Sugarbush Racing Club February 1 Results

After a bye week to accommodate World Cup Telemark races, SRC NASTAR racing moved from the Racer’s Edge course on Lower Snowball to the Legends course on Spring Fling. Chad Koenig was the pacesetter, as he had been for the last race. The par time on Racer’s Edge was 24.4 seconds. The par time on Spring Fling was 19.4 sec, 26% faster. The course was firm under a well-groomed surface. Two races are scheduled for Feb 8 on Spring Fling to compensate for the bye week, but they may need to be postponed if snow overnight prevents adequate course preparation.

Last year Danielle Hampton and Elizabeth Walker traded first and second place finishes. This year looked different, as Danielle won all three races on Racer’s Edge. Elizabeth got back into the top spot Feb 1 by a 0.3 sec margin on the faster Legends course. The two women finished four sec ahead of Anne Halvorsen, mimicking the close race last week between Spaceman Winch and Rick Duckworth, and the gap before third. Janyce Goba, Lauri Landau, and Nancy Coombs all finished within the next four sec, again showing the gap between the top two women and the close races among the rest of the field. Caryl Hurwitz finished seventh, followed by Janella Pennington, Barbara Brady and Mary Gow to round out the top ten. The strength of the women’s field is shown by Annie Fender, who finished eleventh among the women, and ahead of four men.

Spaceman Winch apparently liked the faster course, finishing 1.3 sec ahead of Rick Duckworth, a much greater margin than his .02 sec margin of victory in the Jan 18 race. Douglas Day finished third, again almost seven sec behind the Spaceman. Joseph Seymour, John Lussier, and Jeff Rubin all finished within 1 sec of Douglas Day, forming a highly competitive group. A second competitive group, led by Peter Wicklund, finished three sec later. Al Hobart, Ray Bollerud and David Ellison rounded out the group, and the top ten. The faster course and the firm conditions seem to have given Al the advantage over David.

Most racers ran the excellent Yellow and Blue courses set by the Sugarbush Racing Division. Michael McGuirk, and perhaps a few others, ran the Green course: halfway between Yellow and Blue. The race timers are supposed to report missed gates, but they missed some.

The Feb 1 mixer at Hyde Away featured Swedish meatballs in an outstanding sauce. Hyde Away was prepared to show the Race video, as they did last year, but an icy driveway prevented SRC from getting the tape there. Who ever heard of an icy driveway in Vermont?

Regardless of racing conditions, there will be an SRC mixer at the 1824 House, starting at 4:30 Feb 8.

SRC races every Thursday weather permitting. See sugarbushracingclub.com for updates.

SRC thanks Chelsea Winch for videotaping the races. Video is available through the website.

Thanks also to Gina Henry, Gail Hutchins, and Jean Monroe for manning the sign up table for each race.