Race Report June 4th Race # 1

Bob Warnicke Scholarship Race

What a race day this has been. With heavy rains on Friday and almost all day Saturday, the track was in dire shape with ruts everywhere. The local weather services estimated 5 inches of rain had fallen in 24 hours. With some individuals arriving at the track as early as 6:30 a.m. out came the rakes, the shovels and even a quad that would be used to roll the track. Between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. heavy drizzle would blanket the facility causing some to wonder if this double-header event would get off.
The whole morning was strange as, whenever the rider count was checked, it always came back with a lower then normal number. Yet, the parking lot was jammed! Only minutes before the opening ceremonies got underway, did we realize that the numbers being reported were for the second race not the first race, which happened to be our Bob Warnicke scholarship race. “Holy big mistake batman!” the rider count was actually 258 riders with 62 motos. A wonderful turnout, which will allow us to donate proudly to the scholarship fund nearly $1300. Thanks you everyone. 5 yr old Skylar Elwood was named the rider of the week for his efforts last week.
Even though it was an unusual 20 minute late start it was some great action with riders from Ma. NY. RI. PA joining the big group of CT riders.
In expert action Aggro Bikes Delaney Kavanaugh dominated the 7 expert combined class. The two 8 yr old experts were combined with the five 9 yr old novices and both won motos as Evan Greco was perfect and Casey Tanner won two of three. In the main event Tanner would edge out Greco for the win. The same combining had to occur in the 9 ex class as well with only 2 registering for the race. They would get combined with the 10 novice gang and finished 1 and 2 as Zac O’neil beat Dan Delisle. Prudential Financial’s Nitro-Nick Perry had the overall win in 10 ex even though Shawn Mcauley won two of three. A forth in the first round would seal Shawn's fate. In 11 expert competition Jay Patterson showed the skills he uses every week In New Paltz New York as he was perfect right through the Main. A great story in 12 ex, 13 nov combined class as 12 ex D.J Scott was top gun in the motos but lost the main to New Yorks 13 yr old novice Jeff Croshier. We don’t see him much but when we do, Aggro Bike's Shaun O’Connor sure dominates as he aced a perfect in 13 ex. The 14 ex winner was Mike Campbell. OFR’s Max Egdorf held off the 15 ex gang and earned a hard fought win. The mod-squad (16 ex) saw 10 riders vying for the win. Local rider Pete Balotti, sponsored by The Plant Outlet enjoyed the win. This was probably the only part of the day he enjoyed as he wrecked his car earlier in the day swerving to avoid a dog, he hit a parked car. Good luck on that one. Mike Scolaro won 17 ex. Dan Buckner ran away with the 18-21 expert title. Chris Giacomazzo won the 22-29 expert class. Tom Johnson was tops in 35 & over action.
In 6-7 novice action, Colby Hickey was the overall winner. Trevor Fox, sponsored by Napa Tools & Equipment, was the first 8 yr old novice across the stripe as was Julian Lewis in 9 Nov. George’s Music Center’s Chris Pfeffer was the first 10 yr. old nov across the stripe in his combined class. Rite Bike’s Ali Thimmish was fastest in 11 novice action, much to the dismay of the three boys that she beat. Alex Moura, sponsored by the South end two guys pizza folks, easily won 12 novice racing. Logan Mitchell won 14 novice. The Eye-Of-The-Tiger was back in focus this week as Daniel Krouse won the 14-15 novice class. Rich Nelson was the top dog in 16 novice and Kevin Mathews won 17 novice. J.J. Wernicki, combined with the 18-21 yr old experts was the first novice across the stripe in the 18 novice division. Shane McPherson, wrecking earlier in the day and hurting his thumb pretty bad, still was the first novice crossing the finish line in 22-29 combined action. Dan Krouse was the fastest 35 & over novice.
In the girls classes Devin Aida Murphy won the 6-7 group. Mel Cianciola won 8-9 girls while Emily Racenet won 12-13 action. Allie Couch was fastest in 14-15 racing and finally, Christy Kestler won a very competitive 16 & Over girls class.
In Cruiser racing, Allison Thomas held off a fighting Sarah Shatkyvich in 14-17, 18-29 combined cruiser racing. Sally Mcinnis easily put her JRA cycle in the winners circle in 30-39 ladies cruiser. Jay Patterson and ZacOo’Neil traded wins in 9 & under 10-11 combined with Jay getting the overall win. D.J. Scott was top gun in 12-13 action. In 16-17 it was Pete Balotti again coming out on top. Donny Olson’s cruiser beat the mountain bike of Walt Dunn. Randy Greco was the fastest of the 4 35-39 cruisers and John McDowell, wearing a Black Sabbith shirt was unbeatable in 45-49 action.
Rookie winners were last weeks rider of the week 5yr old Sky Elwwod, 6 yr old Justin Boissonneault, 7 yr old Dave Moody, 8 yr old Aaron Laskos, 9 yr old Mike Buonocore, 10 yr old Donny Olson, 11 yr old Stephen Kallis, 12 yr old James Oslander, 13 yr old Jonathan Daversa, 14 yr old Josh Sanford, 15 yr old Kevin Motai, 16 yr old Jeramey Bakunis, riding under the sponsorship of Winchester Modular Housing and Neck Fedeli won 17 & over.
The Open was exciting with 14 riders registered. Most notable was Allen Currier in his first race as a Single A pro. In the main event, Pistol Pete Lorenzo was the winner, Allen Currier second and Chris Keller third. Thnaks to JRA Cycles for sponsoring the hole shot award won by Steve Oldham if my memory has any credibility left to it.