Guerard Doubles in Mototown USA Debut
Windsor, CT — Marc Guerard, of Hartford, won two of the first six auto racing features ever held indoors here at MototownUSA Sunday night.Guerard took the lead from Jimmy “Bubba” Broderick on the opening lap of the 1,200 cc. mini sprint main’s opening lap in a 24-lap marathon. The local engine builder had earlier came from last to first in the preceeding 750 cc. micro sprint main.
Lex Burritt, of Redding, Conn., started writing MototownUSA history by winning the 600 cc. micro sprint feature. Ryan Charland, of Somers, and Bob Charland, of Stafford Springs, finished one-two in the modified lite main. Darren Jacobs, of Springfield Mass., and Jonathan Routhier, of Canaan swept theire respective four- and eight- cylinder street stock main.
The five feature winners won the first of a scheduled Bud Light 12 Pack Race Series for cars on the indoor clay quarter-mile oval noon Sunday through April 20. The 330,000-square-foot BMX track building, whose grand opening was June 9, 2006, had its first go kart flat track program Feb. 18.
Guerard vaulted from third starting spot to oust poleman Broderick on the first lap. The Cammella Racing neon green No. 95 Henchraft-Suzuki GSXR pilot held off Broderick, Scott Goodrich and eventual runnerup Pat Kuerner after 24 laps.
Mototown officials called the feature after 30 minutes due to 15 cautions for assorted spins and mishaps. Six of the main’s 13 starters, including Goodrich and Broderick, fell out.
Kuerner, who put a “For Sale” sign on his No. 09 sprinter, kept ahead of Richard Wood, Jr. and Paul Corazzo Snr., and Jr. Guerard and Goodrich split the 10-lap heats.
Guerard, who left his neon pink No. 95 Cammella Henchcraft-Suzuki on his trail to work on his 1,200 car, allowed William Eggimann to win the 750cc heat. Guerard found himself starting eighth – and last – to Eggimann.
Two opening lap restarts, due to mishaps by Matthew Brown and Chester Hinkle put Jack Arute on the point with Guerard alongside him. He took the lead from the television racing announcer on the third green flag, leaving Haskell Motorsports teammate Eggimann second. Edward Leclerc demoted Arute fourth while Charlie Hughes compleetd the finsihers.
“MototownUSA has a lot of potential,” said Arute. “It can become as big as the Chili Bowl in Tulsa.”
Burritt and feature runnerup traded firsts in the 600cc. micro sprints. Crooker, on Nashua, N.H., took the 10-lap heat lead from Timex Morgan on lap four with his No. 21A RTS-Suzuki 636.
Burritt, who finished second to Crooker in the preliminary, returned the favor in the feature. The Brett Schonley Engineering SB3-Suzuki 636 No. 117 passed Morgan on lap three and kept a multicar lead on Crooker the other 27 laps.
Morgan, Jeff Rivard, David Morgan and Anthiny Nocella rounded out the six finishers; Doug Norrie and Matt Seavey failed to finish. Burritt commuted to Linda’s Speedway, of Ono, Pa., for Schonley.
Ryan and Bob Charland made the Modified Lite main look easy and competitive. R. Charland, aboard the Pro-Suzuki GSXR 1,000 No. 10C, led from the pole the wole way despite a lap 10 spin.
B. Charland meanwhile clawed his way from ninth among the 10 starters to take second from Sherman Baumann on lap 24. The one-two pleased family patriarch Ron Charland, who doubled as T-USA National Director and promoter of Outlaw Late Models – rebodied modified lites.
Joseph Anselmo, who won the heat despite getting spun by B. Charland on the last lap, took third.
Tyler Hughes, of Cordova, Md., finished fourth – and unofficialy first in the 600cc Honda Modified Lites. Hughes, sixth place-finishing Amanda Whaley and the non-finishing Dylan Evans were the youngsters running cars meant for Seaford, Del.’s junior division.
Jacobs put the broom to the combined four- and eight- cylinder heat and feature. The No. 21 1995 Volkswagen Jetta won the preliminary and went on to lap the field. Robert Chapdelaire took second with his 1988 Audi.
Routhier and Dave Yardley III acquitted themselves in the eight-cylinder class. Routhier, who works as a crew chief for Chris Streeter at Accord, N.Y., swrpt the heat and feature in his first time aborad the No. 031P Canaan Auto Parts 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Yardely started and finished in his debut with his No. 1 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Sources: Walter Elliott/Elliott Enterprises PR.