Race Report August 12th, 2007

Week number 15

Week number 15 and yet another National event to contend with. This time it was an NBL Regional in Bennington and an ABA National in Delaware. The Bennington race may have actually helped us a bit as some riders stopped in on their way back to New Jersey. We have heard many times over the last few years that our success with high rider counts is simply because we race on Sundays. That thought process and comment can really get the dander up on a Foothills staff member as we all know that our strength is in our rookie program. This was really evident in the fact that 7 new riders joined this week bringing our 2007 total of new riders to a whopping 94. Add this to the 98 new riders last year and its easy to see where we would be without this campaign.
Today there were 144 riders racing in class plus another 7 in the “Open” making this a 151 rider race with 39 motos and 4 main events. Not bad by 2007 standards.
In opening ceremonies Danielle Jolicoeur and Tyler Johnson were presented with their Johnson Number Plates for being named the Northeast BMX Riders of the Month of July. This is a prestigious award given through a solicitation of Track Operators, riders, parents etc for both sanctioning bodies in the Northeast so it really is a big deal.
7 yr old rookie Jacob Shpur was named the “Foothills Riders of the Week for his efforts last week and named Owen Giese as his favorite rider.
In the 16 & Over open class there were 7 riders so we put them all in one group and dropped two after three rounds of motos transferring five riders to the Main Event. Justin Hellwinkel, Ty Johnson, Steve Oldham, Marc Sundstrom and Rob Nichols were the riders. When the gate dropped Oldham got out first with Ty right on him and Justin Hellwinkel along side Ty. When they hit the first jumped Ty exploded in a cloud of dust and was quickly out of it. Justing dropped into the second slot with Marc Sundstrom in hot pursuit. Nothing changed all the way to the last turn when Sundstrom finally found a way around Justin for the second spot. There was no catching Steve as he won it, marc second, Justin third and Rob Nichols and Tyler finished forth and fifth. This was Justin’s last race with us this year as he is off to College in Colorado on Thursday. He is hoping to major in biology and maybe onto med school at some point. We all wish him well and look forward to seeing him again next season.
The 10 Rookie main event looked to be a classic as Matt Bovat, sponsored by “Uncle Pat” and Taylor Yurgalevicz, sponsored by Rich Carlson Heating and Cooling, were both perfect through their motos. In the main Bovat would continue his dominance with his 14th rookie win, Nick Painchaud was second with Yurgalevicz third. One more win for Bovat and he will earned a well deserved date with the novice class. The 8 yr old rookie class also needed a main event to determine the winner and Eric Passack would save his best effort for last. Not winning any motos, Eric won the main event. Mike Heffernan had a solid second place finish and the “Marshall” matt Dillon was third. In the 7 rookie main event it would be a show-down between the teo rider who were perfect in their motos. These were Jacob Sphur and Owen Giese. How ironic as Jake was named last weeks rider of the week and named Owen as his favorite rider. I guess he made a great choice as Owen won the main with Jake second and Jacob Gleacher managed a nice third.
In other rookie action Dan McMahan, who hadn’t raced in about 10 years won the 17 & over gang. Brandon Miville, riding under the sponsorship of South End Two Guys Pizza, finished ahead of Armando Perez in 16 rookie action. Manchester Honda’s Ray Watts won the 15 rookie class with Jose Garcia second. James Oslander won the 13-14 rookie class keeping the Tactical Arms sponsored Jim Ferris behind him. Austin Cyr won the 12 rookie class with Tim Osborne second and Kyle Sanford third. It was great to see Chad Daigle riding the track as he suffered a season ending injury while at camp a few weeks ago. Although not riding hard, it was nice to see him out there. In 11 rookie action, Xavier Dingle, Nick Hull and Rubin Soodak were the top three in the mix. R.J. Miville won yet another 9 rookie class but Kevin Raabe, a brand new racer only a few weeks ago had an impressive effort even though he finished third behind yesterday’s birthday boy, Pete Franolich. Jacob Koenig, won the 6 rookie class with Dixie Damelio, who was racing the boys for the first time, had a solid second on her birthday and Cam Ala was third. Fishing out the impressive 60 riders in the rookie classes was the 5 & under gang where Seth Norton would claim the win. Randy Donaghy, riding a little 16 inch wheeled machine was second and Evan Desandre was third.
In the Girls classes Danielle Jolicoeur would win the 15 – 17 group as she stayed in front of Michelle Main and Amy Block. Cheyanne Noud, riding out of Ridge New York, won the 13 girls class with Victory Sunbury second and Deanna Batista third. In 11 girls racing Amanda Wedge stayed in front all day long, Katy Moody was second and Mackenzie Atchison (Eagle Electric) was third.
In 5-7 Girls Kyly Milton would win her first moto ever but Alysha Olson would win the war as she was first overall.
The 35 & Over experts and novices were combined and Garrick Yanosky beat JRA Cycle’s Brian McInnis for the win, Home-Sweet-Home’s Fred Roy was the first novice and Dan Krouse right behind him. Kevin Clark topped Bruce taber and Brian Dupras for the 25 – 29 novice win. A real mixed bag in 16X – 16N – 17-24N combined and Winchester Modular Housing’s Jeramey Bakunis won it with Cliff Richards second and Dan Krouse third. A hard crash by Zack Ritchie would keep him out of contention. In 14 novice racing William Barna (The Oreo Man) won the class with Joan’s Candy Cupboard’s Anthony Reilly second and Battiston’s Garmet Restoration’s Mason Johnson third. The four 11 novices in the house got combined with the two 10X riders and 10X Dan Delisle would win the class. The other expert was Nick Killmer and he was second. Finishing third but the first novice across the stripe was Ryan McCoy. Troy Atchison (Eagle Electric) won the 10 novice class with Jessica Maher second. Five riders in the 9 nov class and Doug Cable worked hard for the win. Kobe Covington was second and Robbie Desmarais was third. Congrats to the Pin Shop Hobbies Larry Coderre in his first novice race. Hang in there Larry, it will get better for you quickly.
The 6 and 8 yr old novices were combined and Dave Moody was today’s champion. Jake Desmarais was second and Justin Rivera third.
In the 17-24 expert chain gang it would be Marc Sundstrom coming out on top with Hector (I forgot my shirt) Gonzales second and Shawn Kennedy third.
Anthony Del Vento, who seems to be able to win whenever he wants to, apparently wanted to today as he did just that in 15X action. Mike Campbell was second and Paul Maher (Video World) third. Jeff Croshier won the 14 expert class with Josh Wedge and Colby Benoit second and third. Zack McLaughlin, riding out of Mount Holly New Jersey, won the 13X class with Jay Patterson a close second. Kyle Block won 12X – 13N combined with Ryan Shores second. Dan Batista won the 11X-12N combined group keeping Dave Norris in second and Chris Pfeffer (George’s Music Center) third.
In Cruiser racing the 45-49 50 – 54 pair would have Joey Watley finishing in front of Dan Krouse. Brian McInnis (JRA Cycles) beat Rob Giese in 40-44 racing. The 35-30 win went to Erik Maher as he stayed in front of Mike Darrell. Nick Jones, in his first time ever at Foothills, won the 13-14 / 17-24 class. Nick is from New Jersey and was heard asking his parents how long it would take to get here from New Jersey each week. Dan Delisle won the weekly battle between he and Chris Pfeffer in 11-12 / 9 – 10 cruiser.
That’s it for this week. Thanks to every one who helped make this another fun day. Don’t forget it’s the last double pointer in the state next Sunday. Be there or be square.

Peace