The New England Forest Rally descended upon the Bethel-Mexico-Berlin-Errol area once again, and 38 competitors started this year's rally, some of them competing for a wildcard spot to the X Games in August. As a volunteer, I was lucky enough to be darn close to the action and get a bunch of solid shots (as well as a bunch of sun and dust).
Album: Mexico Rec Park: SS1
Following a Parc Expose at the Mexico Rec Park, racing began on a short special stage with plenty of spectator opportunities, including a jump that the local highway department had added to the park road for the day.
Views: 510
Album: Mexico Rec Park: SS2
To provide more spectator opportunities and another opportunity for the field to push their luck over the jump, SS2 repeated the same course as SS1.
Views: 471
Album: Concord Pond: SS5
A classic rally stage, Concord Pond features nastiness of several sorts--blind crests, off-camber turns, surface changes from gravel to alleged pavement, and more. For the first time in recent history, organizers were able to set up a public spectator a
Views: 546
Album: Dillion-Success: SS6
After a Parc Expose in Berlin on Saturday morning, cars raced from the tarmac in Berlin onto Success Pond Road and out into the New Hampshire forest.
Views: 886
Album: Middle Dam In: SS8
Spectators at the 1.4-mile bus-in location were treated to high-speed action (as well as the occasional high-speed rock), and copious amounts of genuine Rally Dust.
Views: 435
Album: Middle Dam Out: SS9
The 15.3-mile Middle Dam Out stage featured a route included in prior Maine Forest Rallies but not in recent years; as the result of recent logging activity, a normally-open culvert was bridged and racers were treated to a return of this stage.
Views: 455
Album: Middle Dam In Short: SS10
The third Middle Dam stage featured the most interesting action for spectators at my location, as the crowd had thinned out and the traffic in SS9 had pushed more substantial rocks into the line for SS10.
Views: 352
Album: Middle Dam Out Short: SS11
With a spot in the X Games on the line, racers had 5.2 miles of racing left to finalize the results.