Portland OR (April 21, 2007) - The first event in MaxAttack! Triple Crown Rally Series got underway last night at the Portland International Raceway. The Series boasts an $8000 cash purse to be divided at each event amongst the top six finishing two wheel drive rallycars in the three day Oregon Trail Rally. Fifteen rally teams in the MaxAttack! Triple Crown Rally Series were eager to attack the 6 short special stages that ran around the track and the infield at the raceway. Roaring engines and burning rubber added to an atmosphere was already buzzing with excitement.
MaxAttack! drivers really put on a show for the fans at PIR. Current leaders Cary Kendall and Scott Friberg saw speeds as high as 135 miles per hour in their Dodge SRT4. The Burress brothers, Tom and Don, made it clear what their mission was. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't going to attack every corner as hard as we could.", said driver Tom Burress with a confident smile. Indeed he did as he thrilled the crowd with spectacular sideways driving through the hairpin corners. Unfortunately, mechanical troubles have put the team a little more than seven minutes off the lead. With payouts down to sixth place, however, a strong drive over the next two days could reward them with a cash prize.
Some drivers chose to play it safe and take minimal risk as they quickly but safely negotiated the course. The team of Michel Hoche-Mong and Sameer Parek attacked the stages in his Volkswagon Golf hard enough to keep within 29 seconds of the rally leaders but made sure to avoid costly mistakes. This gave Hoche-Mong and Parek the chance to make a strong push to stay in the top six with a cash prize in mind as the stages move to the forest roads around the city of Vernonia today.
Currently the team of Cary Kendal and Scott Friberg are leading by eleven seconds over Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johansson. In third place are Eric Burmeister and Dave Shindle in their Mazdaspeed 3, which is a huge crowd favorite. The rest of the points scoring positions are occupied by the hard driving Canadians Aaron Neumann and Graham Coates, locals Michel Hoche-Mong and Sameer Parek and another local team of Mark Tabor and Ben Bradley in their high reving Acura RSX Type S.
The twisty, technical forest roads around the city of Vernonia will play host to the spectacular sideways driving styles of the MaxAttack! competitors today. Its sure to be nothing but excitement in the forest as the courageous MaxAttack drivers push their cars to the limit for bragging rights and the chance at a share of the $8000 prize fund. The race for the MaxAttack! Triple Crown Rally Series is on.
After Oregon Trail, the MaxAttack! Triple Crown Rally Series moves east to Rally West Virginia, which will take place on Aug. 4 in Elkins, W. Va. The series concludes at the well-known Lake Superior Rally in Houghton, Mich. on the weekend of Oct. 26-27.
For more information about the MaxAttack! Triple Challenge and the Rallysports Group of America, please visit http://www.max-attack.com.. For information about the Oregon Trail rally, please visit http://www.oregontrailrally.com. or http://www.rally-america.com.
