Race Report June 29th, 2008

Week # 9

Week 9 marks the half-way point of the season. It also marked the weekend of the popular South Park National in Pittsburgh and the continuance of an oppressive heat wave and yet another forecast for rain. With that said, we expected a small crowd and that’s exactly what we got, in fact the smallest race so far this year with 131 riders in class and another 6 in the 16 & over open wheels race. The moto count was only 38 but, the way the weather turned out, its kind of good that it was a small race. Amazingly we took in five new riders today bringing our total for 2008 to 84.
In pre-race ceremonies 5 yr old Arefin Milton was named the Rider Of The Week form the June 22 race and he promptly declared his Dad (Greg Sloan) his favorite rider.
Under increasingly threatening skies the first moto got underway promptly at 1:30 with the goal of taking a 15 minute break between the second and third round and then running the final round and the 4 main events. As we neared the completion of the second round, it was obvious that a storm was closing fast and we decided to waive the break and moved directly into the third round. This would prove to be a key decision as once we hit moto 17 the rain started. Luckily, after a couple of roars of thunder, the storm would provide a steady but not overwhelming rain. We sped through the last 20 motos and had to make a decision on running the main events. We did stumble on ourselves a bit arriving at a decision and decided to run the mains as there were only four of them. Now for a personal comment. I did hear from one dad who voiced an opinion that he didn’t agree with running the mains as his rider did very well in his motos but not so in the main. He would rather have had the class be trophied as they finished in the motos. That’s a far opinion but not necessarily the fairest decision for all riders. The reason that running the mains is important is to the riders who win their mains. No NBL Move-Up Awards” are given if the mains are not run and riders are declared winners by their finish in the motos. This dad felt that it wasn’t fair to his rider who worked to hard in the motos to have that taken away by having to run the main. My response is to consider the rider who won the main. He also worked very hard all day and, in fact, won all of his motos, at least this way he got the move-up award that he worked hard to earn. For the record the dad who voiced his opinion was very good about it and not obnoxious at all.
So here are the finishes, In the 17 & over Womans class, which feature 4 riders, Michelle Main was the fastest with an improving Nicole Milton second and Quiana Lukowski third. Welcome to the group goes to Tammy King, who looked absolutely petrified as she rode around the track. Christine Grezbek beat Amy Block two out of three for the win in 15-16 Girls.
In 19 & over expert and novice combined it really was a two rider shootout between Garrick Yanosky and Just Coelho. They would trade wins in the first two rounds with Garrick winning the ty-breaking third round. The third spot went to Kevin Clark.
Zak McCready won the 17-18 ex and nov combined group with Stylin’s Kory Buck second.
Jeff Croshier, after wrecking in the second round, came back strong in the third to eke out yet another win in 15 ex – 16 nov combined racing. Brandon Miville was the first novice in this one.
Mike Clark took care of business in the 16 rookie class finishing ahead of Rob Magi and Angelo Uriotegui.
Sxhweiger Tile and Floorings Anthony Reilly dominated the 15 novice gang with Halton McCready second and Waterbury Tire and Auto’s Jim Oslander third. Three riders in the 14 rookie – 15 rookie main event elected not to run it resulting in a CJR’s sweep as Matt Hyatt earned his first winning trophy and move up award. Teammate DJ Foster was second and “A-Bone” Jer Royer was third and the fourth spot went to new rider Jose Acosta.
Visiting from Douglassville PA., Chris Nelson made his first visit to Foothills memorable as he was perfect with his National # 28 machine in 14 ex – 15 nov combined. Angela Therriault, looking a lot like her idol Kim Hyashi was second and Dusty Wilson third.
Ashley Theriault beat Vistoria Sunbury for the win in 14 girls.
5 riders in the 13 expert class which would feature a perfect by Kyle Block, a second by Jason Chamis and a third by Aggro’s Tommy McClure.
Shawn McAuley would beat George’s Music Center’s Chris Pfeffer in 12 ex.
Justin Hawes (13 Rookie) won two of three motos with Alex Hubbard settling for the second place trophy in their class. Trevor Simmons was third.
Katie Duncan and Gabby Boxall were the two 13 yr old girls competitors with kaie coming out on top.
Gabe Cruz, after moving up to novice at Meriden, won the 12 novice class this day. Brianna Clinton got him the last moto but Gabe was the overall winner.
Nick Hull beat Dylan Vadney for the 12 rookie title and Amanda Wedge managed to stay ahead of Katherine Moody for the win in 12 girls. Jayna Roy was third.
Dan delisle and Chris Pannullo had their usual intense battle for supremacy in 11 expert racing and Danny got Chris tow out of three for the win. Nick Killmer was third.
Chris Therriault earned the win as the only expert in the 10 ex – 11 nov class. Ryan McCoy finished second and Mike Buonocore was third.
Hot Wheels Wes Reel got the 11 rookie win finishing ahead of Rich Carlson Heating and Cooling’s Taylor Yurgalevicz and Ty Hesterberg.
Julionna Olson won the 10-11 Girls class keeping Shay Brown in tow with Kendra Covington Third.
Zeiner Tile & Floorings Jon Zeiner aced a perfect in 9 – 10 novice with Kobe Covington second and Jack’s Auto Body RJ Miville third.
Chris Stewart won two of three motos in 10 rookie action but a third place finish in the third round would allow Zeller Tires Mike Wasilonky to go home with the first place trophy. Jeff Vadney got the third.
Exact same situation in the 9 rookie class where Eric Passeck won the first two but Pete Franolich (The Pines of Waterbury) would be declared the winner as Eric finished third in the third round.
Sky Domain won the 5 – 6 – 7 novice class with Oxycare’s Hunter Zeiner, as the only 5 yr old novice in the State won his class. Bell Electrics Owen Giese was second across the stripe.
Only one rider to not race the 8 rookie main event as Jacob Shpur won everything including all of his motos. The second spot went to Brandon Galeski after winning all of his motos. Third was Dusty Petosa.
Kyly Milton looked to be on her way to a perfect in the 8 girls class until she self destructed and Scorpioned on the third straight allowing Alysha Olson to get by her. Alysha suffered the same thing in the first round.
Another class requiring a main event was the 7 rookie class. Perfect in his motos was Vectro Custom Computers Brandon Jasensky and Collin Penn. In the Main Collin would win with Brandon second and Lucas Petosa third.
Tactical Arms Zack Ferris won the 6 rider 6 rookie class with a solid second going to Torrington Firefighters Randy Donaghy and earning a third was Casey Navin.
In 5 & under Arefin Milton would show why he was named Rider of the Week as he easily won the class again this week. Riley Tweedie scored a nice second and Derek Fantano third.
Timmy Buck held off Butch Feitel in 45-49 Cruiser while Fred Roy was the overall winner in 35-39 / 40-44 Cruiser racing. Rob Giese second and Don Olson third.
Angela Therriault beat Sarah Shatkavich in the combined class of 13-14 / 17-24 female cruiser racing.
In the 11-12 cruiser class it would be Dan Delisle first, Chris Pannullo second and Chris Therriault third.
Justin Hellwinkel won the 16 & Over Open class with Don Olson second and Kory Buck Third.
Don’t forget the Bizzarro Clinic next Sunday after the races.