Race Report May 1st, 2011

Week #1

With the start of a new season, it’s always a busy day trying to get all the new memberships processed, the renewals updated in the computer and the zillions of questions answered. This opening day’s possible problems would be even more severe as the new NBL membership program is in full swing and the paperwork required for that has really increased. Combine all of those issues with the fact that this was the first day of BMX racing in the state and we were really up against the wall. So the staff kinda expected the worst and hoped for the best. In reality it settled into somewhere in between. With the scheduled starting time surpassed, practice was extended and finally it was announced that there would be a 2 moto transfer system applied to this race.

When the race did get underway, there were 204 riders racing in 57 motos plus another 8 hotrods racing in the “Money Open”. A pretty darn nice turnout under perfect weather conditions.

In the older classes combining riders is always the norm. This day saw 5 riders combined into a group that would be identified as 26-34 Challenger/Expert-41 + Expert. Stampedes Ben Atchison would win the Main event with Fred Roy, the oldest rider in the mix grabbing a second while Steve Scibelli would finish third as the only Challenger ranked rider in the mix.

19-25 Challenger and Experts were combined in a 6 rider shootout but Andrew Cox, Jason Bush and Jose Catano decided to skip the Main event and save their efforts for the Money Open. That left the door open for Josh Spirito to steal the Main event with Vermont’s Cody Buck in hot pursuit. Billy Ripley nailed down third.

Combining continued with the 17-18 Challenger and Expert class, dominated, as expected, by Josh Wedge. Josh has become arguably, the fastest rider at Foothills BMX. Yesterday he did nothing that would cause people to question that statement. The Main was Wedge-Jim Ferris and Jon Daversa (Dave's Auto Detailing)1-2-3.

The Mod-Squad (16 Expert) featured three riders. Jay Johnson and Roberto Elizondo each won a moto. The Main event saw Johnson win with Stephen Kallas edging out Elizondo for the second spot.

Two Challengers and two Experts were combined in the 14 year old class. Danny Delisle would out-snap the competition each round but Chris Pannullo, who has been working very hard to improve would not be denied this day. Winning both motos sent a message and winning the main event put the stamp on it.

A full gate of 13 year old Experts was the highlite of that class. Casey Tanner was unbeatable but it was a good battle for the second spot between Chris Therriault and Doug Cable. Chris would edge out Doug for the second spot in the main.

It was nother perfect day for Bethel’s Nick Cote’ as he prepares for the opening of his home track on Wednesday. Nick was not beaten right through the Main event. In close pursuit was Justin Boissonneault, who could be the star on his home track when Meriden opens on Saturday. Jon Moura, waiting for his Trumbull home to open Tuesday finished third.

Zach Ferris and Jacob Bacis traded moto wins so their fans were anticipating a classic showdown in the Main. No one anticipated that Alex Kuehn would win it but he sure did just that. Ferris and Bacis would settle for second and third.

Kyly Milton and Mackenzie traded moto wins also. Kyly would in win the 11 year old Expert Girls class on this day.

Hope Maher and Ashley Jasensky finished 1-3 in the new 8 year old Challenger / Expert girls class.

What a mixed bag vying for the win in the 15 Expert / 17-18 Challenger / 35-40 Challenger female class. Former track champion Angela Therriault was the winner, Ashley Theriault (No relation) was second while Jayna Roy grabbed third.

13 and 14 year old Challenger and Expert girls looked good with Michaela (Supersplatt-Pineapple) Groves picking up where she left off last season with a win. Nicole Asselin was second with the third spot going to Jenn Cote’.

Reining track champion Alexus Doty had it all her way in the 12 year old Challenger girls class as she topped the efforts of Lauren Asselin this day.

6 Girls in the 11 year old Challenger class ended up being 5 girls trying to keep up with Isabella Sanchez. None of them could but the closest was Chloe Bourgoin with Chloe Arnold right behind her.

Ashley Asselin topped Lainie Stroh in the 9-10 girls Challenger class.
Asselins were everywhere today. Genevieve Asselin would show Azra Milton and Chloe Lee (Mirror Polishing & Plating) how it’s done.

15 Expert / 15 Challenger saw Trumbull’s Shawn McAuley rack up the first place points. Alex Hubbard was second with Chris Pfeffer (George’s Music Center) Third.

Another full gate was the norm in the 15 year old Challenger class. Josh Santiago aced a perfect going unbeaten. Second place went to Thomas Goclowski while Dave Lamb was third.

12 Expert / 13 Challenger saw another full gate and dave Moody would save the best for last. The D-Man only won one race today but it happened to be the Main event. Connor Arnold, with a moto win was second in the Main while Josh Walsh, also a moto winner had to settle for third.

Erik Dugan aced a perfect in the 12 year old Challenger class. Jake Layman had a solid second after struggling a bit in the motos. Alex Gouthier was third.

10 Expert / 11 Challenger saw Sky Domain dominate through the motos. Lane Maher ended Sky’s streak in the Main with a win. Sky was second with Steven Hull third.

The 10 year old Challenger class saw Moto wins by Austin Martinka, Colin Riggs and Wes Keating. When the dust settled after the Main it would be Riggs in the winner’s circle. Martinka second and Garrett Fosbrook was third.

In the 8 Expert / 9 Challenger group Hunter Zeiner and Arefin Milton were perfect in their motos. The Main saw Finny finsh ahead of Zeiner with Jason Lee (Mirror Polishing and Plating) third.

In 7 Expert / 8 Challenger action the Matt Webb (Spider-Mite) was top bug today edging out Landon Richard and Derek Eisenbach.

“Beamers” Brad Wohlers was the fastest in today’s 6 Expert / 7 Challenger class as he finished ahead of Danny DesMarais (Bikers edge) and Kyle Kuehn.

Sam DeGrange was another rider who would score a perfect as he won everything he run in the 6 year old Challenger class. Robbie (Spyder-mite) Webb was second with Aman Egan (Lakeville Construction) third.

In Cruiser action Angela Therriault, Ashley Theriault and Jayna Roy would finish in that order in the 15-24 group; Denise Classey, Bridget Holland-Stone and Gina Laymanin 40-44 action; Isabella Sanchez and Hope Maher 1-2 in the 12 & under group; Butch Feitel and Gary Eschner in the 50 & over group; Greg Sloan and Matt Theriault in the 25-29 / 35-39 group; Josh Santiago and Travis Jiminez in the 15 / 17-24 group; Ian Dickinson and Danny Delisle in the 14 year old group; Casey Tanner, Chris Therriault and Jon Zeiner in 13 year old Cruiser; Josh Walsh, Pete Franolich and Jake Layman in 12 Cruiser; Nick Cote’, Jon Moura and Dallas Tuttle in 11 Cruiser; Lane Maher and Sky Domain in 10 Cruiser and finally, Hunter Zeiner, Derek Fantano and Torin Ellis in 8 & under action.

Forty six Rookies were on hand and split into fourteen different motos. Garrett Gracie would easily win the 17-29 class.

In the 15-16 Rookie pairing, Liam Stone, Cody Marchildon and Josh Thans finished 1-2-3.

John McKay and Tyler Benis were the two survivors in the 14 year old Rookie class.

Julien Roberge got it done in 12 Rookie action by holding off the hard charge from Matt Higgs and Ty Bourgoin.

10 – 11 Rookie action saw Sam Inderdohnen ace a perfect with Jeremy Estrella and Owen Davidson finishing second and third.

Jordan Benis had the 9 Rookie Main all to himself as Ben Beaudoin did not show for the Main event.

In 8 Rookie action Dominic Nivolo and Vic Alves were both perfect in their group of motos. The Main saw Alves topping Nivolo for the win with Jorn Layman finishing third.

A cool name of the winner of the 7 year old Rookie class with Apollo Dubue beating Rylan Carlson for the win.

Jaden Asklar came out on top in the 6 year old Rookie class. Aidan Biello was second with Ian Hayes earning a third place finish.

Anthony Starr-Bennett was top gun in the 5 year old Rookie class as he finished in front of Trevor Cooper and Stephen Clark.

The youngest riders of the day were the two four year olds. Shawn Biello and “Chargin” Charlie Johnson would finish in the order.

Finally there was the “Money Open” or “Dash for Cash”. For the first time I can ever remember, Andrew Cox was in a full uniform and looking good! He was simply untouchable and dominated the group with an easy win. Pete (Boom-Boom) Balotti was second while the Track Director at Bennington BMX, Cody Buck, was third.

Thanks everyone for your patience this opening day. We really do appreciate you all.

For a complete listing of the official finishes.

Please understand that the actual motos that were run on the report were the first and third round. The best of the two are aded as the finish in the second round (Two moto system).