Race Report August 26th, 2007

Week number 17

Well, here we are already at the last week. Simply unbelievable! Would we get the last race in? The last two seasons we lost the last race to rain. Arriving at the track at 7:30 a.m., it wasn’t long before the rain started to come down and was pretty steady for about one hour. This actually made the track conditions perfect for the series finale. After 9:00 a.m. all systems were go and this would be a good one. Although the rider count in BMX in general is down this year, ourselves included, 169 riders isn’t too bad with 41 motos.
In pre-race ceremonies Matt Dillon was name the rider of the week and named “Matt Mardy” as his favorite rider. We assume he meant “Matt Markie”. Before I start on the actual finishes it was really heart warming in practice to see 6 yr old Randy Donaghy get the surprise of his life when he was presented with a brand new bicycle from his family.
In the 16 & over open class Allen Currier would pick up where he left off last week by winning the main. Steve Oldham held him off for the first two straights but Allen got him in turn 2. And maybe as a little statement that he is well on the road to full recovery, Matt Markie finished third. Matt had rotator cuff surgery this year and has been out all season.
What a mix we had in the 25-29 class. Combining to the extreme as the class actually was 25-29 Nov / 30-34 Nov / 35 & over Ex and 35 & over Ex and Nov. Sooooooooo…….35 & over Ex Garrick Yanosky won the main and 35 & over Nov Fred Roy, put his Home-Sweet-Home sponsored ride in the second spot and 35X Rob Bennett was third.
No main required in 17 – 24 Expert so Hector Gonzales would win two of three for the overall title.
The “Mod Squad”, 16X was combined with 17-24 Nov and 16X Josh Sanford, after wrecking trying to make the “Open” main, came back to win this one. Zack Ritchie had a solid second and Jeramey Bakunis put the Winchester Modular Housing sponsored machine into the third spot. Dan McMahan own the three rider shoot-out in 17 & over rookie while Brandon Miville, sponsored by South End Two Guys Pizza, did the same in 16 rookie.
Two 15X’s were combined with two 16N’s and it would be easy pickins for 15X Anthony DelVento as he held off Video World’s Paul Maher for the win. Greg Olson held off Jose Garcia for the 15 rookie class win.
Only two novices in the 14 yr old bracket so they got combined with the 14X gang where Jeff Croshier cleans house. He did again this week while Colby Benoit gave him all he could handle for second and Josh Wedge had a solid third. The first novice in the mix was Joan’s Candy Cupboard’s Anthony Reilly.
Zack Puglisi dominated the 14 rookie class as he kept James Oslander behind him all day long. In 13X / 13N combined Ryan Shores finally got going and looked great as he beat the two experts. Zack McLaughlin, all the way up from New Jersey was second. Demetri Savvidis topped Travis Raymond in 13 rookie action. Danielle Jolicoeur, with no one in her 17 & over class was put in with the younger lasies and she easily handled the competition. 13 yr old Angela Therriault was second and Victoria Sunbury finished third ahead of an improving Gabby Boxall.
Kyle Block, outgoing three-time track champion, finished up this season with another win in 12X with Jason Palma and Nate Martinsen fight for the second spot. It would go to Jason by one point.
Shawn McAuley, reigning State Champion was perfect in 11 ex / 11 nov action as 11 nov Justin Jolicoeur was second. George’s Music Center’s Chris Pfeffer had a tough day but should be ready for the “States”.
A full gate for the 12 rookie gang and Dan Miklovich was perfect with three moto wins. Tim Osborne finished right behind him all three rounds and Kyle Sanford was third. Two 10 ex’s and 4 10 novs would equal another perfect for Dan Delisle as he held off a very determined Nick Killmer. Don Olson Jr. was third.
Meriden’s Xavier Dingle aced a “perfect” in 11 rookie with Nick Hull second and Miles Buroker third. Amanda Wedge got back in victory circle as she won the 11 girls class. Katie Moody was second. Chris Therriault won the 10N / 9 ex combined class as the only expert in the mix. Eagle Electric’s Troy Atchison was the second place finisher with Uncle Pat’s Matt Bovat third in his first race as a novice.
The 10 rookie class went to Nick Painchaud even through Christian Berti won two motos a crash in the first round would seal the win for Painchaud. Jess maher won the 9-10 girls class after wrecking last week. Julionna Olson was second and Chealsee Kalivas was third. Dave Moody, as the only expert in the 8X / 9N class, easily handled these future experts. Spencer Martin looked great for second as did the Pin Shop Hobbies sponsored Larry Coderre for third. R.J. Miville and Saul Garcia split the first two 9 rookie motos but Saul would win the tie-breaking third round for the overall win. Ryan Towle won the 6 – 8 Nov class with Justin Rivera second. Sky Elwood was the first 6 yr old across the stripe as “Super-Fly” Lane Maher would “scorpion” in the last turn in the third round. Lane is sponsored by Hartford County Tattoo.
The 8 rookie gang was out in force with 11 riders vying for the eight starting positions in the main event. When the dust settled it would be Mike Heffernan the champ with Eric Passect second and the “Marshall”, Matt Dillon third.
Devin Murphy won the 8 girls class with Eagle Electric’s Mackenzie Atchison and Emily Daigle second and third.
In the 7 rookie class there again were 11 riders. Jeovanny Carrero won all his motos but Owen Giese would beat him in the main. The third spot went to Jacob Shur, who made a nice recovery from a second round crash on the R/C Hobbies Stepdown.
50 -54 Cruiser Joey Watley was in the house and found that 40 – 44 cruiser Rob Giese was a formidable opponent as he had two work hard to win two of three motos. Don Olson held off Erik Maher for the 35 -39 Cruiser win.
Speaking of Olsons, Alysha held off Kyly Milton and Catherine Buroker for the 5 – 7 girls class title. In 6 rookie action Robert Marcantonio blasted through the 9 rider competition for the main event win after perfect in the motos. Collin Penn finished second and the third spot went to Jacob Koenig.
In 5 & Under it would be Connecticut Flooring’s Hunter Zeiner the top rug-rat with Seth Norton second and Chris Guido, in his first race ever under the ‘Bring-A-Buddy program, finishing third.
Finally, Dan Delisle had it all his way in 9 -10 cruiser racing as his opponent; Jonathan Zeiner was simply touching the gate as he was nursing an injury suffered in Meriden the day before.
Well that’s it everyone, the racing season is in the record books and it will go down as a fun year for the staff. We all hope you enjoyed racing here as much as we enjoyed having you. Keep checking back at this web site for the latest news and periodic updates. See you at the outing on October 7th.