A woman participating in a two-day rally in western Maine was killed Friday night when the vehicle she was in went off the road and crashed into a tree on the first day of the race, according to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.
Erin Kelly, 48, of Marshall, Virginia, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chief Deputy James Urquhart.
Kelly was riding in a car driven by Thomas Pullen, 41, of Northwood, New Hampshire. The two were participating in the annual New England Forest Rally Race near Lower Richardson Lake.
Pullen’s vehicle crashed just before 7 p.m. on the South Arm Road in Township C, near Andover in Oxford County.
“It looks like initially the driver failed to negotiate a left hand turn, lost control, left the roadway and impacted a tree on the passenger’s side, thus killing the passenger,” Urquhart said Saturday.
Pullen was driving a modified Subaru equipped with a roll cage, and both the driver and passenger were harnessed and wearing helmets, he said.
The event is an annual, two-day stage rally on a course of dirt and gravel logging roads in western Maine and northern New Hampshire. Racing teams consist of a driver and a navigator, Urquhart said. Racers occasionally cross public ways just as snowmobiles or ATVs do, Urquhart said, but much of it is in unpopulated areas.
“This is the first fatality we’ve had,” Urquhart said. The race was to end Saturday near Sunday River ski resort but was canceled after the crash, according to a New England Forest Rally Facebook post.
“The American Rally Association and New England Forest Rally expresses deepest condolences to Erin’s family, team and many friends throughout the rally community,” it said.
Responding were Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, Maine State Police, Med-Care Ambulance and the Andover Fire Department.
The crash is under investigation.
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