Race Report May 25th, 2008

WEEK #4

Memorial Day Weekend and the weather is picture perfect. A great day to honor our veterans and to hold a family oriented sporting event such as BMX racing. This year our expectations were all over the place regarding the size of the crowd. One side of the equation was it being a holiday weekend and people traveling to visit distant loved ones. On the other side, with the rising out of control gas prices, maybe more people would hang around locally and come out and race. At least there was no nearby National Event to contend with.
Our day started with the Memorial Day weekend tradition here at Foothills to honor our hero men and women of the armed forces who have made the supreme sacrifice by playing Lee Greenwood’s “GOD BLESS THE USA”.
Next up Harwinton’s Nick Hull was honored as last week’s rider of the week. His picture can be seen in that section of this web site.
When the motos were posted the rider count was 179 riders racing in ‘class”; 4 more in the “Elite Open” class (Pro Class) and another 8 in the “Open Wheels Competition. This equated to 49 motos which is not bad considering.
The Elite Open Class is mandatory in Connecticut this year if there are at least three pro riders at the race. In years past the pros could just race in the “Money Opens” if they so desired. With four riders in the house that hold pro NBL licenses (Pete Balotti self upgraded today), the grid was Balotti, Lorenzo, Currier and Allison Thomas. Because 3 of the 4 were entered into the Open Wheels money race, most just used this set of motos for “in-race gate practice”. None the less, Pete Lorenzo seemed to take it a little more seriously then the rest and was the winner.
Cassy Scott made her return from college a good one as she held off Nicole Milton in all three of her motos for the 17 & Over woman’s win.
A big contingent in a mixed bag of classes in a class best described as 19 & over expert and novice combined. Bethleham’s Garrick Yanosky, classified as 35-40 expert, would be the winner with Kevin Clark, the only other expert (36-34) in the mix finishing 2nd. Riding out of Kensington Cliff Richards was the first Novice to cross the stripe.
In 17 expert and novice racing Kevin Mottai, the only novice in the class, would win two of three motos. Congrats to Zack Ritchie for earning his expert ranking recently and making a good showing.
Brandon Miville was perfect in the two rider 17 & over rookis class as he managed to keep Dan Sears in his rear view mirror all day long.
Logan Mitchell was the fastest 16 expert today as Josh Sanford appeared to be saving his energy for the Open Wheels competition.
Matt Nichols, riding for team CJR won the 16 rookie division with Rob Magi a solid second.
Two 15 novices were combined with three 15 experts and the results were predictable as the T & M Builders sponsored Paul Maher, riding his Nat’l #22 mount, easily handled the competition. Josh Wedge was second and William Barna, was third completing the “expert sweep”. Schweiger Tile and Flooring Anthony Reilly was the first novice to cross the finish line.
James Norris aced a perfect in 15 rookie action as he kept Matt Hyatt and Jeremiah Royer at bay.
Angela Therriault continued her sting of perfect days with yet another win in the 14-15 girls class. Amy Black was second.
In 14 ex / 14 nov combined it was D.J. Scott scoring a win with nov rider Halton McCready a nice second. The Waterbury Tire & Auto ride of James Oslander was third.
Dan German won everything there was to win the 14 rookie class with Newington’s James Dumont in the second slot.
A full gate of 13 ex / 13 nov combined saw our three time track champion Kyle Block remind everyone how dominate he can be as he was perfect. Aggro’s Tommy McClure was second. Austin Vailancourt was right in the middle of things when he would wreck in the third round and be carried off the track on a stretcher. Later it was learned that he has some bruises but will be okay. Great news about this “Weight Room” sponsored rider from Thomaston.
Alex Hubbard dominated the 13 rookie gang in his motos, as did Kevin Klein in his. But in the 13 rookie main event it would be “Klein at the line” as he edged out Justin Hawes at the stripe.
NBL Regional Champion Carly Curtin won the 13 girls class and it was great to see her down here from Highland New York.
12ex / 12 nov combined action saw 3 time state champion Shawn McAuley win tow of three motos but the new kid on the block and now a force to contend with was Austin Cyr. Austin, continues to impress as he is still a novice and giving experts all they can handle.
Bristol’s Gabe Cruz perfect again in 12 rookie racing right through the main event. Nick Hull was second and Devone Thomas was third in this hotly contested class.
Amanda Wedge held off Jayna Roy and Gabby Boxall in the 12 girls class again this week but the other ladies are getting closer.
Dan Delisle won the 11 expert class but new expert Chris Pannullo, out of the Fusco’s Auto Salvage stables, pushed him all the way. Nick Killmer was third.
Ryan McCoy, riding out of Wallingford CT. was the top gun in 11 novice. Tom Curtin and Ian Dickinson battled hard for the second place trophy which went to Ian.
Keny Grenier, local Torrington rider, worked hard for the win in 11 rookie. Hot Wheels rider Wes Reel flipped the gate in the second round ruining his chances for a win. Rich Carlson heating and Cooling sponsored Taylor Yurgalevicz was third.
T & M Builders sponsors two riders this year and both were perfect this week. This time it was Jess Maher winning it all with Prospect’s Katy Moody second and Shay Brown third in the 10-11 girls class.
New York’s Casey Tanner won the 10 expert class which featured Troy Atchison in his first expert race ever. Troy finished third behind Chris Therriault.
Crazy combining required in the next group as 10 nov – 9 nov and 9 ex would be grouped together. Zeiner Tile and Flooring sponsored Jon Zeiner won the main with the D-Man (Dave Moody) second across the stripe. Doug Cable, perfect through his motos, was third in the main event. R.J. Miville (Jack’s Auto Body) was the only 9 nov here toady and he had a good showing.
Zeller Tire picked up Mike Wasilonsky to sponsor this year and they are getting some airtime from this front runner. Mike, however, would finish second this day behind Ty Hesterberg who simply was “HOT”. Nice class with a full gate of riders. In 10 rookie.
Another full gate in the 9 rookie class. This one would see maybe the most improved Foothills rider this year, Nick Bates, eke out a win. Mike Heffernan was second and Pete Franolich (The Pines) was third.
Devin Murphy and Emily Daigle were the only 9 girls in the house and Devin would be the eventual winner.
Justin Boissonneault would be the winner in the combined class of 8 ex and nov while Ryan Towle was second. The first nov to finish was Bell Electric’s Owen Giese.
Dutch Lawn and Garden Design’s Sean Graveline aced his first perfect ever in the motos in 8 rookie but in the main he went down in flames and was carried off. His mom would tell us later that he was fine. Jacob Shpur won the main, Brandon Galeski second and Jacob Gleacher was third.
“Mac-Attack” Mackenzie Atchison won the combined class of 5-7 / 8 girls with Kyly Milton second and brand new rider Val Hart third.
“Superfly” Lane Maher, sponsored by Hartford County Tattoo, won the 7 novice class with 5 yr old Hunter Zeiner, (Oxycare) thrown into this class because there simply are no other 5 yr old novices, finished second in this 5 rider shoot-out.
In 7 rookie action Brandon Jasensky (Vectro Computer Systems) and Collin Penn were bot perfect through their motos. In the main event Penn was a little faster and Brandon had to settle for second. The third place prize went to Luke Petosa.
The 6 yr old rookie class was the biggest group here today with 12 riders entered, vying for a spot in the eight rider main event. When all was said and done, Tactical Arms sponsored Zack Ferris would be the main event winner with Kaine Dog Murphy second and Torrington Firefighters 1567 sponsored randy Donaghy third.
In the 5 & under rookie main event, Arefin Milton won it, Spence Burke second and Hope Maher was third.
Chris Therriault won the 8 & under / 9-10 cruiser class. The 11-12 / 17-24 cruiser division went to and also featured the return of Sarah Shatkyvich. Glad you are back Sarah.
Greg Slone beat Matt Theriault in the combined class of 25-29 / 30-34 cruiser.
Track Director Erik Maher was top dog in 35-39 cruiser, (Did you hear that Bobby?) Jim Burke second. Max Garcia unfortunately suffered a bad crash on the back stretch and we learned later it was a collarbone. Max, we all wish you well in your recovery.
Tom Johnson and Fred Roy finished 1-2 in 40-44 cruiser racing. The oldest gang here was the 45-49 / 50 + cruisers. Vermont’s Tim Buck came out on top, with Dave Beckwith second. Butch Feitel, after testing the integrity of the fence in turn two was third.
Rounding out the days action was the 16 & over Open Wheels class where Thunder Allen Currier would again go home with first place money. Pete Lorenzo was second and Bill Ripley was third.
Thanks for spending part of the holiday with us. We sure appreciate have you. See you next week.