New England Forest Rally 2009 Winners  - Sunday, July 19, 2009
Subaru Rally Team USA's Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom sailed to their fourth win of the season at the New England Forest Rally Saturday, to further extend their lead in the national championship.

Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino set a blazing pace at the start, but lost more than 20 seconds to a spin early Saturday afternoon, then had a flat tire. They were unable to make up for lost time in the final stages of the day and finished in second-place overall.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Block at the finish. "I put myself in the right position to win and it didn't work out for us."

Even so, the result moves Block into second place in the championship, behind teammate Pastrana.

Canadians Antoine L'Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard were also in the running for a win early in this event, but they lost time to a power steering failure in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Saturday afternoon and finished in third.

"It's good to taste champagne again, but I really wanted to win," said L'Estage after the ceremonial champagne spray. "I thought this morning we had a shot at it."

Havas out early - hopes dashed for a good run  - Sunday, July 19, 2009
Car #188 Havas / Crescenti broke on the first stage of the day; it appears to be either an input shaft or the clutch, but not the gearbox.

"This is really disappointing - I have not seen stages this perfect - with just the right amount of moisture - since Charlevoix 2001" stated driver Andrew Havas. "Such overnight rain like we had causes the sand to clump - and it becomes tacky - there much more grip than when dry."

For two wheel drive teams, this is optimal, because it shortens that gap between 2wd and 4wd cars. Havas was hoping to use that advantage to "claw back" today.

The dnf is particularly heartbreaking because Havas put in 6 consecutive all nighters before coming here. "What we did was no short of amazing" Havas stated. The all nighters were the finale for a two month complete overhaul, made possible not only by Andrew, but also by co-driver Aaron Crescenti and crew chief Ryan Partrick - "these two instrumental in rebuilding the car" Havas stated. Chris Moran saved the final moment on Thursday night - he literally bled the clutch with a paper clip - Thanks Chris!

The team would also like to thank the Mt Washington Auto Road; rubberduckmagazine.com, PIAA lighting, and ATL fuel cells for their support.

Drew Paine withdraws  - Sunday, July 19, 2009
Car #216 Paine / Corcoran hits outside corner hard two wheels off ground...mom behind crowd...clearly not comfortable with son's first corner... Unfortunately, after some blown tires and struts, Drew has chosen smartly to withdraw before facing any more damage - a wisdom that belies his age.

Olson out again...  - Sunday, July 19, 2009
Car #93 Olson / Ketelsen has lost a lot of coolant and have made the choice not to continue. "This is a new engine and it is not worth taking a chance on blowing it" said driver Bob Olson.

Leaders very close - only seconds separate  - Saturday, July 18, 2009
The leaders are really tight at the front; less than 5 seconds separate the top 3. With Car 43 at the helm, but Car 17 winning a couple stages, it is still anyone's rally.

Notes from the early stages  - Saturday, July 18, 2009
Car #198 Gruszka / Wronski holed a piston. They anticipate a half day job when they get to Chicago. They have time and bits to ensure it is correct for X games. Unfortunately for them, the flexi service and subsequent parc ferme, which allowed only 45 minutes, was not enough time to fix.

Car #110 Cassidy / Getchell - 10th anniversary of running this event. They are out there looking good as always in the Steel Tulip.

Alex Kihurani aka rallybrat is riding with Matt Johnston (car 578) this weekend. The car was seen smoking coming out of an earlier service, but they are continuing. Check out Alex's blog at rallybrat.com

Car #67 Gottlieb / Gager drove off the road at the first spectator area morning... That may have been a sign for the day as he has since dnf'd.

Downs out early  - Saturday, July 18, 2009
Car #878 Downs / Obry is out for undetermined reasons. While the team is unavailable for comment, the car came in with what sounded like transmission problems last evening.

Spectators galore...  - Saturday, July 18, 2009
The second day of the New England Forest Rally has begun on the East Side of Berlin, NH.

Throngs of spectators have come out to get autographs, see cars flying by, and enjoy the unseasonably warm day.

48 cars were scheduled to start today, but 47 started. Car 878 Downs/Obry were unable to restart the rally this morning.

Cars are returning from the last stage  - Friday, July 17, 2009
All 17 national entries that started the last stage have finished as have all of the regional entries.

The national entries are required to perform a 45 minute service and enter the parc ferme. A parc ferme is a secure location where the cars are kept for the night. During parc ferme, the crews are not able to work on the cars.

The Drive Your Future Regional Rally awards are underway with a large turnout to celebrate the day's event.

Stage 5 about to start  - Friday, July 17, 2009
Stage 5, the Concord Pond stage, is about to begin. Concord Pond stage is a long time NEFR tradition. It is a 5 mile technical stage that is known for its jumps and off camber turns.

Unfortunately, stages 3 & 4, were canceled previously.

2nd MaxAttack event in as many weeks  - Friday, July 17, 2009
New England Forest Rally and the concurrently running Drive your Future and Berlin Regional Rallies will also count as the 2nd (of 3) Max Attack events this year.

MaxAttack is designed to promote and foster a high, yet sustainable level of competition and increased participation in the two-wheel-drive ranks at North American rallies.

MaxAttack serves to increase the two wheel drive competition, both in level of competition and in number of competitors, and the competitors love it!

The 3 event series started last week with the Idaho Rally and will end at Ojibwe Rally next month!

Car 523 Hanson/Hanson just make it under the wire of MPL  - Friday, July 17, 2009
Car 523 Hanson/Hanson have just been allowed to start the event. Their problem appears to have been a missing set of ignition keys. With a maximum permitted lateness of 30 minutes, the team had less than one minute to go before they would have been disqualified.

The frustration was evident as Hanson came through a near empty spectator spot.

Awaiting one more?  - Friday, July 17, 2009
There is speculation that one more car will come through, Car 523 Hanson/Hanson who are late so far.

The event officials are determining whether they have more time...and they do...12 more minutes...

it is unclear at this time whether the problem is related to the engine replacement they did earlier in the week or not.

Let the New England Forest Rally begin  - Friday, July 17, 2009
The first cars have come through. Car 300 Reilly/Benthien and car 15 Petrow/Neyhart both used the Scandinavian flick to maneuver the 90 degree 'hairpin' turn and nailed it.

The return of the red, white, and blue Ford Escape - car 602 - and the stunning flick Doucette performed made him an instant fan favorite. Unfortunately, his luck would not hold out. Apparently, a clutch issue has ended his day early.

Car 280 Healey/Johnson are always a fan favorite in their rear wheel drive 1978 Datsun 280; they did the same today.

Some teams are clearly in it for fun, like car 894 Moody/Beliveau. While they looked awesome transitioning from the gravel to the tarmac, they had time to honk at the throngs of fans.

Block at the front and Block at the rear  - Friday, July 17, 2009
Car 43 driver Ken Block has drawn the first starting spot on the road for this years New England Forest Rally - this is a spot he is familiar with. The interesting part is that his wife, Lucy is the last car on the road.

Lucy is fresh from a refresher course at Team O'Neil Rally School and is participating in her first rally ever. Lucy will be sharing driver and co-driver responsibilities with Chrissie Beavis. Beavis is a multi time X Games co-driver medalist and as a very talented driver as well.