NEMRR Round 6 – September 17-18, New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
September in New Hampshire is known for having some of the best “go fast” conditions of the season, and mother nature did not disappoint for NEMRR’s round 6. Saturday featured clear sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 70 degrees, making for a near-perfect combination of bikes that make great power and asphalt that has excellent grip. The result was dozens of riders logging personal-best lap times and some excellent racing to boot!
The top racers in each category nearly all set season-best times. Renee Franco won three feature races on her Kawasaki Ninja 400, setting personal record 1:16.3 in the SportbikeTrackGear.com 500 Supersport class. NEMRR has not seen times like that since MotoAmerica Junior Cup top riders Eli Block and Ben Gloddy were racing at NHMS. The future is bright for this 18-year-old young lady! Also starring in the small division was Adam Muscaro, another up-and-coming teen who ran a personal best 1:17.3 and won the Rising Sun Cycles Moto 3 class.
The top performer of the weekend in the lightweight classes was Brett Guyer and his Aprilia RS 660. The veteran Seacoast Sport Cycle rider won four races over the course of the weekend, highlighted by his season-best 1:14.0 lap time during the Lightweight GP, which is fittingly also sponsored by Seacoast Sport Cycle. The only riders to best Guyer over the weekend were young gun Eli Block on his Manchester Honda KTM 450 in the Robert Pease GTL class, and fellow veteran Tim Hogan on his Superbike Services Ducati 749 in the red-flag-shortened Thunderbike class.
The featured middleweight races were again dominated by the ever fast and smooth Scott Greenwood, who tallied an impressive eight victories. The veteran Argo Cycles Yamaha rider is known for his relaxed riding style, where he has the appearance of going on a Sunday ride while running away from the field. During the feature Michelin-Motorace Middleweight GP $1500, Greenwood ran a season best 1:12.1 to secure his victory. In the feature race, Eli Block grabbed the holeshot and Greenwood got caught up on the inside, leaving Turn One in third place. He passed the resurgent Paul Duval on lap one and visibly set off to chase down the leader. Greenwood made his move on the brakes into the banked Turn Six and ran off a string of mid to low 1:12 lap times. Block held on strong through the halfway point but was unable to match the pace of the veteran as the laps wore on. Greenwood congratulated his young rival during his victory speech and noted that he’ll very likely be pushed by the rising star in the years to come.
The unlimited displacement races featured the Penguin Racing/Woodcraft Kawasaki ZX-10R of Eric Wood, who won four races over the course of the weekend. Wood logged a season -best 1:11.0 during the Superbike Services 44 Unlimited Grand Prix race. This time marked the fastest lap logged at NEMRR since it took over management of the series from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2020.
In the Novice ranks, first-year rider Nik Paganis won three classes and ran his personal best 1:22.0 in the Formula Two class class on Saturday. His only runner-up finish of the weekend was in the Formula One event, where he lost a dogfight with Johnathan McCluskey. Both riders may have earned their “bump” into the Amateur class for the final event of the season. The ever popular (and growing) Super Street races were dominated by Josh Stewart on his Aprilia RSV1000. Josh won both Super Street Unlimited races and looks poised to launch an assault on NEMRR Rookie of the Year honors in 2023!
NEMRR will run the final round of the 2022 series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on October 1-2. For information please go to www.nemrr.com.
