Wood Cruises to LRRS Victory After Narbonne Loses Front
Round Two of the Loudon Road Racing Series was held on May 19-20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway under sunny skies and warm temperatures in the 80s.
As usual, the Middleweight Grand Prix’s “Dash for the Cash” served as the weekend’s main feature. At the drop of the green flag, Shane Narbonne got out quickly with a low power wheelie launch that took him slightly towards the right of the race track and carried him to the hole shot entering Turn 1.
Heading through the turn, Cory Hildebrand was directly behind Narbonne but Pole Sitter, Eric Wood, forced his way into second place at the apex with a low inside move. Wood immediately went to work on Narbonne in Turn 3 with an inside pass for the lead. At the end of Lap 1, the top-5 was Wood, Narbonne and Hildebrand, followed by Scott Greenwood and Jason Carter.
Wood and Narbonne broke away from the pack almost immediately and it was looking similar to the last event with the two riders battling to the finish. Lap times dipped into the 11’s with Wood turning a 1:11.668 on Lap 3 and a 1:11.698 on Lap 4. Narbonne, was able to stay close during that time with laps of 1:11.808 and 1:11.714, but as the leaders began to encounter lap traffic, Narbonne tucked the front of his MOB Racing Yamaha R6 in Turn 11.
Shane was quickly up and to his motorcycle but the bike was unable to continue. This promoted Argo Cycles’ Greenwood and Bruce Transportation’s Hildebrand to second and third positions, respectively, after Greenwood worked his way into second with a inside pass of Hildebrand in Turn 3.
With Narbonne out of the race, Wood put it on cruise control and brought it home for the victory. Greenwood was able to stretch out a gap over Hildebrand, who was able to breakaway from a charging Carter in traffic. Kip Peterson worked his way to fifth, followed by Dave Fett, Ronald Poulin, Houk Nichols, Justin Landry and Alex Guilbeault rounding out the top 10.
Away from the feature race, Rick Doucette dominated the Expert class by taking home six victories: GTL, LW Supersport, LW Superbike, LW Grand Prix, Thunderbike, and Formula 40 Lights.
The next LRRS event will be held during the 89th Loudon Classic on June 15-17 with a host of special events, including the ASRA Pro Series, Sidecar Racers Association, United States Classic Racing Association, Supermoto Race Action utilizing a custom dirt section with jumps and U.S. Legend Cars International. The Loudon Classic is the oldest motorcycle race in America and the feature Middleweight Grand Prix will race on Saturday, June 16.