Portland, OR (July 7, 2009) –
The first event of the 2009 MaxAttack! Rally Series for two-wheel-drive
cars is a few days away, but the story is already being written. Rally
Idaho is a new event for the series, and nearly 30 of the event’s 48
entrants are eligible to participate in the hunt for the MaxAttack!
cash prize and the opportunity to compete for the prestigious Jake
Himes Cup, the series' championship prize. Teams will be flocking to
Mountain Home, Idaho from all over the United States for the event.
“This
is the quality of entry that we hoped we'd see when we first dreamed up
the series,” enthuses MaxAttack! co-founder Eric Burmeister. “The
fastest two-wheel-drive teams in the United States are again gathering
in one spot to fight out who is the best of the best. We couldn’t ask
for anything more!”
The
fast and smooth Idaho roads will allow the competing teams to let it
all hang out, and it will be interesting to see how times compare
between thundering large-displacement V8 vehicles, turbocharged cars,
and lighter, more nimble small-displacement cars. The
large-displacement camp should produce an epic battle between the Ford
Mustang of Minnesota’s Mark Utecht, teamed with co-driver Rob Bohn, and
the Ford F-150 of Californians Bill Holmes and Sean Gallagher. Also in
the fray will be an Arizona team, the Chevrolet Camaro of Jim Morris
and Bill Masche. These three vehicles are all high-power,
rear-wheel-drive cars that should provide lots of sideways
entertainment for the spectators.
Drama
has already struck the smaller displacement camp. While Josh and
Jeremy Wimpey will be towing out from the east coast with their
Volkswagen GTI, the other team of brothers, Seattle's Tom and Don
Burress, announced yesterday that their nearly identical GTI was hung
up in final prep and testing and the team would be forced to withdraw.
The battle will still be a hard fought affair, as the Golf of the
Colorado-based team of Scott Leonard and Adam Kneipp will come to show
their stuff along with the Honda CRX of Cody Crane and Pat Darrow.
Also, George Doganis and Tom Smith will debut a new Honda Civic rally
car, and could be quick out of the box.
Not
to be outdone, the turbocharged brigade looks set to be a formidable
threat for overall MaxAttack! honors, but the story continues to
intrigue. Former factory Mitsubishi driver and 2wd champion, Lauchlin
O'Sullivan will campaign the Dodge Neon SRT-4 that has carried Doug
Shepherd to previous MaxAttack! victories with co-driver Karen Wagner.
Another victim to preparation woes, John Lane and Jason Grahn also
announced their last minute withdrawl as their Volvo 262 turbo.
Aurimas and Amy Bakchis will also be churning it up in a 2 wheel drive
turbocharged DSM.
“This
is the roots of American rallying,” explained Burmeister, who won the
2008 Jake Himes Cup in his Mazdaspeed3 rally car. “New cars, old cars,
pickup trucks, desert trucks, small cars, larger cars, both domestic
and imports and, of course, the current crop of factory hotrods. This
is the kind of variety that made American rallying it's own entity in
the 70's. And it continues to make it interesting and important in a
time of formulaic classes and silhouette cars across the motorsport
spectrum.”
The
MaxAttack! Rally Series, presented by the Rallysports Group of America,
consists of three events across the country, and each event will
feature a $5,000 prize fund to be distributed among the top
two-wheel-drive teams, as well as a season championship. The team that
accumulates highest point total from one of the qualifying events and
the central shootout will be awarded the prestigious Jake Himes Cup.
Rally Idaho and the New England Forest Rally on July 17-18 are the two
qualifying events, with the final shootout being at Minnesota’s Ojibwe
Forest Rally, August 28-29.
For more information about the MaxAttack! Rally Series and the Rallysports Group of America, please visit http://www.max-attack.com.
About Rallysports Group of America
Rallysports
Group of America, Inc. (RSGA) was formed as an organization in 2006 to
advance the sport of performance stage rally in the United States. By
providing education on performance driving, car preparation and safety,
and by fostering the growth of meaningful competition, RSGA seeks to
provide a sustainable and competitive arena for the advancement of
North American performance rally that promotes increased value for
rally competitors, organizers, and sponsors alike. For more
information, please visit http://www.max-attack.com.
Photo by Lorne Trezise, http://www.frozenmotionphotos.com/
