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Sugarbush Racing Club News

Sugarbush Racing Club’s race scheduled for Jan 10 was cancelled due to weather.
SRC’s first NASTAR race of the season was held Thursday, Jan 3. The women’s results appeared in last week’s Valley Reporter, but the men’s did not.
Results for men in the Jan 3 race are: Riley “Spaceman” Winch posted the fastest time: 26.28 seconds. Rick Duckworth, who had given Spaceman serious competition last year, was over a second behind on each run. Douglas Day, Paul Quinlan, and Dave Seymour all finished within one second of Rick, and each of these first five men earned Platinum medals. The next seven men finished within 3 seconds of each other. Michael Dixon, David Ellison, Peter Wicklund, Jula Fender, James Cutchins, Ray Bollerud and Al Hobart all earned Gold medals, except for Dave. The way NASTAR handicaps work, David’s advanced age earned him a Platinum medal. Rich Jones and Peter Koch were within 3/100 of a second of each other, but the difference gave Rich a Gold and Peter a Silver. A few more seconds back came six Bronze men: Peter Menkes, Stephen Ham-Ellis, Gary Salter, Phil Waier, Richard Brady and Michael Strojny. Several members took advantage of the free timed NASTAR runs until 1:00 PM, getting in as many as six runs for the day.
SRC rocked the Mad River Taste Place last Thursday. Members enjoyed a selection of gourmet wines, craft beers, and local cheeses. The party included raffle drawings for a gift basket, Gift Certificates from The Mad River Taste Place, and a cash cache split 50/50 with Vermont Adaptive. Members were reminded that Vermont Adaptive is building a new facility at Mt. Ellen and asked be extra generous to them.
SRC held its second Race Training Clinic on Jan 11. The instructor, Chuck Goller, explained that shaped ski technology has made good skiing technique and good racing technique almost identical. This means recreational skiers do not need to learn a separate set of skills for NASTAR racing, and that racing will not interfere with the muscle memory developed in free skiing. So, try out the course that Sugarbush Racing Dept sets up on weekends, or join SRC’s Thursday race. You may find you enjoy it enough to join the Club.
Goller set up brushes on Lower Snowball to indicate where to begin and end carving turns, and stubby poles to simulate gates. After a couple of runs through the brushes, the group moved onto the NASTAR course set up on Racer’s Edge. Times were given at the finish line so the racers could see their improvement from run to run.
Races are scheduled for 10:00 AM Jan 17 and 24. See https://sugarbushracingclub.com/racing/ for details. Today’s Post Race Party begins at 4:30 at the Local Folks Smokehouse (Rtes 17 & 100).
The next SRC clinic is a Women’s Race Clinic at Sugarbush Lincoln Peak, on Friday, Jan 25.   This 2 hour clinic, 10AM – noon, costs $35 pp person. Please come early enough to register and be prepared to depart the Gate House at 9:45am for the Racer’s Edge trail. Please email racing@sugarbushracingclub.com if you plan to participate. A minimum of five participants in needed to support the clinic.