Welcome to another edition of Blurbs but before I start off, in case you haven’t heard the word yet, pro rider Brian Mulcahy suffered a tragic loss this pass weekend as his father, Brian, passed away Saturday night after he was involved in a car accident near his home in West Milford, NJ. Brian was racing Saturday at Raceway Park, finishing his best a 2nd in the Motocross A class, but headed home around 10pm that night after he got the frightening call. It is a huge loss for him as his dad has been behind him every step of the way in his racing career. He was always a welcome face at the track whenever we talked on the weekends. His father was awesome, laid back, and fun to be around every time I saw him at the track. Raceway Park later heard of this tragic news on Sunday and during the day, they had a moment of silence for Mr. Mulcahy. Funeral services will be held on Friday at 10:30am at the Our Lady Queen of Peace R.C. Church in Hewitt, NJ. Friends and family may visit Thursday from 2-4pm and 7-9pm at the Richards Funeral Home in West Milford, NJ. It is a shame that this even occurred to such a great guy and I personally wish Brian and his family the best through these tough times. Back to the racing….. But FIRST! PROMO WEEK STARTS TOMORROW!!!
I am packing up as I am typing this and getting all geared up and ready for my first ever Promo Week at Blue Diamond! I will be making the trip to Blue Diamond early Wednesday morning as almost half of my setup here at home will be going down to Delaware to film for your personal video! Promo Week will be happening from this Wednesday, April 16 to Saturday, April 19! Four days of filming and your chance at a personal video personally made by HG Films! This is the only time this year I will be doing a promo week!! (Unless I quit my other job and all that!) So, take advantage and if you ever wanted a personal video done by me, don’t hesitate and wait! Head to Blue Diamond this week! Click here for more information about Promo Week! Now to Raceway Park LLQ racing……
Raceway Park was the next location of the series of Loretta Lynn area qualifiers that were happening for the Northeast region. If you want to check out some awesome highlights from the weekend, check out my double dose of video that I put together for Saturday and Sunday’s racing! Click here to check out the 2 videos from Raceway Park! Also, NJMotocross.com's Scott Lukaitis was kind enough to let me use his photos for this blurb. He takes some amazing shots and does work for a lot (I mean A LOT) of publications! Check every single one of his photos from Raceway Park and his previous work at www.lukaitisphoto.com!
After some minor muggy conditions on Saturday, the track was pretty wet for the course of that day and produced epic ruts around the course, like usual at Raceway. But the small periods of rain that gave the track a good water coating were dried up pretty quick, thanks to the 70+ degree temperatures that were constant throughout the day. I even got my first sunburn of 2008! Then Sunday came in and it sure was a day of sun throughout the whole day but the wind and clouds came in for most of the day, causing much colder temperatures. So after a sunburn stricken day on Saturday, I had to go into full Artic mode for Sunday!!!
Racing was really fun to watch, especially in the A classes. Local kid Dakota Kessler, son of one of New Jersey’s elite motocross racers, Mickey Kessler, is now in the A class and wow, he has stepped up A LOT. I remember when he was on a 85 and doing mediocre and then moved the B class and got faster but nothing mind boggling. Then, I see Dakota this past weekend and I was beyond amazed of his speed. I was talking to his mom during the weekend and says Dakota has stepped up his training program and riding a lot more lately and getting much more serious, since his recent move to the A class. His dominance in the A classes was no where near rookie status. With names like Paul Lamb, Ronnie Stewart, Anthony Roth and others who have been in the class for some time, Dakota was just on a whole other level.
Paul Lamb, though, gave him a run for his money in a few motos and ended up getting the overall over Dakota in MX Lites A/Pro Sport class. But no other rider could challenge Dakota the whole weekend. His starts were always great and he had great knowledge of the track, being that he does work on the track himself, along with his father Mickey. Dakota is one rider to keep an eye out for at the amateur regional in Steel City on June 7-8.
The B classes were all dominated by one rider. That rider being Sunny Drake. After some good runs at Lake Whitney and Oakhill, Sunny showed a lot of speed at Raceway and had every B moto won that was available to race. Just like Dakota, Sunny’s speed was unmatched compared to everyone else.
The closest to Sunny was Jersey’s own Nick Myers, who has been a steady resident at the MTF facility in Georgia. Nick has many 2nd place finishes throughout the weekend and has his name in for the amateur regional qualifier.
Yamaha rider Matt Moore had a stand out weekend with a 3rd in Motocross B Stock and a 5th in Motocross B Modifed. Matt is one rider who goes faster and faster each year and can consistently do some amazing dead sailor airs, even on accident at times. He was also the lone 125cc 2 Stroke in the Motocross Lites B classes and it was more of a “WTF?” moment when I heard that 2 banger pinging its way around a loose and rutted Raceway Park track. Give him some sailor love at a track near you on his 787 Yamaha!! 85 (9-11) Classes
Suzuki standout Darian Robinson just keeps tearing it up each and every year. Darian is solid on his RM85 and his huge leads in the 85 (9-11) classes were nothing but amazing. Darian has been a threat at the amateur national level and continues to improve and get faster each week. He has a great chance at getting that hot ticket to Loretta's in August.
Team Green Kawasaki's Jared Jennings has a new ride for 2008 and showed some amazing speed for a little guy in the 65 (10-11) Stock and 85 (9-11) Stock classes! He would take the overall win the 65 class and a 2nd overall behind the fast Darian Robinson in the 85 (9-11) class. 85 (12-13) Classes
Kevin Tompkins was the dominant rider in the 85 (12-13) classes at Raceway Park. His consistent speed and great knowledge of the course got him 2 overall wins during the weekend.
New Hampshire rider and Planet Fitness’ own Eric Grondahl showed a lot of speed at Raceway. He had some poor starts that hindered his overall results but his amazing speed made up for some of his lost time and got the ticket into youth regional at Pleasure Valley in May.
I have only seen this kid a couple of times this year and I tell you, Jesse Pierce's speed is definitely worth a look at. I've seen Jesse race at Pagoda 2 weeks ago and once before and he is a rider that could possibly make it all the way to the big show. He finished 2nd in the 85 (12-13) Modified and also in the Super Mini 1 (12-15) class. Keep an eye out for this #489 in the (12-13) classes and also the MX Lites C classes! Super Mini Classes
Cernic’s KTM rider Chris Mowery rode his amazingly good looking orange bikes to 2 overall wins in the Super Mini 1 and 2 classes. Chris has been a solid stand out at these qualifiers and seems to have a great shot at that hot ticket to the dude ranch in Tennessee.
Sean Kelly rode his Honda CRF150 to a 2nd overall in the Super Mini 2 (12-16) class. He’s one rider that has improved greatly on his speed and I have seen him a few Delmarva Series races this year and seems to just put on a show, a dominating show that is, at every round. Keep an eye (and a ear out too!) for the #413 Honda machine at the regional! Schoolboy Classes
Long Island native Sal Calamita took his Honda CRF250 and screaming CR125 to 2 huge overall wins in the Schoolboy 1 and 2 classes! Sal has been a rider that has always been amazingly fast but never seems to get a lucky break. This year could be his year and at Raceway Park, Sal was untouchable in each moto. With a sort of a Barcia-esque style, Sal knows what it takes to keep a 125 pinned to its limit and throw down some awesome motos. If everything goes right for Sal, he will be very, very hard to beat on any track!!
Joey Peters had some awesome rides at Raceway. He had some bobbles there and there but with a 2nd in Schoolboy 2 and a 3rd in Schoolboy 1, those so called “bobbles” did not affect his results one bit. He is looking comfortable and fast on his Yamahas and I am still trying to get used to seeing a blue #35 machine flying around the track!!! HG Films Ironman Rider of the Weekend
Connecticut rider Damon Rummel has to be the ironman rider of the weekend as he contested in a total 7 classes at Raceway Park on the weekend. He was also on 3 different bikes during the weekend! (CRF150, YZ125, CRF250) Here are his finishes in all 7 classes: 4th
- Motocross B Stock
Now that’s what I talk about getting in all your classes for the regional in one shot! Great job Damon on getting the most track time out of anyone all weekend!! Complete
Results from Raceway Park's LL Area Qualifier! That will do it for this blurb. I plan on getting another blurb up on Friday, depending if I am crazily backed up on Promo Week. Southwick LL qualifier is this weekend and will only make it there for Sunday. I hope to see many of you at Southwick but more importantly, at Blue Diamond for Promo Week!!!
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