Race Report July 2nd

One of the issues that affect the local racing on Sundays is the fact that all NBL National and Regional Races are held on weekends. The same goes with most holidays. This weekend was a weekend where these two issues really came into play. One of the NBL's premier events was held this weekend just outside of Pittsburgh Pa. It's the Stars and Stripes National held at one of the NBL's premier tracks; South Park. Over 700 riders were in attendance, some of which were our local riders. Couple that with the weekend being the 4th of July weekend and it surely had an effect on the numbers of riders at Foothills. None-the-less, 188 riders were there and split into 47 exciting motos. Thanks to all the volunteers who really stepped up and filled in for our staff members who attended the South Park event. It was another on time start as the gate dropped at 1:27 .pm.

Starting with the opening ceremonies Don E. Olson, now a 10 year old Novice was named the rider of the week from the June 18th race. Donny who his rookie class that day for his 15th win and, at least for a few moments, became the newest novice in the country. Congrats Donny, you are awesome. I'll get your picture next week.

In Cruiser racing 12 yr old Zach Purelli won the 12-13 class while proud father Don Onlso Jr. did the same in 35-39. Alfred Roy held off Stuart McCready in the 40-44 competition.

The Girls were there in limitted numbers and Julionna Olson and Shay Brown, sponsored by The Sandy Shore Motel, traded wins in the 8-9 class with Shay winning the class overall with 2 of 3 moto wins. Amanda Wedge was perfect in the 10-11 grouping as was Deanna Batista in 12-13 girl action. Christy Kestler had to work in the 14-15, 16 & over combined class but she was fast enough to hold off Rite Bikes Cassy Scott.

The experts were very small in numbers this week and there were combined classes everywhere. In 8-9 ex and nov combined it was New Yorks Casey Tanner the top expert with Nick Killmer the fastest novice. In 9 ex-10 nov combined 10 nov Jash Rivera beat 9 yr old expert Jake Pirulli for the win. In 10 Ex Shawn Mcauley and Dan Batista each won in motos but Shawn's two of three earned him the win. The 11 year old experts on hand saw "The Animal" Zach Andringa putting a dent in Kyle Blocks bid to be the three time Foothills Track Champion by winning the class with Taylor Anderson second and Kyle third. 12 ex and and 12 nov was combined together and Zack Pirulli won it. The fasatest nov in the group was Denis Sheahan. 13 ex and 15 nov class were combined and 13 ex Kyle Strong was the champ. 15 nov Dan Krouse was the fastest novice. 15 ex, 16 ex and 16 novice riders made up a 7 rider field in their class and the action was pretty good. Vermont's Cody Buck and his brother Kory Buck, along with Ryan Cebollero won motos with the main event going to Cebollero. The 18-21 expert/novice class win went to the only novice in the mix - Onil Vasquez.

The pure novice classes saw the return of Austin Vaillencourt, sponsored by Slapco LLC, winning the 11 year old bracket. In 13 novice action D.J. Hall's Mike Borla was perfect. The 17 yr old gang was dominated by Kevin Matthews although New Yorks Mike Tommasino was definately a hard charger all afternoon. Finally, the 22-29, 35 & over gang had Dan Krouse, the oldest rider in the 5 rider shoot out, earning yet another move up award with the win. He's had a good week as he nailed a 16 inch Kokanee Salmon up in West Hill lake this week. hmmmmmmmm something fishy here?

The numbers were in the rookie classes. 5 riders in the 5 & under group saw the rider of the week from week number two Sky Elwood winning another first place trophy. 8 riders in the 6 yr old rookie class saw Justin Boissonneault and Sean Graveline perfect through the motos with Justin winning the Mian event showdown. another main would be required in the 7 rookie class and Dave Moody was this week's winner. The 8 rookie group also had great numbers and Stampede's Troy Achison won the main event. After the 10 riders in the 9 rookie class sorted themselves out Mike Buonocore won the title with Chris Seti a close second. Zack Mikelic was the fastest 10 yr old and Stephen Kallas won the 11 yr old rookie main event. New Yorks Anthony Destefano won two of three in the 12 yr old division for the overall win. James Oslander, 13 yr old, won his main event and in 14 rookie comp it was Josh Sanford coming out on top. The 15 rookie class saw Caleb Dubourg perfect right through his main event. The Winchester Modular Housing sponsored Jeramey Bakunis was perfect in 16 rookie. The last rookie class was also a big one with 19 riders vying for the win in 17 & over. Tim Bierce only won one race but it was the main event and he was the champ this day. Moto wins by Eran Martinez, Mike Daddario and Bryant Mendez just wern't enough.

In the 16 & over open class 11 riders were going for the cash. Brian Adamaitis was definately the rider to beat and no one really could. Brian was first, Mitch Mahner was second (in his first money-open) and Josh Knowlton was third. A tough wreck by jeremy Eickelberg took him out of contention. Check out the photo page for that one.