Wood Dashes Away with LRRS Win, Gains Sizeable Lead in Middleweight Grand Prix
By Scott Greenwood, LRRS PR
The Loudon Road Race Series resumed action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 21 and 22. Sunny skies and comfortable temperatures made the weekend perfect for two-wheel racing, and the riders did not disappoint with some great on-track action.
The series’ feature event, the Middleweight Grand Prix “Dash for the Cash” served as the final race on Saturday afternoon.
At the drop of the green flag, Scott Greenwood got the jump on the field and led the pack into Turn 1. The class’ June winner, Eric Wood, made quickwork of riders through Turns 1-2 and slotted into second position behind Greenwood. Entering Turn 6, Wood used a tight line and out-broke Greenwood to claim a lead that he would never relinquish.
Wood and Greenwood broke away from the field as a battle for third position began shaping up. That group consisted of Cory Hildebrand, Jason Carter, Houk Nichols,Riley Rogers, Kip Peterson and Ronald Poulin.
With the laps counting down, Wood pulled away from Greenwood with some of the fastest lap times of the weekend his best time being 1 minute, 11.945 seconds on Lap 3.
Greenwood was on his own in second, but the real action was the show behind the front two. Carter and Hildebrand raced nose-to-tail and swapped the position back and forth. Similar was the racing action for fifth position between Rogers, Peterson and Poulin. In closing laps, Carter missed a shift and Hildebrand was able to get around him and hold on to claim the final spot on the podium behind race-winner Wood and second-place Greenwood.
“I was able to grab the lead on the first lap and tried to ride consistent laps and break away from Scott,” said Wood of his third class win in four races. “It feels good to get another win in the ‘Dash for Cash,’ and I fully expect a battle between Scotty, Shane and myself at the next event. This race isn’t the norm in MWGP, it’s usually a close race to the finish line, but today I will take it.”
Elsewhere in LRRS, it was all Rick Doucette. The 2011 overall series champion was the rider to beat as he claimed victories in six of the eight classes he entered. The win total was a high for all riders on the weekend.
The next LRRS event will be August 11-12 and will include U.S. Legend Cars International, which will close out Saturday evening with its customary mini-oval race.
FULL RESULTS – ~http://www.nhms.com/handler.cfm/template,results/cat_id,45474?id=1991~