Race Report

July 17, 2005 - Week 12

With rain all around the facility it really looked bleak for racing on this day. Knowing that the underground drainage system at Foothills is as good as anyone’s, the staff decided to stick it out as local doplar radar indicated that there might be a three hour “window of opportunity” in the early afternoon to get the race in. With an expected crowd in the neighborhood of 250 riders under good weather conditions for this team race, no one knew what to expect under these adverse conditions. With rain falling pretty much everywhere at any given time, the crowd was somewhat smaller than expected but considering the situation, 211 riders and 58 motos was pretty nice. We thank everyone for coming out and supporting us.

Starting off with the 41 Experts who braved the weather, the action was fast and exciting. Probably to the dismay of the rest of the 8 year old experts, National Champion Zach O’Neil was on hand and easily scored a perfect but certainly there was good efforts from Dan Delisle, Dom Hamm and Zach Brown. The Massachusetts invasion continued this week with Twisted’s Josh Thimmish winning the 9 ex class. The 10 ex group is becoming one of the best classes for parity as the “Animal” (Zach Andringa) and Kyle Block continued their season long battle. This day it was Andringa edging out Block for the overall win. D.J. Scott showed up this week and proved he still is “Top Gun”in 11 Ex. Jesse Macey won 12 ex and Mike Campbell did the same in 13 ex. The 14 ex class was up for grabs and Chris Sunbury won two of three for the win. Two riders heading for the Worlds in Paris finished first and second in the 15 ex / nov combined class. Good luck and safe travel to Allen Currier and Justin Hellwinkle. Pete Lorenzo won the 22-29 ex action and Mike Gage was top dog in 35 & over.

In Novice action Mitch Savoca won 5 nov, but the talk of the day had to be his older brother Jason who turned expert by winning the 8 year old novice class for his 20th win. Dan Batista edged Chris Tallberg for the overall win in 9 nov. Dustin Belmonte was perfect in 10 nov. In 11 novice action Jacob Fish beat the local boys much to the delight of his very vocal mom. (we love her cheers) Astro Chemical sponsored David Clark was first all day in 12 novice action. Logan Mitchell was the winner in 13 nov. RC Hobbies and more from Winsted sponsor Logan. The 14 novice win went to Josh Fish. The Escape Plumbing and Heating sponsored Kevin Matthews won the 16 Novice class and James Gilbert won 19 novice.

61 rookies were racing today and their style of racing is always fun to watch. The most fun to watch racing had to be in the 5 & under class with 3 five year olds, 1 four yr old and 2 three year old hot rods in the mix. 5 yr old Ralph Amitrano was the overall champ today. Justin Rivera won the 6 rookie class, Mike Gurin was top gun in 7 rookie. Mike Buonocore edged out the Fusco’s Used Auto Parts sponsored Chris Pannullo in the 8 yr old main event. Chris Pfeffer, sponsored by George’s Music Center, won the 9 yr old class; “Bret-the-jet” Dehey won 11 rookie and the 12 rookie main went to Anthony Reilly, riding out of the Schweiger Tile and Flooring racing stables. Christain Marrero won 13 rookie and Tom Comorda did the same in 14 rookie. Rob Zuffelato took care of business in 15 rookie as did Zach Ritchie in 17 rookie and J.J. Weirnicki in 17 & over.

In girl action CMR’s Gabrielle Roberti won the 6-7 class; Photography by Jenna’s Amanda Wedge won 8-9; Alissa Thimmish won 10-11 showing why she was named the rider of the month at nebmxnews.com; Morgan Perry, sponsored by Prudential Financial won 12-13 girls and it was Christy Kestler winning the 14-15/16 & over girls class.

Finally, the Cruisers were out in force with the 9 & under win going to Zach O’Neil. In 10-11 action D’J’ Scott was Top Gun, in 12-13 Frank Olish held off Mike Campbell for the win. Three riders battled in 14-15 action and it was Peter Balotti coming out on top. 30-34 Cruiser Don Olson won after doing battle with Jim Cunningham. It was great to see Jim back after not racing since the Grands in 1992. Frank Fermino won 35-39 Cruiser but was emitting some strange sounds from his lungs all the way around the track. Alissa Thimmish won the 10 & Under girls cruiser class, Christy Kestler won 14-17 and Sarah Shatkyvich won 18-19 / 30-39 action.

The 16-29 Open dash for cash main event was won by Steve Oldham with Pete Lorenzo second and Flavio Silvera third. Stave also cashed in one the T/C Cycle hole shot award.

The 30 & over open class featured a showdown between the Moose and CTBMX. These guys have a challenge going on that travels to a few different tracks. After Moose (Bob Delamare) beat CTBMX (Ed Hayes) in Rhode Island in June, today was the second round. In practice Moose looked more like a newborn deer when he fell twice riding the RC Hobbies step-down. He managed a win in the first round of motos, Ed won the second and then passed Moose on the step-down in the third round for the win. Show down will be announced soon up at OCBMX. See you next Sunday.