NEFR Press Release

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

Good afternoon everyone!

A quick note to let you know that the 2008 edition of the New England Forest Rally will take place next week - July 11-12, 2008. Based out of the beautiful Sunday River Resort in Bethel, ME and competed on hundreds of miles of forest roads in western Maine and northern New Hampshire, the event will attract some of the best Rally drivers in all of North America! Of course, Subaru Rally Team USA will be well represented at the event with all three of our teams, the #199 of Travis Pastrana; the #43 of Ken Block & the #40 of Dave Mirra. Pastrana and Block will be driving their exciting new 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi's, while BMX and X-Games legend Dave Mirra will be driving his super quick 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Ken Block makes his appearance in Maine coming off an impressive overall win at the Baie de Chaleaur Rally in Quebec Province this past weekend. Winning by more than 2 minutes and 10 seconds, Block and his 2008 WRX doiminated the entire field! With Travis Pastrana currently in 2nd place overall in the 2008 Rally America national championship standings (by just 1 point!) and Ken Block just 2 points back in third place, the 2008 New England Forest Rally could be the place where Subaru Rally Team USA reclaims the overall points lead in the 2008 Rally America National Championship - only time will tell! Below is the latest press release from the folks at Rally America, so be sure to check it out. By the way, on Saturday, July 12, 2008, the event will get underway in Berlin, NH with a Parc Expose from 8:00am to 9:00am where you'll be able to check out the rally cars on display and then get autographs from all the drivers. The rally competition will resume at 9:00am Saturday morning in Berlin with stages in the area and a scheduled 1-hour service taking place for all the rally teams in Berlin, NH starting at 11:30am.

Rally Stars Battle for X-Games Wildcard Spot at the 2008 New England Forest Rally

The top rally drivers on the continent are set to take on the rugged forest terrain of Maine and New Hampshire when the Rally America National Championship Series moves to the East Coast for the New England Forest Rally on July 11 and 12.

Heading into Round 6, the top three drivers in the series are separated by just three points and it is expected to be an exciting battle.

Andrew Comrie-Picard is leading the standings in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. One point behind is Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana in his Subaru WRX STi, with Ken Block another two points behind him.

In addition to the 2008 Rally America National Championship title, New England Forest Rally competitors are vying for the Last Chance Qualifier entry into X Games 14, to be held in Los Angeles this August 3rd.

The event’s top-finishing driver who has not already earned an invitation to the X Games will earn the coveted last-chance spot.

Among the contenders for the final position are Rockstar Energy’s Andy Pinker, who is sitting in 11th overall in the standings after being dogged by mechanical trouble all season.

Wildcard driver Niall McShea, a former Production World Rally Champion, will also be a contender. The Irish driver has yet to battle the current crop of Rally America competitors, but it’s expected he has the talent to walk away with a win.

For the third consecutive year, rally racing will be featured in the Summer X Games, with the first six races of the 2007 Rally America season serving as qualifying events for the popular action-sport competition.

Already confirmed as invited X Games drivers are: Tanner Foust, Ken Block and Travis Pastrana -- the three medalists from last year's race -- and Andrew Comrie-Picard, Matthew Johnson, Antoine L’Estage, Kyle Sarasin, Patrick Moro, and Nathan Conley. Two others will be selected from the rally community at large.

Challenging logging roads with some of the longest stages on the circuit set the tone for the New England Forest Rally. Always a favorite with drivers due to the technical demands of the course, this rally is also a crowd pleaser because of its stunning scenery and wildlife.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

Six vehicle classes, ranging from stock to highly modified, compete under the Rally America banner. Eleven different automobile manufacturers are represented in Rally America events, led by Subaru, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Ford and Volkswagen.

Based in Golden Valley, Minn., Rally America sanctions the premier rally racing series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series.



For more information on the New England Forest Rally, Subaru Rally Team USA or Vermont SportsCar, please be sure to visit the following web sites: www.rally-america.com, www.rally.subaru.com or www.vtcar.com. We hope we'll see you at the New England Forest Rally next week!!!

Take care,

Paul Giblin, Vice President
Vermont SportsCar & Subaru Rally Team USA
382 Hercules Drive, Suite #4
Colchester, VT 05446
Office: (802) 655-3533 ext. 20
Mobile: (603) 986-1217
Personal E-Mail: paulgiblin@usa.net
Work E-mail: paul@vtcar.com
Web Sites: www.vtcar.com or www.rally.subaru.com

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Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net

START ORDER
Pos Start Car # Speed
Factor Driver / CoDriver Class Year Make Model
1 199 98.75 Travis Pastrana / Derek Ringer O 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2 43 97.16 Ken Block / Alessandro Gelsomino O 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
3 2 95.47 Andrew Pinker / Robbie Durant O 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
4 17 89.99 Antoine L'Estage / Nathalie Richard O 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
5 20 87.62 Andrew Comrie-Picard / Marc Goldfarb O 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
6 46 84.16 Matthew Johnson / Jeremy Wimpey O 2007 Subaru STi
7 55 82.56 Kyle Sarasin / TBA O 1999 Subaru Impreza
8 25 79.22 Seamus Burke / Eddie Fries O 2005 Mitsubishi Evo 9
9 68 74.62 William Bacon / Peter Watt O 2006 Mitsubishi EVO IX
10 59 70.95 Patrick Moro / Scott Crouch PGT 2002 Subaru WRX
11 444 65.75 Jeff Moyle / Scott Putnam O 2007 Subaru Impreza STi
12 14 63.94 Amy BeberVanzo / Ole Holter PGT 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX
13 70 62.83 Christopher Duplessis / TBA N/A
14 102 60.22 George Georgakopoulos / Faruq Mays O 2004 Subaru WRX
15 40 59.80 Dave Mirra / Alexander Kihurani O 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
16 811 59.60 Jaroslaw Sozanski / TBA PGT 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX
17 878 54.47 Allen Downs / Erik Lee O 1996 Subaru Impreza
18 779 48.42 Maciej Przybysz / Kristin Chute O 2006 SUBARU IMPREZA
19 110 46.53 John Cassidy / Dave Getchell O 2003 Subaru WRX-STi
20 87 45.08 Mark Williams / Jeff Secor O 1996 Subaru Impreza WRX
21 125 41.30 Scott Wilburn / Aaron Crescenti PGT 2003 Subaru WRX
22 325 22.64 Joseph Burke / Eamonn Sweeney G2 1997 Acura Integra Type R
23 894 N/A Alan Moody / Tim Chevalier G2 1995 Dodge Neon
24 N/A Niall McShea / Gordon Noble O 2006 Mitsubishi EVO
25 724 N/A Jim McClelland / Jon Price G2 1987 Toyota MR2
26 95 N/A Eric Hansen / Kim DeMotte P 1995 dodge neon
27 101 N/A Conor Malone / Glenna Chestnutt G5 1986 Dodge Conquest


Looks like the death of RA has been somewhat exagerated! And the early entry deadline isn't until 7/3/2008.

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Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net