Race Report May 17th, 2009

WEEK #2

All week long rain was predicted for Sunday. This would mean two of three races rained out after zero rain-outs last year. I guess you pay the price and it all averages out. The one thing that we have going for ourselves is the great drainage that the facility features. This always gives us a chance to sneak in a race when most people think that there is none. That may have been the case Sunday as the weather actually did cooperate to some degree, but those degrees were not too plentiful on the thermometer. After hard overnight rains, under cloudy skies with wind gusts in the 35 mph neighborhood, we decided to go ahead and run the race. With a small crowd by Foothills standards (138 riders with 5 more in the “Open”) this would relate to just 38 motos. The highest the temperature got all afternoon was 51 degrees but with the wind chill it certainly felt well below that mark.
But, at least the second rain out was avoided and the races got off again exactly on time.
Just before gate drop 5 yr old Dan DesMarais was named our Rider Of The Week for his efforts last week. He claimed Hope Maher as his favorite rider.
The 3 riders in the “Elite Open” class were all entered in the “Money Open” so they just used this opportunity for a little extra gate practice. It did feature the return of Allen Currier who had not been riding his bike too often over the off season. It was good to see him back and officially he was the winner of the Elite Open class with Pete Lorenzo second and Pete Balotti third.
A lot of combining in the 15-16 yr old nov and expert class resulted in 6 fast riders going for the glory. When the dust settled Colby Benoit won two of the three motos with Josh Wedge winning the other. The “Oreo-Man” William Barna enjoyed a solid third.
Three time track champion Kyle Block and Jason Chamis put on a great show as they traded wins in the 14 expert class. Kyle would win the tie-braking third round for the overall win, Chamis second and Aggro’s Tom MCClure was third.
Casey Tanner aced a perfect in 11 Expert racing by beating Doug Cable and Troy Atchison all three rounds. Justin Boissonneault did the same in 9 ex – 9nov combined as he was the only 9 ex here. Jake DesMarais was second and Owen Giese a close third.
Two 8 yr old experts did battle with two 8 yr old novices and the result was a win for Lane “Superfly” Maher in his first race ever as an expert. The Hartford County Tattoo sponsored Maher won on Saturday over at Falcon BMX and earned his expert ranking. Today he battled with Sky Domain and eked out the overall win with two out of three moto wins. The third spot went to Collin Penn.
Christy Kestler won the 17 & over womans title by staying in front of a hard charging Christine Gryzbek with Nicole Milton and Amy Block in tow.
Katie Moody got the job done in the 11-12 Girls class as she worked hard to stay in front of Jessica Maher. Chealsee Kalivis was third and Jillian Sayre was forth in her first race.
In 10 Girls action Alexus Doty and Emily Daigle traded wins but the tie-breaking third round went to Doty and she was declared today’s winner.
Mackenzie Atchison beat Kyly Milton for the 9 yr old Girls win.
Hope Maher (Mark T. Kelley Construction LLC) won the 5-7 Girls division as she was able to keep Elizabeth Passeck and Ashley Jasensky (Mom and Dad Racing) behind her.
19 & over expert and nov combined featured the return of a couple of riders who haven’t raced in 5 years. Ben Atchison and Matt Racine. Atchison won it with Matt Holderman second and Racine was third.
Austin Cyr self destructed in the first round of 13 ex – 14 nov racing but came back to win the next two rounds. That would be just enough to edge out Tim Osborne for the overall win. The third place award went to Jason Kellogg with George’s Music Center’s Chris Pfeffer fourth.
Dan Delisle stayed just in front of Chris Pannullo (Fusco’s Auto Salvage) for the 12 ex-13 nov win. Third and fourth were Gabe Cruz and George Norton V.
Nate Perkins made his long ride from Tolland worth it as he was perfect in 12 nov racing. Wes Reel second and Matt Bovat (Memory of Uncle Pat) was third.
Dve Moody won every moto in 10 ex-10 nov – 11 nov combined racing. Robbie DesMarais a solid second and Trevor fox third. Pete Franolich (Vallaris Martial Arts) was fourth.
Three novice and three different ages in this three rider moto with 6 yr old Hunter Zeiner beating 7 yr olf Jagur Layman and 5 yr old Derek Fantano.
New Yorks Dave Beckwidth, sporting his All American Bicycle Center colors, edged out Len Ferris in 50 & over Cruiser action. Len was only a long distance phone call behind him. Actually he was still in winter as Dave had already raced into spring.
Gina Layman 35-39 Woman’s Cruiser had no other females to race so she elected to jump in with the men and she ended up pushing them all pretty hard. The top three spots went to Curtis Jackson, Greg Sloan and Rick Marceau.
Dan Delisle stayed in fornt of Chris Pfeffer in 11-12 / 13-14 Cruiser action.
In the 17 & over Rookie class, T.J. Faulise did the common BMX foot-stomp and hurt his ankle in the first round resulting in Kevin Beichner having a free ride to the winners circle. We hope TJ is okay.
Jim Ferris (Tactical Arms) was undefeated in the 15-16 Rookie class with Nick Landi second and Dave Foster third.
Roberto Elizondo enjoyed a nice come from behind win in the 14 rookie class as he recovered from a third place finish in the first round to win the next two. Justin Hawes was second and Alex Hubbard (Absolute Masonry and Home Improvement) was third.
The 13 Rookie class went to Dylan Vadney with Brett Bosek second and Darren Zimmerman (David J. Mahoney Painting) third.
Kenny Grenier won the 12 Rookie class with Tristan Lowrey and Josh Macomber having a great battle for the second spot which eventually went to Lowrey.
In 11 Rookie racing it would take a Main Event to determine a winner. Jeff Vadney would be perfect through the motos and also win the main. Chris Stewart was second and the third went to Taylor Nelson.
In 10 Rookie racing a Main event was also needed to crown a champion. With Scott Thomson, Tajeh Cozzaglio and Nick Bates all winning motos, surely one of them would capture the Main. Nope; The Main event win and first place trophy went to “Flyin” Bryan Basile. Thomson was second and Bates settled for third.
The 9 Rookie Main event features a perfect day for Eric Passeck as he won everything that he ran. Alex Wilcox was second and Steven Hull was third.
Another Rookie class and another Main event was the situation in 8 Rookie. Lucus Petosa was perfect in his motos as was Colin Riggs. But, in the Main, Brandon Jasensky (Vectro Networks) won the main with Riggs second and Petosa third.
6-7 Rookie class featured a prefect right through the Main event for Jacob Bacis. Dustin Souza was second and third place went to Dave Reyes.
The 5 & under Rookie class is always fun to watch and that certainly was the case today. In the 7 rider Main event Max Gustafson would be crowned the winner with Landon Richard second and Bradleigh Wohlers third.
Finally the "Money Open" went to Pete Lorenzo.
As there was a threat of showers or was that snow flurries, we decided to run straight through with no second round break. A double riders raffle will be held next week. Hopefully the weather will be much more pleasant. Have a great week.

For a complete finish report for this race