FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 8, 2003
Rocky Road Racing Finds its Rock
Shillington, PA - Rocky Road Racing's debut of their WRX powered Steve Moyer Subaru, KAM Specialties sponsored #931 1996 Subaru Impreza came to a sudden and disappointing halt just two miles from the end of the 125 mile Maine Forest Rally last weekend.
“The exit of the corner was off camber, and I was trying to pull the car out when all of the sudden the car snapped, pirouetted and spun through the air, then landed back on its wheels, but off the road and facing backwards” recalls owner/driver Don Kennedy. The rock, about the size of a window air-conditioner, caught the left rear corner of the car, almost completely ripping the suspension and half-shaft off the car in the process.
Navigator Mal Swann added that “the stage notes said to stay out, which unfortunately put us too far over the crown to recover.” Looking at the vegetation, it was evident that several other teams had also slid wide on the corner, but somehow managed to avoid the rock. “It's a shame,” added Mal, “we were really in sync and setting some good times.” In fact, on the second to last stage the team set the 26th fastest time out of 64.
“Yeah, the transplanted WRX engine ran great all weekend” affirmed Keith Kennedy. “Actually, we never even had to think about hooking up the computer diagnostics.” The added power did present one problem, however, as the Rocky Road Racing team found themselves scrambling to do some major brake work at the Saturday lunch break.
“When they brought the car in for service, the right-front rotor was cooked, most of the pads had been worn down to literally nothing, and the backing plate for right-rear pad had fused to the caliper piston and bent itself back around the piston”" recalls Matt Kennedy. Thanks to some serious work with a grinder, a rapid-fire brake bleeding session, and a lot help from Greg Healey and John McLeod's service crew and the car was ready to go.
Although the Rocky Road Racing team had planned on running more events in the Northeast the remainder of this year, it will probably take to rest of the year off to fix the car and continue to upgrade it. To find out more about this weekend's events, including results, check their official web site: http://maineforestrally.com. Also, for photos, videos, and more information about Rocky Road Racing, as well as rallying in general, be sure to stop by our web site: www.RockyRoadRacing.com.
Contact:
Matt Kennedy
Rocky Road Racing
matt@RockyRoadRacing.com
http://www.RockyRoadRacing.com
