Race Report August 2nd, 2009

WEEK #16 (Race #1)

Okay, the season of the threat of rain continued today. After losing our Double Pointer three weeks ago to the weather, we “bumped” a regular season race last Sunday to run the make up of the Double Pointer. That caused us to schedule a make up race this Sunday. Historically we have run a standard three moto race then the make-up as a two moto system. Also historically, people have not stayed for the second race under these conditions so we decided to shorten the day by employing the NBL’s two moto system for both races in hopes that this would encourage more people to stay for the second race. This proved to be successful as 165 riders were registered for race one and 148 for the second race. The weather reports were all saying heavy rains in the afternoon and it just never materialized. We dodged yet another bullet.
After his efforts at the Double Pointer last week, the Rider-Of-The-Week was Dustin Petosa who named his brother Lukas as his favorite rider.
As far as results and action, it seemed that there were more close finishes then any race day in recent memory.
In the 16 Expert class Colby Benoit and Josh Wedge were battling hard but Josh was riding a little conservatively as he was also entered in the Money open. Colby, riding as hard as we’ve seen him would win all the motos with Josh second and Anthony Reilly (Aunt Leighann’s Day Care) finishing third. In 14 expert action with Roberto Elizondo thrown in the mix as the only 14 novice in the house featured Austin Cyr and Stephen Kallas going head to head. Austin wrecked while in the lead the first round but came back to win the second round. Stephen’s second place finish in that round would ensure him the overall win. Austin was second and third went to Elizondo. In 13Expert-13 Novice racing Shawn McAuley won both rounds with Ryan McCoy a close second and Drew Scheinost third. Dan Delisle continued his streak of “unbeatableness” with yet another perfect in the 12 Expert-13 Novice class. Chris Pannullo (Fusco’s Auto Salvage) was a close second with Troy Atchison third. Chris Therriault and Casey tanner traded wins in the 11 Expert class with Casey the most consistent and the overall winner. Third went to Jon Zeiner. In 17 & over women Nicole Milton edged out Gina Layman for the win with Amy Block finishing in the third spot. Katie Moody continued her quest to put her name on the big board with another win in 13-14 Girls action. Michaela Lourenco was second and Ashley Royer was third. Jess Maher also aced a perfect score in the 4 rider 12 yr old Girls class. Michaela Groves continued her skills progression with a solid second place finish while Jen Cote’ was finishing third. Only two riders in the 11 Girls class and it would be Samantha Lumbra edging out Alexus Doty (Connecticut Wells) for the win. A good turn out with 5 Girls racing in the 9 yr old division. Halee Persinger and Kyly Milton would be the two dominant riders. Halee was the winner of the first 1185 feet of the track but unfortunately for her the track is 1190 feet long. Kyly would pass her both rounds just short of the finish line. The third sport went to Abby Mitchell. Beth Passeck and Keely Michaud would finish 1-2 in the 8 yr old girls class while Hope Maher (Mark T Kelley Construction) and Ashley Jasensky (Mom and Dad Racing) would do the same in 5-7 Girls. Mike Greco won the 26-24 Expert class with Ben Atchison second. Mike Jasensky (X-Treme Marine) was just touching the gate. Ben would sit out the second round to serve as our announcer while I took pictures. In the 15 Expert-15 Novice class Jonathan Daversa (Dave’s Auto Detailing) would show the skills that he had a couple of years ago and win the class. Jason Chamis was second and the third spot went to Angela Therriault. In 12 yr old Novice racing Trevor Fox, in a rare display of “I-want-to-winness” did just that as he won the class. Wes Reel settled into the second spot with third going to Russ Campbell. Dave Moody got the job done in the 10 Expert-11 Novice racing as the only Expert in the mix. RJ Miville. Looking really focused enjoyed a solid second with Pete Franolich (Valaris Martial Arts) third. Good action in the 19 Novice – 9 Expert class with two experts and three novices going at it. Justin Boissonneault (9 Expert) would prevail but had Jake DesMarais (10 Novice) not wrecked in the first round, may have been the winner of the whole class. He did salvage a second place finish overall with third going to Nick Cote’. A full gate of riders in the 8 Expert 9 Novice class and Sky Domain and Lane Maher (Hartford County Tattoo) were really going at it. Sky won the first round but Lane, after making a beauty of a move in the third turn, came back to win the second round and grab the overall title. Sky was second with Jonathan Moura finishing third. There would be a main event in the 7 Expert – 8 Novice class. Jagur Layman, who recently seems to have taken his riding to the next level, won everything he ran. The second spot in the main went to Lucas Petosa with third going to the only Expert in the class, and also the youngest rider in the class, Hunter Zeiner. In the 5-6 Novice class Arefin Milton was simply unbeatable with Derek Fantano second and riley Tweedie was third. Bob Mahner and Len Ferris made up the 45-49 / 50 & over class. Mahner would win the class but Leapin Lenny was his usual good sport. At 58 yrs old, one can only admire him out on the track every week. Bob DesMarais and Enrik Benazic would finish 1-2 in the 40-44 Cruiser class. A real mixed class in the 12 & under – 35-39 – 40-44 Woman’s Cruiser class. Meredith Lidstone, in her first race at Foothills was the winner, Gina Layman was second and Lisette Ortiz was third. Tom Kuehn and Greg Sloan put on their usual competitive show in the 30-34 / 35-39 cruiser class. Kuehn would be the winner. Chris Pfeffer continued his nice season with another win in the 13-14 Cruiser class. Drew Scheinost was second and Dave Cruz cruised into third. Dan Delisle finish just ahead of Chris Pannullo (National Mail Delivery Service) in the 11-12 Cruiser class with RJ Miville third. Nick Cote’ beat Alex Kuehn on the track in 8 & under / 9-10 cruiser racing as there were two classes in one in this small group. 16 & over Rookies were exciting with Mike Tittl and Jer Royer trading wins. The tie-breaker went to Royer so Tittl settled for two with third going to Ray Clark. A main was needed in the 15 Rookie class and Alex Hubbard (Absolute Masonry and Home Improvement) won all of his motos plus the main event. Zach Weiss did make him work for it and finished second while Sean O’Fiara managed a third. The 14 Rookie class only had two riders and Dave Lamb would get the best of Brenden Aleia. The same finish in both rounds in the 13 Rookie gang as Dylan Vadney, Samir Licul and Kris Holliday finished 1-2-3. Even though Taylor Yurgalevicz won a moto, his third place finish in the opening round would seal his fate in the 12 Rookie class. Jamie Lamb won it with Taylor second and Tristan Lowry third. The 11 Rookie class featured a battle between two former Riders-of-the-week as Erik Dugan and Bryan Basile battled each other for the win. Basile was the eventual overall winner as he won the tie-breaker with Dugan second and Chris Stewart third. The “Layman-Domination” continued in the 10 Rookie class as Jake Layman beat Nick Bates in the motos and the main event. Nick settled for second and Dale Clark had a nice third place finish. The 9 Rookie class was again a large one and a main event was needed to determine the winner. With Joe Petrino Jr. and Dustin Petosa winning both of their motos the Main event showdown would belong to Petrino. Petosa was second and the third spot went to Nick Oshiro. The 8 yr old Rookie Main event went to John Cox with Colin Riggs a very close second. The third spot went to Garrett Fosbrook. With 6 riders in the 7 Rookie class, no main event would be required but each moto was as good as if there were a main. Casey Navin got the win but it was a classic battle for the second spot as that’s where the close racing was. Jon Todd would edge Ethan Dauphinais for that second place trophy. James Cox took care of business in the 6 Rookie class. Ian Fosbrook was second and Torin Ellis was a close third. A main event in the 5 & under Rookie class was dominated by Danny DesMarais. Mike Bohlke was second after he won both his motos and third went to Lucas North.
In the Money Open, there were only four riders registered. Pete Ballotti; Josh Wedge; Jer Royer and Enzo Perez. Enzo, coming off the big win last week was clearly the favorite. But after trading wins in the first two rounds of motos, Josh Wedge would ride faster then I’ve seen him race and he made a power move in the third turn to capture his first Money open win. Enzo was second.
All in all it was a good race and now the 30 minute wait began for the start of race #2.

For a comple finish report