Darrell Wassil (21b) and Jim Kechison (37k) getting dirty at Lamoka MX
N ortheas T R E G I O N A L U P D AT E
words by Bob Close // photos by Sarah Marie Lane
IRISH VALLEY MX, APRIL 25TH
O
ur first MX event of the season for both the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, I can tell you that for many, many years this event is basically our version of the Jets vs. the Sharks from West Side Story. And 2021 was no different my friends, especially as we emerged from our pandemic cocoons. Lots of smack talk in the pits, made even better by our new Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Team Challenge for 2021. The blood was flowing, and the engines were warming up on a beautiful day that started out chilly (40s!) but reached 60 degrees by the afternoon. Once again, the Krebs family did a fantastic job of preparing their MX facility/track, which features some great elevation changes and challenging features. Imagine a track with not ONE, but TWO of Unadilla’s famous “Screw You” downhill/ uphills with a 180 at the bottom. That be Irish Valley, folks. 100 race entries were recorded for the day with both regions well represented. Our thanks to Merritt Brown and Ed Roman for making sense of it all and organizing nine races to make sure everyone had some fun. And some pretty intense racing as it turns out! In Post Vintage 60+ Intermediate, Bud Schaible (Mai) and Ed Abdo (Hon) exchanged moto wins, but Bud took home the foam board by virtue of winning the second moto. And the same thing happened in Post Vintage 40+ Intermediate between Brett Darrow (Yam) and Dave Royds (Hon), with Brett bringing home the bacon with his second moto win. Hold onto your seats because there were THREE more classes where riders exchanged moto wins on the day. In a GP 125 “Battle of the RMs,” Intermediate Russ Van Norman 32
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(Suz) topped Henry Ahnert (Suz), and Greg Barrett (Mai) got the best of Merritt Brown (CZ) in ESS 500 Intermediate. And in Next Gen 250 Intermediate, Stephen Deveney won the first moto, but was beaten out to the blue ribbon/overall by Mark Curran’s second moto win. And here is a bonus fun fact for four of the five races I just described: one of the guys who took a moto win was from the Northeast and one was from the Mid-Atlantic! It just doesn’t get any better than this. I’d also like to mention who won the big “sign-up” classes of the day—which I will define as five or more entries. Mark Curran’s well-earned win in Next Gen 250 Intermediate was over four other guys. In Vintage 60+ Intermediate, Steve Lynch (CZ) earned himself a solid win over four other racers by virtue of his 1-1 finishes. And in Sportsman 250 Intermediate, Devin Trexler (Hon) beat out Bud Schaible (Hon) and three other riders with his 1-1 moto results. Congrats guys! Final recognitions before moving onto our next race event would be a shoutout to our multiple class winners on the day. Ironman Expert Darrell Wassil took home three foam boards with wins in three classes (GP 250 and 500, and Post Vintage 40+). Mark Curran also had three class wins, with his other two class win coming in Ultima 250 Intermediate, and Pre-Modern 250 Intermediate. Finally, Merritt Brown (ESS 500 Intermediate and Historic 500 Intermediate) and Steve Lynch (Sportsman 500 Intermediate and his Vintage 60+ Intermediate mentioned above) get honorable mentions was two class wins apiece.
AMERICAN HISTORIC RACING MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION
AUGUST 2021
