Race Report May 11th, 2008

WEEK #2

The downside of racing on Sundays is that the NBL’s national events are all on weekends and so are most of our holidays. This Sunday was a prime example as Howell New Jersey was hosting a National and it was Mother’s Day. Add to this issue the price of gasoline these days and it sure related to a smaller then usual crowd at Foothills.
We had 146 riders in 35 motos plus another 4 riding in the 16 & Over Open Wheels competition.
So it is what it is and the 450 – 500 people in the park had a good time, on the most part anyway.
The day started with Collin Penn being honored as the Rider Of The Week from last weeks opening day. He said that Pete Lorenzo was his favorite rider. Not a bad role model for sure.
With reluctance we decided to hold a “Mothers Day moto. Eight Mod Moms took the opportunity to ride the track and see how easy it really is. One in particular, Wendy Cyr, proud mother of Austin Cyr, had been seen on the track the last few weeks practicing as she obviously was in it to win it. Well, all was really going well as she was handle bar to handle bar with the other 7 ladies. It looked to be really evenly matched. The excitement was thrilling and all were having a great time. It appeared that no one had an edge on anyone else. They were so close they were almost touching each other but all held their ground looking very professional. Then the gate dropped. So down the hill they sped with Wendy on the inside. On the first obstacle it was carnage as Wendy self destructed and exploded at the feet of our track photographer. (See Weekly Photos). Someone else went down on the next jump . Wendy got up and immediately fell again on jump number 3 as yet another mother went down in nearly the same spot. It was Motherly Mayhem all over the track. When Wendy had finally cleared the finish line after wrecking a record three times in the same moto, the order of finish was Michelle DesMarais 1st; Aurora Papa 2nd; Julianne Rossi 3rd; Lydia Sidir 4th; Lisa Ferris 5th; Gina Sears 6th; Jennifer Petosa 7th and Wendy was 8th. They all walked away.
In the actually running of the “real motos” there was a lot of combined clases on this day. In the 11-12, 17-24, 25-29 Cruiser group Mike Vallone, 22 yrs old would work hard to stay in from of 11 yr old Dan Delisle. Dan’s dad was heard to say after the race that he wished his son could race Vallone every week as he really went faster. Mike won all three motos.
Erik Maher and Bob Desmarais had the 35-39 Cruiser class all to themselves and these two competitors, who are friends both on and off the track, had a great day of racing with Desmarais winning two of three.
6 yr old Megan Fuchs was the only one in her age group there so she had to be combined wth 9 yr old Emily Daigle. Both were fun to watch as Emily prevailed.
In the 10-11 Girls class T & M Builder’s Jess Maher was dominate. 10 yr old Jen Rossi had a solid second with Alyssa Perkins third and Kendra Covington fourth.
Track Champion Amanda Wedge had little problems in the 12 girls group as she easily held off Jayna Roy and Gabby Boxall.
Angela Therriault continues to impress in the 24-25 girls combined class with another perfect day. Amy Block finished second.
7 and 8 yr old novices were combined and Sky Elwood, even after wrecking with Jake Desmarais in the second round, managed enough to gain the overall win. Hartford County Tattoo sponsored Lane Maher was second.
In the 9-10 Novice class Doug Cable was the winner with Robbie DesMarais grabbing the second spot.
In his 2008 Foothills debut, The Bay States Todd Maniscalchi was perfect in 10ex-11 nov combined holding off Chris Therriault. Mikey Buonocore was the only novice there and finished third.
12 nov Austin Cyr held off 11 ex Dan delisle and 11 ex Nick Killmer in an impressive show of skills. Mike Rossi was right in the mix as well.
In 13 Nov action Brett Wojtkowski won all three rounds. Justin Thompson was pretty close to him each time around.
I n the combined class of 13 ex – 14 nov. Mason Johnson, the Esquire Cleaners ride and Sean Perkins finished one and two with Jason Chamis was Third.
Cody Dunn won 14ex – 15 nov. The Schweiger Tile and Flooring sponsored Anthony Reilly was second.
16 ex Logan Mitchell won the 16 ex – 17-18 nov combined class as he traded wins with the birthday boy Kevin Mottai.
New Yorks Dave Nelson won the 17-18 expert / novice class with Cliff Richards second.
T & M Builders Paul Maher continued his streak of wins in 15 ex as he held off Josh Wedge, Jeff Croshier and William barna.
Dan Buckner won the 19-25 gang of experts and novices.
In the always popular 5 & under rookie class the action there would prove to be the most exciting of the day. Usually finishing at the back of the pack, Hope Maher has always been happy with just being out there. Today, something special happened as she took the lead in the first turn of her first moto and held on all the way around for the first moto win in her career. The crowd erupted in approval. Proving it wasn’t a fluke she did the exaxct same thing again in the second round and looked for a perfect only to be passed at the strip in the third round. She earned her first “earned win” ever on this memorable Mother’s Day. Derek Fantano was also hot and he had a second place finish.
In the 6 yr old Rookie main event the tactical Arms sponsored Zack Ferris would be the winner. Conor Guilford scored a second and Dustin Souza was third.
The 7 Rookie main was also exciting as Last weeks winner Collin Penn would do a repeat performance this week. Jacob Gleacher was not far behind for second and Collin Riggs had a nice third.
Another main was required in the 8 yr old Rookie class to determine a winner and Owen Giese put the Bell Electric ride in the winners circle again this week. The Dutchman Lawn and Garden Design sponsored Sean Graveline was second and Brandon Galeski was third.
Five 9 year old Rookies were in the house and when the dust settled R.J. Miville, sponsored by Jack's Autobody, would score his 15th Rookie win earning himself a promotion to the Novice ranks. Congratulation R.J. Evan Fuchs was second and Pete Franolich, sponsored by “The Pines” was third.
Ty Hesterberg was the overall winner in 10 Rookie action as he won the tie breaking moto # 3 as Zeller Tires Mike Wasilonsky had a problem and had to settle for second overall.
In 11 Rookie racing Wes Reel had the hot wheel and Christian Berti was second.
12 Rookie Gabe Cruz aced a perfect in his class while Dylan Vadney had a perfect second and Chad Daigle a perfect third.
Kyle Sanford won the 13 Rookie class with Alex Hubbard second.
James Oslander has to be getting close to the Novice ranking as he won the 14 Rookie class again.
The 15 Rookie class was won by Jim Ferris, riding under the Tactical Arms banner while James Norris was second and Jeremiah Royer was third.
Matt Nichols aced a perfect score in 16 Rookie action with Mike Clark in the second slot.
The 17 & Over Rookie class was the tragic grouping of the day. It was in this group that 21 yr old Tim Walsh suffered a broken wrist and required surgery last night. Our thoughts go out to him for a speedy recovery. Brandon Miville won the class.
Garrick Yanosky had little trouble in winning the 35-40 Ex / nov combined class.
Only four riders were on hand for the 16 & over open wheels class where Pete Ballotti would be the winner with Josh Sanford second and Jason Bush third.