Poirier, Babcock among big winners in Verona for Rock Maple Racing
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> VERONA, N.Y. - Danny Poirier and Arthur Babcock rode to double victories
on Sunday afternoon, as Rock Maple Racing (RMR) completed Round Two of its
West series 2006 schedule in Verona, New York. The event was originally
scheduled for Oswego Speedway, but was moved to the Pit-X track in Verona
due to a lack of snow.
> Poirier rode his Cycle Worx/NSK Ski-doo to top honors in the Pro Stock and
Pro Open finals, while Babcock earned the Semi-Pro 440 and 600 class wins.
New York native Jason Rudd finished second in both Pro finals, a strong
performance from the Rudman Racing team. Dale Annis came home third in Pro
440, while RMR veteran Dale Petrus filled out the podium positions in Pro
Open.
> Jason Stone, of Central Square, NY, took home the Semi-Pro Open crown,
with Chad Miller and Will Lux in tow. Stone also finished second in the 600
final, then followed Billy Douglas across the stripe for third in Semi-Pro
440 to round out a successful weekend in Verona.
> In Sport division action Sunday, Frederick L'Esperance, a new member of
the Cycle Worx team, rode his Ski-doo to victory in the Open class final.
Josh Duffy and Cass Terrance completed the top three finishers. L'Esperance
also finished second to Paul Wilson in the Sport Stock 500 and 600 classes,
a strong performance from the Valcourt, Quebec native. Jim Meyers claimed
the Sport Performance 600 class over fellow New York riders Adrian Colabello
and Ryan Smith.
> Women's division action in Verona saw Ontario's Courtney Tarr take home
the Stock 500 and 600 class victories. Tarr held off RMR veterans Kelly
Conover and Ashley Conway to claim the Stock 500 final, then out-gunned
Conover and Vermont's Steffanie Lemieux for the 500cc win. Stephanie Dilallo
rode her Ski-doo to victory in the Women's Stock Novice final, with New
York's Kathy Shelton and Ontario native Jessica Walker completing the top
three spots.
> In the highly-competitive junior division, AJ Bogino earned an impressive
three class wins. The Webster, NY-based rider earned two victories on
Saturday (14-15 Stock 500 and 16-17 Stock 500), then rounded out the weekend
hat trick by holding off Shane Martin and Aaron Pfeifer to claim Jr. 14-15
Stock 500 on Sunday. In the Junior 10-13 division, Vermont's Brennan Berardo
rode his Polaris to a win in the 600 Fan class, while Corin Todd won the
Stock 380 Fan final. RMR veteran Jordan Harrison chocked up another win in
Verona, out-gunning Richard Ghezzi and Andrew Cooney in the new Jr. 8-10 300
Freestyle class.
> In RMR's entry-level Trail division, Oneida, New York's Timmy Nye rode to
victory on Saturday ahead of Benjamin Hardy and Curtis Flaitz. Nye repeated
the strong performance on Sunday to record win number two, while Kelly
O'Dell and Scott Danretewicz filled out the top three positions.
> Rock Maple Racing would like to thank Pit-X track owner Bob Pawlowski for
making this West series event possible. Weather conditions in Verona went
from wet and unusually mild on Saturday, to bitter cold on Sunday. Yet the
event went off as smoothly as could be expected, thanks to the hard work of
Pawlowski and the RMR West staff. For complete results from Verona, log on
to our Web site at www.rockmaple.com.