Greenwood Wins Another in LRRS, While Formula 50 Lights Put on Spectacle
Middleweight Grand Prix “Dash for Cash”
Scott Greenwood maintained his position atop the premiere class of the Loudon Road Race Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday. His No. 4 Yamaha R6 has been dialed in throughout the 2014 season, and his most recent win in the “Dash for Cash” gives him four victories in five attempts.
Greenwood earned the hole shot on the start, which has been a common theme for his success. He held the position throughout the race despite being pushed by Eric Wood early.
“Getting a good start on a field like this and making them earn their way past you is where you want to be,” Greenwood said about the necessity to get the lead early. “Getting the hole shot is huge, especially in LRRS races.”
Behind the No. 4, Wood continued to improve on his new No. 5 Kawaski ZX6R. He chased Greenwood for in the early stages, but was hampered by lap traffic midway through the race and lost touch with the leader.
“We were pretty much going the same pace throughout much of the race, but the first guy through (lap traffic) is usually the guy that has the better way through,” Wood said about his issues with lap traffic. “Scotty (Greenwood) played really well today and rode super consistent through to the end. Full credit to him, he’s been riding fantastic.”
Christian Cronin bounced back from a crash during the previous race weekend to finish third on the podium. Cronin has never won a Middleweight Grand Prix race at NHMS and voiced his discouragement after the race:
“I thought I had a little bit more for them,” he said. “I really came into this event hoping for a win. I’ve been racing this event for a few years now and still haven’t gotten a win, but Greenwood’s just on it. He’s on it hard.”
Greenwood won the class championship in 2013 after a late surge to the top of the standings. It doesn’t appear to he’ll need any such a push this year with just two races left to go, as he currently leads Wood by 22 points (165 to 143) with a maximum of 36 available per event.
Formula 50 Lights
One of the most exciting races of the weekend was put on by some of the most experienced riders in LRRS. The Formula 50 Lights pulls a variety of different manufacturers and engine setups with one common rule: the rider must be 50 years of age or older.
Saturday’s running of the event featured a back-and-forth battle between Shawn McCormick and Michael Dube for much of the race. However, it was Tim O’Connor, who got his TZ-250 two-stroke to kick in late and steal a win from the frontrunners.
“Because I ride on a two-stroke (as opposed to a four-stroke engine), I get a little worse start, so I was fifth or sixth and started picking my way through to the front,” O’Connor said of his race start.
“When I got up to third, I thought that was about as far as I’d get. But, when I looked ahead, I saw those guys battling it out. Because they were doing that, it slowed them down a little and allowed me to pick them off one-by-one.”
To their credit, neither McCormick or Dube were upset with the outcome, having had too much fun racing one another to worry about the finishing order.
“When I came in and my best friend said, ‘that was exciting!’, that’s when I knew the fun I was having out there wasn’t just imagined,” McCormick said of the battle for position he had with Dube. “There’s nothing better than that type of competition.”
“We’ve all been around the block and few times, and we all prefer not to hit the ground,” Dube said of the Formula 50 Lights approach to racing. “We tend to be more of a gentler crowd. We say, ‘would you like to go? You go.’ Or: ‘No? Ok, I’ll go first.’ Then we’ll race on the straightaways.”
Despite the third-place finish, Dube was able to jump atop the standing due to a poor finish by points leader Douglas Fogg. Dube leads with 135 points, followed by McCormick with 128, Fogg with 125 and O’Connor with 111.
The Loudon Road Race Series will take a weekend off before getting back at it for Labor Day Weekend races on Aug. 30 & 31.