NEMRR Series

Round Four

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Loudon, New Hampshire

July 20-21, 2024

There has been a lot of rain predicted rain for NEMRR races this season, but for Round Four at New Hampshire Motor Speedway the racers were greeted with a perfect forecast, and Mother Nature came through. From Friday practice through the final race on Sunday, racers were met with bright sunshine and afternoon highs in the low 80’s.  

NEMRR hosts classes for four separate categories of racers including the Expert and Amateur classes run by most other organizations, plus both Novice and Super Street divisions. Super Street allows riders to participate in the race weekend with a track day-prepared machine and has been a perfect steppingstone into the sport for many riders.

Novice is a provisional class with NEMRR, allowing new racers to start racing only with other new riders on their first day at the track, making for a more comfortable and safer track environment for all. As soon as riders hit a designated lap time threshold, they are automatically advanced to Amateur.

The race weekends always start with the Super Street Heat Race, the first of two races for the Super Street riders. Randy Morissette, riding his dual-purpose Kawasaki ZX-10R (he uses it both on the street and on the track) continued his string of top performances with a convincing win in the Unlimited Division. Morrisette would go three-for-three over the course of the weekend, winning the main events on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Novice classes were dominated by Marcus Gada, who scored multiple victories in both the Novice Formula One and Formula Two races on his middleweight machine. Lapping consistently in the 1:20 range, Gada will be advanced to the Amateur ranks next round and will do battle in the highly competitive middleweight classes.  

In the Amateur ranks, the standout for the weekend was 6-foot-5 Jared Milieka riding his Yamaha YZF-R6. Milieka has made impressive progress in 2024 after running only a few races in 2023 on a Kawasaki Ninja 400 rented from the Penguin Racing School. The 600 class rookie dropped all the way into the 1:16 lap time range and won several events, including the premier Amateur Middleweight GP class – which gave him his first taste of prize money in his young racing career. Look for Mileika to be truly tested as he is likely to advance to the Expert ranks before the end of the season.

In the Expert ranks, it was a battle of NEMRR’s home-grown talent showcasing their exceptional speed in the premier Middleweight GP “Dash for Cash,” sponsored by NEMRR supporter and Dunlop tire vendor Seacoast Sport Cycle. Off the line it was Justin Landr scoring the holeshot over the likes of Eli Block and the remainder of the field. Landry led the opening lap, followed closely by young guns Eli Block and Ben Gloddy. Deeper in the field was past Dash for Cash winner Ian Beam, suffering an uncharacteristic poor start and working his way towards the front. Gloddy had previously competed (admirably) in the premier class on his underpowered Aprilia RS 660, but this week he brought his Loudon Classic weapon – a Yamaha R6 owned by NEMRR Executive Director John Grush with an engine prepared by former factory mechanic Tony Romo.  

Block took the point on lap two with a 1:12.1 lap time, followed closely by Gloddy and Landry. Gloddy was in hot pursuit, closing on the brakes into Turn One each lap and taking the point on lap four with a 1:12.1 of his own. From there, Gloddy put his head down as he and Block separated from the pack. The two young riders had both won multiple MotoAmerica races in the Junior Cup division and were now doing battle on middleweight bikes to the delight of the crowd. Still sore from a crash several weeks prior, Block began to fade at the midway point of the race as Gloddy seemed to only get stronger – logging laps in the 1:11 range as the race entered its latter stages. Triumph rider Beam rocketed his British weapon onto the final podium spot late in the race, as Gloddy put on a show in the final laps with big 90+ mph sideways slides backing into Turn One.  It was Gloddy’s first victory in the Dash but certainly not his last.

NEMRR Round 5 is August 24-25 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Information is available at www.nemrr.com.