FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
Harrisville, NY - The Rocky Road Racing team ended its season on their side Saturday, just 4.5 miles into the first special stage of the Black River Stages SCCA ClubRally. Both driver Don Kennedy and newly anointed navigator Matt Kennedy were fine, but the same couldn't be said for the team's 1996 Subaru Impreza.
Things didn't go very well for the team from the start. On the trip up scheduled navigator Keith Kennedy and crew member Dave Pretz spent about three hours on the side of the road attempting, unsuccessfully, to help fix one of the other tow vehicle in the BMR caravan that had broken down. Come Friday night, the day took it's toll on Keith as he became very sick. So shortly after arriving Friday night, crew chief Matt Kennedy was informed that he might have to navigate for the rally.
After a trip to the hospital Friday night and several hours of sleep, Keith was feeling a lot better on Saturday morning, but stated, "I know that I'm still not coherent enough to navigate." So crew chief Matt dashed off to the rally school to get his ClubRally license. The plan from the start of Rocky Road Racing was for everyone to take turns driving and navigating eventually, but Matt wasn't "scheduled" to get in the car at Pro/ClubRally until the 2001 season, largely due to the logistics of him living about six hours north of the rest of the team.
Once the rally started it took new navigator Matt Kennedy about two miles to stop calling instructions TDS Rally style and start calling them Performance Rally style. "We were starting to lock in and at about 4.25 miles into the first stage we came over a crest and you could see the next eighth of a mile or so," explains Matt. "The road kinked back and forth a number of times as it dropped away and rose up again, before leading onto a 100m straight. As we approached the last kink before the straight the car was a little out of shape and he (Don) decided to use a little bit more than the road itself to get the car in line and set up for the straight. When we came up to the last crest is when we saw the rock hiding under the moss. The right front wheel hit it, sending the car up on its left wheels and sliding to the left, while still traveling up the stage road in fourth gear. When Don brought the car down it went up on the right two wheels and sliding the other way. When the car came down again the left front dug in and sent us over on the driver's side, and then onto the leading edge of the hood and roof where we slid for about 30 feet. The car eventually ended up on the driver's side blocking three quarters of the road, with the roof facing oncoming cars."
"The only major damage to the car is the part of the lower front-left suspension that broke, and that was probably already fractured in Maine (Forest Rally) after we hit a big pothole," was driver Don Kennedy's initial response when asked about the extent of the damage to the car. "The rest of the damage is mainly cosmetic; driver's side windows, maybe the driver's door, the front fenders and headlights, the hood, the windshield, and the front of the roof. It'll be my winter project."
For More Information Contact:
Matt Kennedy
Rocky Road Racing
mjk99@together.net
http://www.RockyRoadRacing.com
