2009 MaxAttack!(tm) Rally Series to Feature New Format and New Events

After two successful years of bringing the best of two-wheel-drive rally action to the United States, the MaxAttack! Rally Series is evolving it’s format for 2009 to better serve its competitors, increase competition, and increase the value of the series.

While the per-event cash payout for each event will remain the same, there will be a format change in the chase for the coveted Jake Himes Cup. Rather than have to contest all three events in the season, competitors will run either a western or eastern qualifying event, with all teams contesting a central “shootout.” The highest point total from the two events will be the winner. The per-event payout will again be available to all two-wheel-drive entrants, regardless of how many of the series events a team may contest.

The new format addresses the challenges of competing in a national championship in such a large country during a struggling economy. It will serve to make the competition better at all of the events and will actually enhance the value of the championship to competitors, events, and sponsors alike, as more of North America’s top two-wheel-drive rally competitors will find the series within reach.
“We are very grateful for the support we have received from the rallies that have been part of our series for the last two years. This change of venue is in no way related to the quality of the events,” explains Eric Burmeister of the Rallysports Group of America. “We just wanted to try some new events so we could use our positive influence to help even more rallies. The switch to a Shootout from a Triple Crown format allowed us to experiment a little, and it is destined to keep the fight for the Jake Himes Cup a nail biter to the end!”
The three events that will constitute the 2009 MaxAttack! Rally Series are:* Rally Idaho, July 9-11, Mountain Home, ID, http://www.idahorally.com/* New England Forest Rally, July 17-18, Bethel, ME, http://www.newenglandforestrally.com/* Ojibwe Forests Rally, August 28-29, Bemidji, MN, http://ojibweforestrally.com/
Rally Idaho and the New England Forest Rally will be the qualifying events for the Jake Himes Cup, and Ojibwe Forests will be the central Shootout event.
The MaxAttack! Rally Series, presented by the Rallysports Group of America, consists of three events across the country, and each event will feature a $5,000 prize fund to be distributed among the top two-wheel-drive teams, as well as a season championship.
For more information about the MaxAttack! Series and the Rallysports Group of America, please visit http://www.max-attack.com/.
About Rallysports Group of AmericaRallysports Group of America, Inc. (RSGA) was formed as an organization in 2006 to advance the sport of performance stage rally in the United States. By providing education on performance driving, car preparation and safety, and by fostering the growth of meaningful competition, RSGA seeks to provide a sustainable and competitive arena for the advancement of North American performance rally that promotes increased value for rally competitors, organizers, and sponsors alike. For more information, please visit http://www.max-attack.com/.

Northern Ireland in silent protest against IRA dissidents

People from the four major church denominations, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist, turn out for a peace rally at Belfast's City Hall, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, March, 11, 2009. Labor union leaders called on workers across Northern Ireland to come together for a silent protest Wednesday against Irish Republican Army dissidents responsible for killing three people and wounding four others. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Several thousand Irish Catholics and British Protestants united in a silent protest Wednesday against IRA dissidents who gunned down two soldiers and a policeman since the weekend, attacks threatening to plunge Northern Ireland into sectarian bloodshed once again.
More than 2,000 people gathered at lunchtime in front of Belfast City Hall to oppose Northern Ireland's worst dissident Irish Republican Army violence since 1998, the year both sides' politicians struck the Good Friday peace deal that sought lasting compromise through a Catholic-Protestant government.
Thousands more gathered in the predominantly Catholic border cities of Londonderry and Newry, where dissidents remain active in the shadows despite overwhelming public opposition. "No going back," read placards at all the protests.
In Belfast, as a lone bagpiper played a lament, the crowd — among them firefighters and postal workers, former paramilitary convicts and child-cradling mothers — fell stone-silent for five minutes. Some openly wept.
As the crowds dispersed, many shook hands with police officers and offered their condolences over the latest fatality, a 23-year police veteran shot through the back of the head Monday. Others said they wished they could do more to ensure that Northern Ireland's next generation never experiences what they endured through four decades of conflict that left 3,700 dead.
"I'm a Catholic. I grew up in an area where the police were the enemy. Now things have changed so completely for the better," said Aidan Kane, a paramedic who came to the rally with his 6-year-old boy on his shoulders. "If my wee lad here wants to be a policeman when he grows up, I'd be proud. I shouldn't have to worry that some nut might shoot him for serving his community."
Patricia McKeown, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, chief organizer of Wednesday's protests, said she hoped the silence of the crowds would "be a silence that thunders around the world."
"End this madness," urged a front-page editorial in the Belfast Telegraph alongside photographs of the three slain men: 48-year-old police Constable Stephen Carroll and two soldiers in the British Army's Royal Engineers: Cengiz "Patrick" Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23.
The Continuity IRA fatally shot Carroll as he sat in a patrol car Monday night. Another splinter group, the Real IRA, killed the two army engineers, and wounded two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men, on Saturday night as Afghanistan-bound troops collected a final meal at their base's entrance.
Both breakaway groups remain committed to the traditional IRA goal of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Irish Republic. Most IRA members renounced violence and disarmed in 2005, eight years after calling an open-ended truce.
In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attacks and asked worshippers in St. Peter's Square to pray that nobody else in Northern Ireland "will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence."
Meanwhile, the British Protestant and Irish Catholic leaders of Northern Ireland's 22-month-old power-sharing government departed Wednesday for the U.S. to seek increased American support for the peace process.
Because of the killings, they twice had canceled the start of their U.S. visit, which seeks to defend and promote U.S. business investment in their land of 1.7 million people.
The trip by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness now was likely to attract much greater U.S. attention, aides said, but for all the wrong reasons.
The killings have already had the surprising effect of bonding Robinson, long a bitter Protestant opponent of the IRA, and McGuinness, a longtime IRA commander, more closely together than ever before.
They rarely appeared in public together before Tuesday, when they stood shoulder to shoulder with Northern Ireland police chief Hugh Orde and appealed for citizens shielding the IRA dissidents in their communities to identify them to police.
"In Northern Ireland today we are seeing a degree of unity among the political parties that some people thought they would never see in their lifetimes," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons in London.
In Dublin, Ireland's parliament unanimously passed a motion condemning the return of dissident IRA killings and vowing to help Northern Ireland authorities hunt down the dissidents, who are largely based along the Irish border.
A 17-year-old boy and 37-year-old man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in Carroll's murder were still being questioned Wednesday. Both suspects come from a Catholic public housing project in Craigavon, southwest of Belfast, near where Carroll was killed.
Associated Press writers Frances D'Emilio in Rome and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

Luck of the Irish for Danny O’Connor

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (March 11, 2009) – No sooner had the announcement been made that the March 16th “Erin Go Brawl II” show in New York City was canceled, Seminole Warriors Boxing informed its prize light welterweight, Danny O’Connor, of his repositioning on a show this Saturday night in Boston.

The National Guard Armory in Dorchester (70 Liberty Ave.) isn’t a long drive for family, friends and fans from Framingham to watch O’Connor (4-0, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate, fight live against Charlie Wade (4-7, 1 KO).

O’Connor is coming off of his impressive national television debut January 30, winning a 4-round decision in the opening bout on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights against light welterweight Jamar Saunders (2-1-1, 1 KO) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

“I was disappointed when I first heard that the show at Madison Square Garden had been canceled,” O’Connor said. “I think every time I’m supposed to fight in New York something happens. This is the second time but I believe everything happens for a reason and this got me in a card in Boston. I’m so happy. It’s amazing. Now everybody from home can come watch me fight live. They wanted me on ESPN my last fight and now they can see me in person. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I walk into the ring with everybody there cheering for me.

“My ESPN fight was huge because a lot of people got to watch me fight for the first time. It helped build my fan-base. It was also a step-up against a tough kid. I’m a pro. This is what I do – fight! I turned in a solid performance but I’m also a perfectionist who thinks I can always do better. It was only my fourth pro fight and was another part of my learning process. I leaned a lot last fight and we’ve bee working to improve some things that I’ll bring into this fight in Boston. I want to stay busy and learn something new every fight.”

The 23-year-old O’Connor won last year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which, he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament. The highlight of Danny’s amateur career was defeating eventual 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, last May in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.

“We were very happy with Danny’s last fight against a legitimate, young fighter,” O’Connor’s head trainer and co-manager David Keefe remarked. “He used his jab very well and showed excellent speed and good overall boxing skills. We’re very happy to have Danny boxing in Boston. We accepted the opportunity right after we learned about the New York showing being canceled. This was our next best choice and we hope Danny will be fighting at Madison Square Garden in the future. When (co-manager) Rob (Valle) and I were looking for a promoter, we had a game plan for Danny to stay busy. We didn’t want only five fights a year. We believe it’s very important for a young, up-and-comer like Danny to fight a lot. It’s been that way since the first day we met Leon (Margules, Executive Director, Seminole Warriors Boxing).”

For more information about Danny O’Connor go online to

www.dannyoconnorboxing.com.

Bout Card here
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