Race Report June 28th, 2009

WEEK #9

Okay after today’s action we are at the half-way point and we continue to go up against holidays and Nationals. This weekend is South Park weekend, one of the NBL’s most popular Nationals; The Starts N Stripes National just outside of Pittsburgh. . I will say that I’m surprised at the Connecticut people who did not attend this year. Speaking for me it’s the first time in quite awhile that I didn’t announce there as well. So weather-wise it looked like we would catch a break and that’s exactly what happened. Under partly cloudy skies we enjoyed 172 riders split into 48 motos. Not a bad turnout at all.
Before we dropped the gate, 12 yr old Rookie Josh Macomber was named our Rider-Of-The-Week for his efforts last week. After much thought he named Josh Wedge as his favorite rider.
We had some different rules in effect starting this week for the riders in the Open class (Money class). With only six riders in the house they were split into two groups of three with the top four riders total advancing to the four riders Main Event (Dash-4-Cash). The equalizer was that all three rounds of motos were scrambled so that the lineup was different in each round. Making it a little more interesting we were awarding moto points. (3 for 1st, 2 for a 2nd and 1 for a 3rd) After the three rounds of motos riders with the most points would earn a $20 bonus with $15 going to the second place points earner. That ensured some heavy comp in the motos. When the dust settled it would be John Ordonez, with 3 moto wins taking home the $20. Pete Lorenzo got the $15. So the line-up in the Main would be Ordonez, Lorenzo, Billy Ripley and Enzo Perez. When the gate dropped it was Ordonez and Lorenzo pulling everyone down the front straight. Up the second straight they raced with Ordonez at the point. Same thing up the 3rd straight and when they hit turn 3 it all changed. Lorenzo dove to the inside of John and got the inside line up the 4th straight. The crowd erupted in cheers as the local favorite now had the lead. Ordonez kept the pressure on “The Pistol” all the rest of the way but could not find a way around. At the stripe it was Lorenzo, Ordonez, Perez and Ripley. It sure was exciting and we hope the concept catches on.
With 7 riders from New York, 12 from Massachusetts and two from North Carolina joining the Connecticut riders the competition was pretty heavy all afternoon long.
In the 19-25 Ex and Nov, combined with 35-40 Novices, Devin Kelly would persevere by beating all the Experts in the group. Jorge Requena was second with Bill Clinton in the third spot. John Ordonez won his 17-18 Expert class With Enzo Perez second and Colby Lake finishing third.
16Ex and 16 Nov was the next combined class and with Paul Maher just touching the gate due to a hand injury, the win would be up for grabs. Josh Wedge did just that as he grabbed a perfect in all three rounds. The second place award went to Anthony Reilly (Aunt Leigh Anne’s Day Care) with William Barna finishing third.
Shawn McAuley aced a perfect in 13 Ex-13 Nov but Brianna Clinton was second with Chris Pfeffer (Georges Music Center) in the third spot.
The 12 Ex class was pretty hot as Dan Delisle and Ryan McCoy traded wins with Delisle making it two of three for the overall title. Zach O’Neil would crash hard in the first round and was not the same the rest of the day. The third spot went to Chris Pannullo (Fusco’s Auto Salvage).
Casey Tanner had some tough comp in the 11 Ex class with 5 hot-rods in the house. He managed a hard fought win. The second spot went to Doug cable (Gooseboro Drive-in) and third overall was Chris Therriault.
Angela Therriault beat Ashley Royer in the 14-15 Girls Class. Katie Moody got the job done in 13 Girls as she kept Jayne Roy behind her. It was great to see Ashley Hodge doing battle with these locals. Ashley is from North Carolina and even though she finished third, we think she had a good time.
Jess Maher got the best of New York’s Megan Benazic for the 11-12 Girls win. Alexus Doty (Connecticut Wells) did the same to Emily Daigle in the 10 yr old girls division. A nice surprise was the large number of riders in the 8-9 Girls class causing a Main event. It has been a long time since we’ve enjoyed a girl’s Main event and this was a good one. Icyana Mendrell, riding in the “Bring-a-buddy” program was perfect in her motos. Kyly Milton was perfect in her. In the main it was Kyly all the way but an impressive second for Icyana. The third spot went to Madison Birch.
In 5-7 Girls action Hope Maher (Mark T Kelly Construction) won two of her three motos for the title. Elizabeth Passeck was second and Ashley Jasensky (Mom and Dad Racing) was third.
Matt Bovat (Uncle Pat) topped Drew Scheinost and Russ Campbell for the 12 Novice title. The “D-Man” Dave Moody was top gun in 10Ex-11Nov action with Robbie DesMarais and Trevor Fox second and third. Justin Boissonneault made easy work of the 9 Ex – 10 Novice class. He won every moto. Finishing second each round was R . J. Miville and Pete Franolich (Vallairi’s Martial Arts) was third.
In the 8Ex-9Nov grouping Lane Maher (Hartford County Tattoo) worked hard for his overall win. The second spot went to Sky Domain with third going to Austin Clinton. A Main event was required to crown a champion in the 6Ex-7Nov-8Nov class and the win would go to Collin Penn. Robert Marcantonio was second and the 6 ex Hunter Zeiner was third. In 5-6 Novice racing Finny Milton was perfect with Riley Tweedie a perfect second and Derek Fantano a perfect third.
Butch Feitel Jr. kept Len Ferris a whole time zone behind him in 50 & over Cruiser. Len had to dial long distance just to congratulate him on the win.
40-44 Cruiser racing featured Bobby DesMarais with a perfect score. Enrik Benazic was second and Dino Pedote was third. Theresa Dengler beat Therese Campbell in an evenly matched shootout in the 40 & over Woman’s Cruiser class. In men’s 35-39 Cruiser action Garrett Yanosky and Curtis Jackson were really going at it in all three rounds. Curtis, even though he had the lead a few times, just couldn’t stay ahead of Garrett. See the picture called “The Move” in the photo section. That’s when Garrick relay busted a sweet move on Curtis in turn four. Gina Layman and Jayna Roy were matched together and the massive age difference was too much for Jayna. Gina would prevail this day.
Greg Sloan got the best of A.J. Roy in 25-29 / 30-34 Cruisers. Chris Pfeffer beat Mike Vallone two of three in another diverse age cruiser class. In the 11-12 Cruiser class the action was hot and heavy. Dan Delisle won the first round. In the second round he and Chris Pannullo would crash hard in the first turn but Dan was have enough left to win the third round and the overall win for the day. Zach O’Neil would finish second and Chris Pannullo (National Mail) was third.
In the 15-16 Rookie class Dave foster was perfect as he stayed in front of Matt Benazic all three rounds. In the 14 Rookie class Roberto Elizondo (Tha Matador) won just enough motos to eke out the win. He edged out Alex Hubbard (Absolute Masonry and Home Improvement) and Trev Simmons. The 13 yr old Rookie class featured a classic battle between Dave Lamb and Dylan Vadney. When the dust settled in this 5 rider class, the tie braking third round would go to Vadney, leaving Lamb for second and third to Joshua Santiago. A full get of riders for the 12 yr old Rookies and Josh Macomber would pick up where he left off last week by acing another perfect. The battle for second was anybody’s to win and it would eventually go to Chris Mello with Tristan Lowry finishing third. It was an impressive turnout in the 11 rookie class with 9 riders in the house. In the motos Neal Bachman and Taylor nelson were both unbeatable. In the Main event showdown, Taylor Nelson would hold off a determined Chris Stewart for the win. Timmy Dengler was third.
Another main event would be required in the 10 Rookie class. This win would go to Eric Passeck who has got to be piling up the wins and certainly getting closer to his Novice ranking. Nick Bates hung tough for a second place finish while third would go to Bryan Basile.
With 9 riders in the 9 Rookie mix the motos saw William Guido, Steve Hull and Bubba Hodge all enjoy some wins. But in the Main Event, it would be Guido who would prevail as he managed to keep a hard charging Steve Hull behind him. The third spot went to Dustin Petosa. The biggest class of the day was the 8 yr old Rookie class where semis were required just to decide who would make the main event. Thirteen riders would battle for the coveted eight spots in the main. Colin Riggs won this hard fought contest. Connor Calarco was second and the third spot went to Ed Lentz. Another big class was the 10 yr old Rookie gang with 10 riders going for the glory. Casey Navin would win the main event with Dave (D-Bomb) Reyes overcoming a hard fall in practice for a solid second and third went to Dustin Souza. Torin Ellis won the 6 Rookie class with Justin Falasco second and Ian Fosbrook third. A new rider, Tyler Rae, showed some skills that should allow him to be a front runner real soon.
In 5 & under all 8 riders transferred to the Ankle-biter Main event. Landon Richard would be this weeks champ, Brad Wohlers was second and third went to Danny DesMarais.

For a complete finish report

As always, thanks for your support. See you next week