|
New England ATV Motocross – Round 4
Danny Lewis
Joe Haavisto
Paige Whipple
Derek Graham - Polaris Outlaw |
Lempster, NH -
Round 4 of the New England ATV Motocross series
was held, for a third time this season, at the
Jolly Roger MX Park in Lempster, New Hampshire
where Joe Haavisto took the overall win in both
the Pro and Pro-am classes to increase his
series points lead accordingly.
My drive through the valleys and trees of New
Hampshire was set in an almost palpable layer of
fog that moved as I passed through it. As I
entered the gates of Jolly Roger there was still
a light presence of fog but much of it had
subsided and brought forth beautiful conditions
for racing. The early morning classes went off
without a hitch. There was plenty of racing
excitement going on in the Pro ranks, as well as
within the amateur classes, when all of a
sudden, lightning struck…Literally.
Around 1:30 pm on Sunday, rains poured down
heavily on the sandy track of Jolly Roger and
caused the second round of motos for the day to
be halted until the rains and lightning left the
area. Racing started back up around 2:15 pm with
the women’s class on track. Racers were greeted
with a very sloppy and saturated racecourse,
which left many of them unrecognizable after
only a few laps. Sydney MacQuarrie put her pink
#33 Suzuki Quad Racer Z400 towards the front and
nearly checked out from the rest of the pack,
until a slip up later in the race put her back a
few places allowing Lauren Whipple, Amy
Thompson, Paige Whipple, Angie Maher, and
Caitlyn Hebert to go around her. MacQuarrie had
to settle for 11th overall while Lauren Whipple
took the overall win, followed by Paige Whipple
in 2nd and Amy Thompson secured the last spot on
the podium.
In the amateur 4-Stroke C class it was #27
Mike Skalaski on his white LTR-450 putting the
hurt on the rest of the pack bringing home a 1-1
finish with huge lead over the competition. Even
with bike problems and tire issues, caused by
the rocky course, Skalaski was able to increase
his points lead in the championship to a
staggering 45+ points. Following Skalaski on the
podium was Justin Digianni in 2nd and Chris
Donahue in 3rd.
In the Pro ranks it was Joe Haavisto bringing
home the overalls in both the Open Pro race as
well as the Pro-Am class. Joe fought his way
through both motos of the day battling against
other top riders such as Tommy Mofford, Vinny
Mofford, Danny Lewis, and Myles Santaniello.
In Pro moto number one it was Thomas Mofford
on his #21 BCS Kawasaki that took the holeshot,
followed by #621 Danny Lewis, #26 Vinny Mofford,
and #75 Joe Haavisto. The case for moto two
however, was a little different. Just as in moto
one, #21 Thomas Mofford was up in the front of
the pack leading from the starting gate area,
but as the racers rounded the first turn, being
propelled by his Baldwin powered Kawasaki 450
and mud thrashing Maxxis Razr 2 tires, Joe
Haavisto rocketed passed Mofford.
The track had dried slightly before the start
of Pro moto number two, but was still in
disarray as they railed around each corner.
These conditions were no match for the racers
though, as they continued to fly around the
course as if there were no such thing as rain.
Many racers took their goggles off, as it was
too hard to see due to the mud caking their
lenses as they navigated the track. Haavisto
took the moto two win and the overall, Danny
Lewis claimed a 1-3 finish which earned him 2nd
overall, Thomas Mofford’s 5-2 got him the last
spot on the podium. Justin “Muff” Hoffler
grabbed the number four position while Myles
Santaniello rounded out the top five. In Pro-am,
it was Haavisto’s 1-1 that got him the top spot
on the podium with Danny Lewis taking 2nd, and
Justin Hoffler in third. Michael Pilotte
finished in 4th and Myles Santaniello hung on to
5th place.
In the 40+ class, Andre Marois claimed a 1-1
finish to claim 1st overall with series points
leader Terry Frischkorn taking 2nd and Steve
Mofford grabbed 3rd place. In 4-Stroke Expert A,
Jesse Onesti took home the overall win, with Jon
Normandin in 2nd and Brian Lightbody took 3rd.
In the 50cc Limited class, it was series
points leader Deven Fontaine, with a 1-1 finish,
who took the overall. Luke Brown took a solid
2nd with his 2-2 finish and Jacob Jean finished
a consistent 3-3, to take the last place on the
podium. In the Youth 200/300 class, points
leader Dylan Murcott took the overall win with
Abram Hakala in 2nd and Justin Cyr took 3rd
overall.
The next race in the New England ATV MX
series will be held at the MX-207 racecourse in
beautiful Lyman, ME on June 29th. Gates open on
Friday at 4pm, Saturday at 7am, and on Sunday
6am. Entry fee will be $15 and there is a
Saturday open practice fee of $35. More
information about the track is available at
www.MX207.com
|
