sure that the valve was completely closed. So subsequently, the tire began losing pressure throughout the fifty transit and stage miles up to when it blew." As many rallyists have experienced, the very tough sidewalls of rally tires make it hard to spot a tire that is low on pressure until it is almost too late. "We think that the valve stem cap blew off when the car landed (after getting airborne due to a big dip in the road) and that was the final straw."

You can find out more at the event's official web site: www.CherokeeTrailsRally.com . Also, be sure to check the 3 Stooges Racing's web site: www.3StoogesRacing.com for more information about the team, as well as rallying in general.