Race Report June 11th

It was another week of racing and another huge turnout for this single point team race day. The day started off with 40 mile per hour wind gusts and pop-up canopies were flying everywhere. With partly cloudy skies and a rapidly filling parking lot and the first weekend of the new Weekend Warrior Pro-am open series, this one promised to be a classic. It was an on-time start with 261 riders split into 64 motos. The day started with 11 year old Rookie Stephen Kallas and 8 year old rookie Troy Achinson being named the Dozers place rookie riders of the week for their efforts in the double header held last week at the track.
In racing action there were a large number of experts slicing-n-dicin for supremacy. In 9 year old action Zack O’Neil enjoyed a perfect but it was Dan Delisle who made him push it hard in all three rounds. The 10 ex threesome was pretty cool as all three riders each enjoyed a moto win. The overall went to Jake Ritchie. Kyle Block dominated the 11 ex class riding for Bikers Edge. The two 12 ex’s in the house were combined with the 13 year old novices but still managed to come out on top with Zack Pirulli winning the class. A full gate in 13 ex and the bay state’s Shaun O’Connor, in his familiar Aggro Bikes colors had a perfect in a very competitive class. Anthony Del Vento had it all his way in 14 ex / nov combined. In 15 expert comp Jason Bush showed that he still has the skills to get the job done as he won everything including the main event. The 16 ex mod-squad saw Billy Ripley put another win in the record books as he held off a hard charging Aaron Testa, newly sponsored by The Quiet Zone. Dan Bycenski was tops in 17 ex and Matt Markie won the 18-21 action. Tom Johnson was the fastest in 35 & over expert.
Novice racing was full of its usual thrills. 6 year old Matt Gurin, winning two of three motos, was the winner in that class. Mitch Savoca showed us why he is the reigning state champ in 7 nov. Josh Valardi kept his family on top with the win in 8 nov. Nick Killmer managed to come out on top in 9 novice racing which was a class that featured 4 riders who didn’t finish the same way in any of its motos. Shane Christopher, Nate Martinsen and Chris Pfeffer all had wins in 10 year old novice motos. When the dust settled it was Martinsen winning the main event. Ali Thimmish, riding in the 11 yr old novice class, was the top rider with a great effort from Justin Thompson. The South End two Guys Pizza sponsored Alex Moura again won the 12 yr old novice class. D.J. Halls Mike Borla was the first 13 yr old novice across the stripe. Dan Krouse put together one of his most consistent efforts of the year as he won two of three in 15 nov. The 16 novice class saw the worst wreck of the day as the Z-Man, Rob Zuffelato wrecked very hard in the rhythm section and had to be transported to the local hospital. A hush came over the facility as he was prepared for transport. Later in the day we received news that he was released with a bruised sternum but nothing worse. Hopefully we see him back very soon. Anthony Strong was the eventual winner. Kevin Mathews won 17 nov and Dan Krouse was the first novice to cross the line in 35 & over expert and novice combined.
103 Rookies were part of the show and always fun to watch. Colby Hickey won the 6 yr old division, the first rookie class this year to have so many riders in it the had to use semis to determine who would transfer to the main. Rob Miville and Dave Moody were both perfect in their motos with Moody winning the 7 rookie main. Austin Lillis worked very hard to win the 8 rookie main with great racing from Jon Zeiner and Aaron Laskos. Westly Reel won 9 rookie and Jonathan Mulhern won the 10 rookie title. A large group of riders were in the 11 rookie class and this day it was Stephen Kallas winning everything he ran. Ryan Shores held down the fort in 12 rookie and Trevon Clay only had one winn all day in 13 rookie but it was the big one as he won the main. Three different in the 14 rookie motos but the main went to Josh Sanford. Kevin Mottai held off a very competitive Caleb Dubourg in the 15 rookie battle. Corey Longfelloe stayed in front in 16 rookie action and finally, 17 & over rookie Nick Fedelli won after battling Tim Bierce hard all day.
In Girls racing action Devin Murphy won the 6-7 class but Mackenzie Atchinson is getting closer by the week. Sponsored by Video world superstore, Jessy Maher won 8-9 girls and Shalynn Brown, sponsored by the Sandy Shore Motel was right on her rear wheel. The 10-11 class saw Gracen Hayes return to the track in winning fashion with Brianna Delamare a close second. 12-13 girls racing featured a perfect from CMR Racing’s Katie Rose Edgar. Cassy Scott won the 14-15 / 16 & over combined class.
In cruiser racing action Zack O’Neil won the 9 & under group. D.J. Scott was top gun in 12-13. 16-17 cruiser racing went to Pete Balotti. Randy Bitinaitis easily won 30-34, 35-39 combined but there was a moose sighting along the way. Bob (moose) Delamare made the long ride from Providence and enjoyed his first time ever at Foothills without crashing on the R/C Hobbies step-down. Each with a first and second place finish after two round it was showdown time in the third round for Ed Hayes and Steve Rossi. When Hayes hit the step down he hit it all wrong and went right over the handlebars. Really stretching it out in mid air to clear the track and land on the softer grass, smack-daddy planted his right shoulder into the turf but would be okay. 40 year old Steve Rossi won the class.
Now, for the one we all waited for, the first weekend of the newly formed weekend warrior pro-am open series. Day 1 of this class was in Meriden yesterday. The top three were Matt Markie, Walter Dunn and Alex Rivera. Today, 17 riders were on hand for the wild racing that this day would feature. One thing that was pretty cool was long time racer Tom Johnson had the pleasure of racing his son Ty, sponsored by J.P. Maguire & Associates, the company his father works for. Ty’s efforts would help to keep Tom out of the qualifying positions. Unfortunately, Ty didn't make the qualifiers either but this kid is gonna be something soon. The main event was sick with $335 in the purse with $167 going to the winner. When the gate dropped it was a tight pack down the front chute but the move of the day would come from Pete Lorenzo as he made an unbelievable cut to the inside and virtually dove into the lead. With the crowd cheering it was Lorenzo, Chris Keller and Steve Oldham winning the cash. The first of 4 weekends of this series proved to live up to all the hype. Round two will be on June 24th and 25th. The quest to be the Ultimate Warrior continues. Ah yes, the Warrior series, a place where legends are born.