Race Report

July 3, 2005 - Week 10

Should we race on the forth of July holiday weekend or should we take it off as we did last year? That was the question that our staff faced back in February when the 2005 schedule was developed. Knowing that the Stars and Stripes National at South Park, just outside of Pittsburgh was going to be held over this same weekend made the decision all the more difficult. After a vote was taken and a mixed opinion as to whether we should or should not, the majority of the voting members elected to go ahead and cater to our local riders and let the National riders go off to Pittsburgh. We felt that new volunteers from the local supporting parents could replace the missing staff members. As planned, a bunch of new volunteers were spawned and a decent day of racing was enjoyed. 143 riders showed up and were split into 41 motos with a lot of combined classes.

With only 23 Experts staying with the local program it was time for these hot-rods to rack up some points while a lot of their competitors were off to the National.

Austin Vincent, normally a National Rider easily won the 8 expert class. The “Animal”; Zach Andringa edged out Kyle Block for the win in 10 ex. Shaun O’Connor won the 11/12 expert combined class and even Novice Dave Clark had to race these guys. Dave did pretty well with the more experienced competition for Astro Chemicals. Jason Bush won the 14 ex group which grew by one rider this week as John Palmer got his 20th Novice win at the triple pointer in Trumbull last Tuesday night. Congratulations to John. 15 ex Todd Snow, also sponsored by Astro Chemicals, had to battle hard to win that class as the Merli Automotive sponsored Darrin Merli, missed his first moto but came back to win the next two. William Nadwairski was the top 16 yr old expert and Dan Buckner claimed the top spot in 18-21 expert. Pete Lorenzo easily won the 16-29, 35 & over combined class.

Even Greco won the 6,7 & 8 Novice combined class; Shawn McAuley showed why his Connecticut number one plate is going to be hard to take away as he chalked up another win in the 9 novice group. Nate Martinsen was the fastest 10 yr old novice this day. South Valley Auto sponsored Jared Marchell enjoyed a win in 11 nov. RC Hobbies Logan Mitchell put one in the record book for 13 novice. ERA II’s Martin Brown did the same in 14 novice. 16 yr old Kevin Matthews won the 16 novice class for his sponsor; Escape Plumbing and Heating.

Plenty of Rookies were on hand and its always fun to watch these kids hone their skills. 5 yr old Justin Aloia held off a hard charging 3 yr old Seth Norton. Last weeks Rider of the Week Tyler Bluestein again won the 6 yr old rookie class. Trevor Fox continues his march to the novice ranks by keeping his streak of wins going in 7 rookie. Mike Buonocore was the top 8 yr old rookie; Chris Pfeffer, the George’s Music Center sponsored rider won 9 rookie; Dylan Jacquemin was the 10 yr old rookie winner; Ryan Shores enjoyed success in 11 rookie; Schweiger Tile and flooring sponsored Anthony Reilly was perfect right through the 12 yr old rookie main event; Shayne Tullock won the 13/14 combined rookie class. Rob Zuffelato powered his way to a win in the competitive 15 rookie class while Scott Plourde did the same in 16 rookie. 17 & over rookie win went to J. J. Wernicki.

Only 13 girls raced on this holiday Sunday and it was Alyssa Harris winning 6-7; Gary’s Auto’s Joceline Levesque won 8-9 Girls; Deanna Batista won 10-11 Girls; Christy Kestler, wearing a blue SE shirt in place of the familiar red shirt won 12-13/14-15 girls combined. Cassy Scott won the 16 & Over class.

Cruiser winners were Austin Vincent, Todd Snow, Don Olson, Randy Greco and Dan Krouse.

Rounding out the days racing was a limited edition version of the 16-29 Open Wheels Class. It was Superclass rider Steve Oldham making it 3 in a row, Brian Adamaitis second and Randy Greco third. Welcome back to Ben Achinson to the world of BMX Racing.