NORTHEAST REGION Stephan Sevensma GP 250 Intermediate Photo by: Sarah Lane
Northeast Series Off-road Racing
Heats Up in August and September By: Merritt Brown The 2020 AHRMA Northeast Region has been engaged (on the track and no doubt in the garage) with two August events and another on Labor Day weekend in September. Grab a cold one and get comfortable as we cover the racing for this issue of the AHRMA MAG. Lake Lamoka MX, August 1st and 2nd After one of the warmest Julys on record, the Northeast AHRMA riders returned to Lake Lamoka MX, located near Bradford, NY. On Saturday, thirty-seven cross country riders were met with sunny and warm conditions for the noon sight lap. Riders were very happy about the changes made by our hosts, Renn Shepherd, Carl Hutcheson and their crew to a tough, technical loop that was primarily woods and treeweaving with challenging off-camber switchbacks/directional changes, supplemented by a lap around the motocross track. At 1:00 PM, the Vintage Cross Country group took to the woods. Mike Ferguson, Sportsman Open Expert, led the way all race long on his Penton. There were four entries in Vintage 60+ Intermediate. Monty Barnes’ Honda caught Otto DeJager riding an Ossa Desert Phantom on lap two and held on for the win. Bob Close (Penton) was third and Jerry Doster (Husqvarna) was fourth. At 2:30, the Post Vintage group headed out to the trail. It started out to be the
Mike Ferguson show again but when the riders crossed onto the MX track on lap five, Post Vintage Open Expert, Kevin Shunk, reeled in the leader on his CR250 and hung on for the overall win with Ferguson (Honda) second and Bob Frederick (Yamaha) third. Some overnight rain gave the grass track some needed moisture as 103 riders took to the 1.8-mile long grass track for morning practice. We noticed our rubber band was broken so we had to resort to a hand on helmet start for Sunday MX races. Post Vintage Age groups were in race number one with 24 riders on the line. When the dust settled, the pack was led by 40+ Expert Jim Kechisen on a beautiful RM465 who was first overall in both motos. Five Post Vintage Open Age Intermediates provided very close racing for both motos. Ryan Coyle (Honda) came out on top with a 2/2. Eric Miller’s Yamaha was second with a 1/3, Vinny Grasso (Yamaha) 4/1 was third with Walter Hankel (Husqvarna) 3/5 and George Chubback (Suzuki) 5/4 closing out the group. Race five brought more Post Vintage entertainment with Gran Prix and Ultima classes on the gate. GP125 expert Nick Abdo (Yamaha) got out to the early lead, but by lap two he was passed by 250 Experts Rob Clare 1/1 and Kevin Shunk 2/2 both on Hondas. There were eight GP250 Intermediates in the race. Colin Carman on a Suzuki 1/1 led the whole way. Husqvarnas ridden by Craig Curry 2/2 and Chris Forney 6/3 finished out the top three. In Vintage action, race six had Sportsman, Early Sportsman, Stock and Classic divisions. Mike Robinson’s Husqvarna led the way in both motos for a 500cc Expert win. In Sportsman 500 Intermediate, Stephan Sevensma (Husqvarna) passed Wayne Zebrowski’s BSA on the last lap to win the overall in that group. Thanks again to Renn and Robyn Shepherd and their family and all the volunteers who Kevin Shunk Post Vintage Open Expert helped make this event Photo by: Sarah Lane happen. We will definitely be back in ‘21 for another weekend in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York.
68C Chris Miller, 713 Joe Chodnicki Photo by: Sarah Lane
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AMERICAN HISTORIC RACING MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION
NOVEMBER 2020
