Race Report May 27th

Week number 4

On this Memorial Day weekend race, it looked at 11:00 a.m. that this could be a record turnout. But it looked like a record for the smallest race in years instead of the largest as hardly anyone was there at the time for practice to start. By the close of registration there was 173 riders plus another 13 for the “Open” Making this 47 moto race not too bad for a holiday weekend.
In opening ceremonies, Krysta Zbikowski, 13 yr old girls from New York was named the Dozer’s Place Rider of the Week for her efforts last week. In the interview she said that Redline’s Kim Hyashi was her favorite rider. Pretty hard to argue that as Kim is the reigning NBL #1 woman’s pro.
For the third consecutive week we dropped the gate exactly at 1:30 and a crazy day of racing was underway. I say crazy because there seemed to be more crashes then any race in recent memory. More on that as we go.
In the 16 & Over open Wheels action the 13 riders vying for the 8 spots in the main event put on their usual exciting show. Making the main were Mike Gage, Pete Balotti, Steve Oldham, Cody Buck, Billy Ripley, Ty Johnson, Alex Rivera and Jonathan Barna. When the gate dropped it would be Ripley, picking up where he left off last week, leading the charge into turn one. Ty Johnson and Steve Oldham were all over him up the second straight. Coming out of turn two Johnson was hanging it on the outside when he wrecked in a big time bailout at the bottom of the big camel jump. As they raced into turn three it was still the Ripper hanging on with Oldham (Chairman of the board) all over his rear wheel. Balotti was right in the mix battling Rivera for the third spot. No changes until they headed for the last turn when Oldham just figured it was all or nothing. He dove sharply to the inside and carved an incredible turn to stay under Billy and win the sprint to the line by inches. Ripley had to settle for second and Rivera grabbed the third spot. After a brief delay, Ty Johnson would stand and walk off the track pretty gingerly.
Tom Johnson, coming out of retirement, easily won the 35 & over expert / novice class while Alfred Roy was the fastest novice in the mix. JRA Cycles Renato Da Silva won the 25-29 ex class which was combined with novices and 30 – 34 experts. Bennington Vermont’s Kory Buck and Seymour’s Dan Buckner were both perfect in their motos but in the 17 –2 4 expert main event it would be Buckner keeping Buck behind him all the way around the course.
J.J. Wernicki won 2 of 3 motos in 16 ex / 17 – 24 novice racing and Rob Sullivan aced a “perfect” in 17 & over rookie action.
15 ex Anthony Del Vento, as the only expert present in the 15 yr old bracket was combined with 4 16 yr old novices but still proved to fast for them to handle as he won all 3 rounds of motos. Only two riders in the 16 yr old rookie class and the South End Two Guys Pizza sponsored Brandon Miville would get the best of Jordan Clark in 2 of 3 motos for the overall win.
Josh Sanford was able to beat Logan Mitchell 2 of 3 in 15 novice racing while Keith Brown captured a win in 15 rookie racing.
Danielle Jolicoeur, sponsored by Moore & Morrison Windows & Siding, easily won her Girls combined class keeping her undefeated streak in tact.
Video World’s Paul Maher had little trouble in holding off the rest of the 14 ex / 14 novice class. It was good to see “Fast-Freddie” Long back in action again. Anthony Reilly, Joan’s Candy Cupboard, drew some tough duty as the only novice in this 5 rider class but held his own just fine.
Bryan Szabo would hold off a hard charging James Norris in the 14 rookie gang.
In 13 expert action Zack Pirulli was the fastest as he and D.J. Scott were obviously just having fun performing synchronized jumps. In novice racing, 13 yr old Ryan Shores would finish ahead of Alex Harris, Mason Johnson and Ethan Mercier.
Harwinton’s James Oslander was the fastest 13 yr old rookie today getting him one step closer to the novice ranking. He certainly looks ready to move up. Ali Thimmish held off Krysta Zbikowski in the 12 / 13 girls class. Hockey player and BMX racer Kyle Block was able to beat both Zack Andringa and Jason Chamis 2 of 3 times for the overall win in 12 ex. Justin Thompson won his first moto in 12 yr old novice action on his dad’s birthday but it would be the Weight Rooms, Austin Vaillancourt earning the overall win today.
Chris O’Brien held off Trevor Simmons in 12 rookie racing. In 11 ex Shawn McAuley was back and pretty much dominated keeping Josh Thimmish and Nate Martinsen behind him in all three rounds.
Even as the only 10 yr old expert here, Dan Delisle had no problems getting combined with the older 11 yr old novices as he was perfect. Chris Pfeffer was the fastest novice in the mix. Austin Cyr and Jeremy Buck traded wins in 11 rookie action with Austin earning the overall title. A1 Self Storage’s Amanda Wedge kept Stich Painting and Power wash’s Jayna Roy in tow in 11 girls action.
In 9 ex / 10 nov combined it was Casey Tanner and T.J Maniscalchi finishing 1 – 2.
Week # 1’s rider of the week Christian Berti was again the fastest 10 yr old rookie with Uncle Pat’s sponsored Matt Bovat second. Five girls were on hand in the 10 yr old bracket and Jessy Maher won all three rounds while everyone behind her would trade finishing positions.
In 9 novice racing action Bizzarro’s Mike Geurin would hold off Eagle Electric’s Troy Atchison. Larry Coderre won the 9 rookie class main event. Robbie DesMarias and William Baird were perfect in their motos in this class but Robbie crashed hard on the third straight to ruin his chances for a win. Robbie was eventually able to get up and complete the course.
Alex Coenraads made it two of three in 8 yr old novice action while R.J. Milville was perfect in 8 rookie racing right through the main event. Pete Franolich enjoyed a solid second place finish. In the first round Devon Ferris crashed in the second turn and would be transported to the hospital with a suspected broken leg. By the time we got to the third round he had been checked out and was back at the track with a clean bill of health. A full rack of 6nov / 7 nov racers would see Matt Guerin and Justin Boissonneault dominate with Matt coming out on top. The 7 yr old rookie class would require a main event to determine a winner and Jake DesMarais and Owen Giese were perfect through their motos but Jake would win the main event “show-down”.
Pieter Coenraads held off Dan Krouse all three rounds for the 45-49 Cruiser win. Greg Fantano and Rob Giese traded wins in 40 – 44 action and Greg was the overall champ. Rob fell hard in one round but came back strong. The 30 – 34 guys were combined with the 35 – 39 guys and Garrick Yanosky was the front runner all day. Great action behind him between Don Olson, Bob DesMarias and Erik Maher. Bob learned that you really can blast into the last turn way too fast as he nearly T-Boned Olson. Fearing for his life, he apologized all the way to the finish line.
Another main was required in 6 yr old action and Lane Maher held off Collin Penn in this class.
In the “Rug-Rat” division (5 & under rookie), Jagur Layman won with Conor Guilford 2nd and Owen Munson third.
Aggro’s bike’s “The Animal’. Beat his team-mate Ali Thimmish in 11-12 cruiser racing and Dan Delisle held off T.J. Maniscalchi in 9 – 10 cruiser action.
As part of the Memorial Day ceremonies, 12 yr old Austin Vaillancourt read a letter that he wrote to Shawn Kennedy when Shawn returned for his tour of duty in Iraq with the United States Marine Corp. For the context of this impressive letter CLICK HERE.