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Sugarbush Race Club Opens Season with a Winner
Over forty racers were on the scene for the Sugarbush Racing Club’s first race of the 2016 season this past Thursday. The race had been scheduled for the previous Thursday but it was postponed due to the lack of snow. The conditions this week caused the race to be held on the Legends Race Arena on Spring Fling to everyone”s delight. Also, the lack of available terrain necessitated the deviation to a single giant slalom course instead of the customary dual format.
The women were led by perennial winner, Elizabeth Walker, although Danielle Hampton caused Elizabeth quite a bit of concern as she posted a very close second place time. Lauri Landau rounded out the top three while Caryl Hurwitz and Janelle Pennington recorded nearly equal times.
Rick Duckworth continued his winning way from last year with two stellar runs to completely dominate the field of 33 men. David Seymour placed second with a combined time exactly five seconds slower and Peter Wicklund edged Jeff Rubin for third. It was noted that Duckworth, Seymour and Rubin obviously benefited from their stylish lycra speedsuits! Dave Ellison had two strong runs to overcome a second run surge by Gary Duncan while Al Carr surprised the whole field with his superb performance. Gunnar Sievert narrowly beat out “up and comer” Jim Cutchins while Gil Edwards and Mike Ware were closely matched. Michael Sharkey turned in excellent times ahead of Ray Bollerud and Peter Menkes who both had the exact same times! The elder statesmen of the group, Bob Stevens, Henri Borel and Stan Needleman were all closely matched in what could become a hard fought battle and Dave Koepele and Al Barillaro seem similarly paired.
The first race of the season may have been postponed but this group of die hard ski bums always seem to be able to party The first party of the year was held right on schedule at the Big Picture Theatre where the group was treated to a sumptuous culinary repast while this week the group of over seventy met at the Elusive Moose for an equally wonderful offering. Gift baskets were raffled at both venues as well as gift certificates to the restaurants. The gift baskets this year also contain monetary awards to local businesses and a “50 – 50” raffle supports the VASS ski program. Come join the fun!