Round 5: Loudon Road Racing Series By Bob Holcomb Loudon, N.H. Exciting club racing resumed in hot and humid conditions July 18 and 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The speedway continues to undergo improvements with new pavement smoothing the turn 12 transition plus the addition of many new soft barriers to help keep riders safer. Comments were favorable throughout the paddock. A new Victory Lane replaced the old wooden platform and elaborate new RV parking is nearing completion. Formula Forty The Formula Forty class has emerged as one of the hottest races of the weekend. Robby Nigl won the holeshot aboard his beautiful Peachpit/Dunlop/Vanson Ducati 850. Dennis Levesque was glued to his tail section on the Seacoast Sport Cycle/Dunlop Ducati 1098. Fred Stearns, Rick Doucette, Neal Garvin, David Fett and Mike Martire trailed nose to tail. All seven are among the fastest riders in the club and put it on display for 8 exciting laps. On lap two Levesque put an impossible pass on Nigl for the lead in turn three. “I though I had him cold after taking the lead in three, but the (expletive) came back on me in the Bowl!” laughed Levesque later. By the half flags Nigl had a slight gap, but Levesque hung tough. A few tenths back, Fred Stearns’ Souhegan Valley Motorsports R6 had Plaistow Powersports’ Rick Doucette all over him. A few more tenths back, Garvin was knotted up with Fett and Martire. On the last lap, Nigl cleverly used lapped traffic, but Levesque put on a monster charge to come up just short at the stripe. First Win Riding her Suzuki SV650 against a strong amateur GTL field, Lorna Murphy scored her very first win in dominant fashion. After struggling off the line, Murphy made an aggressive move up the inside in turn 1 to take 3rd place behind Ryan Oosterman and Jason Cavanaugh. Running the best times of her career, Murphy found places she was stronger, picking them both off one at a time. By the 4th lap she led by a second and steadily stretched her lead to the flag. “That was so much fun! I blew the start, but the bike is running better then ever.” She said. “I ran 22’s so now I’m going out tomorrow to run 21’s! Dash for Cash As always, the $1500 Dash for Cash is run the last race of the day on Saturday. Motorace, Rob’s Dyno, Seacoast Sportcycle, Dunbar Euro-Sport, Street & Comp, and Woodcraft fund the purse. Christian Cronin was looking to score big and took the holeshot with his Chronic Motorsports/Dunlop Yamaha R6. Coming from the second row, Jeff Wood set about tracking the youngster down aboard his Higgins/Roadracingworld.com Kawasaki. Long standing fast guy, Steve Giacomaro, had his Orient Express R6 turning fast laps in third, followed by Cory Hildebrand on his Bruce Transportation/Dunlop R6. Kip Peterson rounded the top five aboard his Motorace Michelin GSX-R600. Surprisingly, Wood could not pass Cronin until the fifth lap and then could not shake him when he did. Together they ran a string of laps in the low twelves, steadily distancing themselves from Giacomaro and Hildebrand, who were running a couple tenths slower. Cronin made two bold bids to take Wood in turn 1, but Wood was unmoved and held his advantage to the flag. In Victory Lane Wood remarked; “He’s won some races and it took me awhile to get past him. He was strong in my passing spots. I waited for him to make one mistake. Then he pushed me hard after I got by. I want to thank Peter Kates at GMD Computrack, Sweeny Motors and Dunlop.” The 4th Annual Larry Lap The 2009 ‘Larry Lap’ is scheduled for 11:30 am Sunday September 6th during the Labor Day LRRS race weekend. It is the fourth annual Brain Injury Recovery Ride, led by LRRS’ multi-class champion, Larry Hanlon. It is the biggest fund raising event of the year, hosted by the charity’s all-time champion fund raiser. Last year Hanlon raised over $14,000 for the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire. The charity ride is a lap of New Hampshire Motor Speedway led by Hanlon aboard his custom-built sidecar rig. Another multi-class champion, Scott Greenwood, had this to say about Hanlon; “Larry Hanlon won many championships. He rode all kinds of crazy stuff that he built himself. He raced a motarded dirt bike before anybody knew what a motard was. He raced TZ’s and other unique motorcycles and he seemed to win with them all.” “Larry was racing a sponsored modified MuZ 550 when it happened. The motor seized on the downside of turn 4, pinning him on the blind side. He raised his left hand but the riders couldn’t see him in time and he was hit in the back and paralyzed. He built this side car rig himself to do his fund raiser. After awhile he got pretty good at the sidecar. He even tried to get USCRA to let him race it, but they said no. I guess once a racer, always a racer”¦” LRRS invites you to make a donation and take a lap with Larry Hanlon. You can contact him directly by emailing him at [email protected] Log onto www.lrrsracing.com for the latest club news and updates.