Race Report May 24th, 2009

WEEK #3

Okay week # 3 and it’s a holiday weekend coupled with a major NBL National event within four hours of Foothills plus a less then desirable weather forecast, this would be a struggle to enjoy a decent rider count for sure. When it was time to start it actually wasn’t too bad with 136 riders in class and another 9 in the Open Wheels division resulted in 146 riders with 38 motos.
Before we started Colin Riggs (8 yr old Rookie) was named rider of the week and said that Zachary Ferris was his favorite rider.
The Elite Open class was interesting as it would have been an on the minute on time start had some of those guys been in the gate when they should have been. Of course waiting for Pete Balotti to put his shirt and helmet on might be getting a little old but hey, these are Elite Riders and they deserve special consideration right? NOT! Anyway, the gate did finally drop although 1.5 minutes late and as usual, because of the Open Wheels Dash for Cash, these guys just used the chance for gate practice. All three were given credit for a moto win so obviously it didn’t matter to them who was the overall winner. With a couple of riders in the 19-25 expert / novice class also racing in the Open Wheels class it would be a three rider shootout even though there were 5 in the class. Justin Coelho won all three rounds but he had to hold off a determined Devin Kelly each time. Third went to Vermont’s Kory Buck.
Paul Maher took care of business in the 16 expert class on his home track. His old OFR colors were on the back of second place finisher Colby Benoit while Anthony Reilly (Aunt Leighann’s Day Care) was third.
Three time track champion Kyle Block was perfect in the 14 Expert class as he was able to keep Aggro’s Tommy McClure and Stephen Kallas behind him.
Lane Maher (Hartford County Tattoo) was the only 8 yr old expert there so he was mixed in with 8 yr old novice rider Colin Penn and 6 yr old novice rider Arefin (Finny) Milton. They would finish in just that order.
A rare appearance by Ali Thimmish would result in her winning the 13 girls / 14 girls / 17 & over woman’s class. Aggro’s Nicole O’Connor was second with Nicole Milton third. In 11-12 Girls competition it was Katie Moody with all three wins with Jess Maher right behind her and Kendra Covington finished third.
The ten yr old girls class win went to Emily Daigle with Alexus Doty (Connecticut Wells) in tow. Kyly Milton (9 Girls) finished ahead of Ashley Jasensky (5-7 girls) in their mixed class.
Ben Atchison regained some lost skills as he looked good winning his 26-34 expert and 35-40 nov and expert combined class. Matt Holdermann Sr. was second with the third place award going to Garrick Yanosky.
13 ex 14 novice racing saw Tim Osborne edge out Jason Kellogg and Josh Thimmish after Kellogg bailed in turn #1 in the second round. As he tumbled Osborne had to whack some weeds allowing Thimmish to win the second round (See photo section).
In the 12 ex – 13 nov class Dan Delisle was the eventual winner with Mike Rossi second but the really story here was George Norton V crashing hard in the rhythm section and breaking his collar bone. We are all devastated at the news of this long time Foothills racers injury and wish him a speedy recovery.
In 11Ex – 12 nov racing Doug Cable Jr. was perfect with Troy Atchison and Matt Bovat second and third. In 10Ex – 11 nov action a rejuvenated Trevor Fox won tow of the three motos and grabbed the overall win. Kobe Covington settled for the second place award.
Mike Machonski (9 Novice) finished ahead of two 10 novs by topping RJ Miville and Owen Giese. Pete Franolich (Vallaris Martial Arts) fell in practice and was obviously feeling the effects as he would finish fourth.
Tim Buck would hold off leapin Len Ferris in the 45-49 / 50+ class. Len finishes close behind Tim if you use time zones as a means of measurement.
Randy Greco made his 2009 debut at Foothills a good one as he won the 40-44 cruiser class with a perfect score. The Hare (Steve Rossi) was second with Rob Giese third. Theresa Dengler was fourth.
Greg Sloan and Erik Maher traded wins in the 30-34 / 35-39 Cruiser class but the tie breaking third round went to Erik Maher.
Dan Delisle won his mixed cruiser class with Matt Theriault. Matt bailed in the first round but was okay and raced hard the rest of the day.
In 16-17 Rookies action, Benny Ayala held off Brandon Miville for the overall win. Third place went to Jeremiah Royer.
Nick Landi and Demetri Savvidis battled hard in 15 Rookie action and Landai won the third round to break the tie and win the class.
Alex Hubbard (Absolute Masonry & Home Improvement) stayed in front of Kevin Wynne for the 14 Rookie title.
A full gate of 13 Rookies made up the field in that class and Devone Thomas won two motos with Brett Bosek winning the other resulting in a one-two finish in the final standings. Third place went to Dylan Vadney.
Taylor Yurgalevicz made short order of the 12 Rookie Class as he easily got the win. The second spot was up for grabs and wouldn’t be decided until the third round when Tristan Lowry edge out Kyle Stricker for the brides-maid position.
Mike Wasilonsky (Zeller Tire), Chris Stewart and Neal Bachmann all had moto wins in the 9 rider 11 Rookie Class. In the Main event Bachmann would keep his winning streak in tact with Wasilonsky second and Taylor Nelson third.
7 riders would make up the main event in the 10 Rookie class and Nick Bates would save the best for last by winning it. Scott Thomson was second and third went to Tajeh Cozzaglio.
10 riders in the 9 Rookie class were in the house and the Specialized bike with the old-school Skyway mags on board ridden by Alex Wilcox won everything. Steven Hull, also perfect through his motos, had to settled for the second place trophy while William Guido went home with the third.
Another big turnout in the 8 Rookie class with the reigning Rider-Of-The-Week Colin Riggs proving he was a good choice as he won all his motos plus the main event. Lucas Petosa was second and Vectro Network’s Brandon Jasensky was third.
Jacob Bacis enjoyed his second consecutive perfect in the 7 Rookie class by winning all his motos and the main event. Zack Ferris (Tactical Arms) was a close second and the third spot went to Casey Navin.
Riley Tweedie flew to a win in the 6 Rookie division with Torin Ellis second and Justin Falasco third. The popular 5 & under Rookie class win went to Max Gustafson with Landon Richard second and Bradleigh Wohlers third.

In the Open Wheels Dash-4-Cash there were 9 riders entered. It was decided that after eliminating three through the motos it would be a six rider main event. It seems that after the motos there was confusion regarding who actually transfered, specifically out of the group of five riders where only 3 transfered. Allen Currier obviously felt he had enough points to make the cut so he coasted around in the third round for a fifth place finish. However, per the score sheets from all the scorers, he would have a 3-2-5 for finishes where Tyler Johnson had a 4-4-2 for finishes. This means they both had 10 points and the third round being the tie breaker, Ty would transfer with his second place finish. Well Ty didnt think he made the cut so he went home before the main. This made it a 5 rider main with Shaun O'Connor, Pete Lorenzo, Pete Balotti, Colby Benoit and Cody Buck making the cut. When the gate dropped it looked like Lorenzo would have an easy victory. Into turn one he had a slight lead but Balotti seems to have the secret of the new turn and came out on top, Can you believe it was Balotti and Lorenzo in that order all the way around. Out of turn 5 they flew and the announcer called it Balotti, Lorenzo, Buck, Benoit and O'Connor. However, the scorers have the best view of the finish line and oficially it would be Lorenzo, Balotti and Buck 1-2-3. When asked after the race what happened? Balotti just said he had nothing left in his legs. However, giving him the respect that I wish he would return by being ready in the gate, this was, by far, his most impressive Main event ever at Foothills. It was simply a great race.

Happy Holiday everyone and see you next week.

For a complete finish report for this race