Race Recap - Fall Series #2 - ACP
Second Race of the Fall Series – October 1 at ACP
Another hot race day but it didn’t deter the 28 hearty guys who showed up bright and early at ACP for Race 2 of our Fall Series. Sign-up closed and it was 3 Master and 8 Expert for Race16, while Race 9 listed 13 Intermediate and 4 Novice.
1st MOTO:
Race 9 - Several new members, whose first AZOT race was Canyon last week, were back for more fun at ACP. The lineup also included a few members who we haven’t seen in a while – welcome back!
The Intermediate start was a tightly packed group led by Brian Kahn #722, William Speichert #219, Travis Nelson #111v, Brian Perry Sr #300, Ed Hession #171, John Afshar #405 and Rick Lambrecht #39. After some jumps, tight cornering, and tough moves, we saw position changes and a grouping of Kahn, Nelson, Speichert, Perry, and Hession. The photos show close groupings and some hard-fought battles for position. Checkered flag had first crossers of Nelson, Speichert, Perry, Kahn, Hession, Afshar, Lambrecht and Mcginnis.
The second gate Novice had Scott McBrien #679, Erik Nielsen #256, Richard Levy #00, and Doug Bickert #713 off to a fast pace. A couple of laps in and it was a Nielsen, Levy and McBrien pack with Levy then getting into 1st place for the finish, followed by Nielson, McBrien and Bickert.
Race 16 - Master class was Tony Fuller #8, Shane Criswell #382 and Rick Arnold #97 out of the gate. Fuller “dressed for the event” and grabbed the lead spot. Take a look at the photos – can’t miss his “classy garb”. Criswell was determined to get past Fuller … success. But Arnold was screaming his 2-stroke and finally got past Criswell for a first place finish in Moto 1. Unfortunately, Fuller’s knee called it quits before the checkered flag, so he’s now detoured to spectator status and an upcoming orthopedic appointment.
Second gate Expert race also had a few members that we haven’t seen for a while – welcome back. As they jumped out of the gate and still in the start area, it looked like Bryan Bartlett #311, Eric Maass #520, Kurk Quinn #52, Austin Stewart #78, Robert Leftwich #17, Troy Lang #61m, A J Harry #69, and Tracy Lassen #92. As they intensely jockeyed for position and got to the corner onto the track, it was a tight string of Leftwich, Harry, Maass, Stewart, Bartlett, Quinn, Lang and Lassen. Lots of changing position for a finish of Stewart, Leftwich, Quinn, Lang, Harry, Bartlett, Maass and Lassen. Terrific show of Expert skill and determination.
2nd MOTO:
Race 9 - Intermediate - After another jam-packed start and crammed first turn led by Hession, Nelson, Lambrecht, Steve Somerville #41s, Speichert and Ron March #200. Quickly pushed to a string of Hession, Lambrecht, Nelson, Speichert, Somerville, Afshar, Mcginnis, Perry, March, Jones, Thurman, Smith. More switches in position - it was another 1st place finish for Nelson, this time followed by Hession, Afshar, Speichert, Perry, Lambrecht and Mcginnis.
All of the Novice showed up on the gate, with first lap McBrien ahead of Nielsen, Levy and Bickert. Finish again had Levy moving up into 1st spot, this time McBrien second, followed by Nielson and Bickert.
Race 16 – Master - It was down to two guys and a very familiar Criswell / Arnold battle. Didn’t take long for them to finish fast laps and bring Race 16 to an end with Criswell then Arnold taking the checkered.
Expert - Quite a few empty gates - the heat got to about half the field (and double classing in Race 4 had upped the challenge). But the heat-resistant guys didn’t slow down one bit. Finish was Stewart, Quinn and Maass.
Surprise - despite the heat, ten AZOT guys decided to double class and get max track time. Race 4 had Jerry Smith as Vet 50+ Novice; with Troy Lang, Ed Hession and Brian Kahn in Vet 50+ Intermediate; and in the Vet 50+ Expert it was A J Harry, Robert Leftwich, Eric Maas, Rick Nagle and Tracy Lassen. Then Race 11 had Rick Arnold racing with the Vet 40+ Expert and (yep, yet another race) Rick Nagle in Vet 60+ Open.
With predictions of cooler weather, let’s see how many AZOT are on the line at Motoland on Sunday, October 16. With racing three different tracks in a row, it will be exciting to see what happens. Maybe it’ll be cool enough to see the rest of the AZOT racers make it to Motoland. See you there!!