1979. Flemington BMX began at Pete’s Bike Shop. 2006, 27 years, the action continues. That ladies and germs is continuity. The longest continuous running track in NJ, HCBMX blew the doors wide open again and hosted the Fall Classic at one of the few remaining downhill tracks on the east coast. Matt, Loren and the lads had redone the last straight in preparation for the race, shortening it up as well. Things were ready to rock once again in the hills of Hunterdon.
HC once again hosted the Old School Rippers race and let the old dogs fly with the new guns. This was the 4th annual roll out for the ode to the Old School and the O.F.’s (old farts) were out in force. The hot air coming out of the old codgers lips made it quite warm on the semi cool fall day. Crazy old lads! More on them in a few.
The racing was wild and intensified by Madman Matt Danek’s announcing skills. BS.net gives Matthew the unofficial “Announcer Of The Year” award, just the right blend of comedy and commentary to keep the crowd enthused!
So what’s it all about? The riders. Since we were talking about the old guys above let’s give the geritol brigade some props. The Wogger wocked., I mean rocked the house and let fly some good air on his way to numero uno in 35-39 cruiser. The Caveman Kapigian took the deuce but he was claiming that was to save energy to woop Sullivan’s butt in the OS Open. Nils Tribus took the win in 40-44 cruiser, where was Rich F? Truth be told Rich was taking it easy saving the juice for the OS Open saving the good stuff to shut down the Ant-dogger, (Yea, I’ll pay for that one next time Farside sees me.) Rookie doggers! The new kids on the block. Micro midgets were taken by J Eletto. The other Kowski, Awesome Al took down 7-8. 11 Rookie was the largest class of the day, and Ben Painter took out the brush of beat down and schooled the other 11 year old dudes on how to get around the hills of HC fastest. Bad boy Brazdovic took the two and Lucas Jones, well lets just say, for once the Jones had to keep up with someone else, Lucas pulled down the third in this tough class. Ladies classes, hands down, coolest thing all weekend Haley Godino is ripping up the track trying to chase down her older sister whilst the parental units are yelling, pedal, pedal well the little H-Bomb yells, back “I am pedaling!”, rock on! It ain’t easy out there on those berms and jumps people! News in 12-15 girls. the Kowski ladies, the young gun Whitney beat out the older Ilanna must have been a fun trip home for the mom and dadster zoinks!
The tikes, young Tribus, Karsten did dad right by taking the win in 8 novice with Krankin Colin Hamblin coming in for 2. Koval and Pletscher took the 1-2 in the stacked 9-10 novice class, second biggest class of the day well next to the OS Open. Pedalin’ Paul Filippone once again trounced the 11 Expert class..I have way too many shots of that kid, style for kilometers. (hey it doesn’t rhyme but at least it isn’t played out!) Luke The Duke Filippone took the win even being the youngest dude in the 14-16 Expert, killer cranker! 17 Expert, future pros, current maniacs, Thomair Martin blasted to the sky for 1st with cruising Karkas for the two. Look for some footage of Martin on the njbmx commercial coming next year. Pete Wogsamuth took the charge in 18-35 X and blew doors there as well. This guy is too good for being 38, let the kids have some fun man! The Old School Open. Intense insane and we only lost one old school scoot and that was the chainwheel of C Whileys GHP cruiser. The teeth tore right off that mug in the main! Insane! What do they put in the water down at EHT to get a guy the ability to rip teeth off chainwheels man! Names in the race, Pawlson (wearing a Topps Appliance City jersey), Nasheed, Whiley, Kapigian, Sullivan, Caveman.(more on them later) and some guy named Rich Farside. There’s been more smack talking going on between Timtim Sahlahbim Sullivan and Caveman Kapigian the past couple weeks than goes on between pro wrestlers. Well, come main time super Sullivan decided to slingshot himself into a dead stop at the starting line which resulted in Mr. S having to play catch up to the Cavemaniac the rest of the track, and even though Tim is almost half Kapigians age it was not meant to be that day and it was Dave The Caveman in for 4th with Tim sliding in for the 5th. Who won. Since it was an Old School Open, it was only fitting that it was taken by the main NJ Old School Ace himself “Ripping” Rich Farside. Rich blew doors without slingshotting, without clips and without the benefit of being 16 anymore. Holy tomatoes kids that is once fast “old” dude. For those of you who wonder how this guy can do this to be honest BMX fanatics, Rich, in his time beat the likes of many people who would go on to become top pros AA. names like Gary Ellis, Mike King, Pete Loncarevich, etc. Rich ain’t your typical 40 year old cruiser rider. Ride on!
Side note: They also run a Pit Bike Open race at the Fall Classic and it was INSANITY! These guys were having a blast on those midget mobiles and quite a few were tearing it up out there. I wasn’¢t able to get the results for the day but it was quite a site and brought me back to the bygone days of the 80’s and the pit bike craze. Very cool and would be a welcome addition to the state series next year. Always good to HAVE FUN, which is what gets us into this in the first place.
Well, that’s it lads and laddettes. Props to Matt, Loren, Eva, Jeff and the crew at HC for the final Flemington showdown of the year and it sets the bar for the ’07 season! Matt also informed me that HC has secured Shield’s Skatepark for their end of the year awards for the track. KILLER! I’m sure the riders will be stoked on that and it shows forward thinking and cool ideas from those in charge. BMX is all about the riders, and that’s what HC is all about.
‘Nuff said
Results:
Fall Classic 2006
FINISHES
NUMBER NAME ST AGE BIKE # MT1 MT2 MT3 MAIN PLACE
** 18-21,30-34 CRUISER
573651 CHRIS WORRELL NJ 31C 651 2 2 2 0 2
573667 SHAWN SMITH PA 20C 667 1 1 1 0 1
** 35-39 CRUISER
514839 RICK ZRELAK NJ 39C 839 4 3 3 0 4
514838 LOREN HAMBLIN NJ 37C 838 3 2 4 0 3
535636 DAVID KAPIGIAN NJ 36C 636 2 4 2 0 2
573671 PETER WOHLGEMUTH NJ 38C 671 1 1 1 0 1
** 40-44 CRUISER
488419 FRANK YOUNG NJ 40C w 3 3 3 2 0 3
59288 RICH FARSIDE NJ 40C n 2 1 2 2 0 2
464166 NILS TRIBUS NJ 42C 2nj 2 1 1 0 1
** 6-7 GIRLS
537393 CHEYENNE GODINO PA 7G 1 g 1 1 1 0 1
538793 GISELE THOMPSON NJ 6G 793 2 2 2 0 2
573666 HALEY GODINO PA 6G . 2 3 3 3 0 3
** 8-9,10-11 GIRLS
488258 TAYLOR FARSIDE NJ 11G n 8 1 1 1 0 1
488433 ALANA CAROLAN CA 9G 433 2 2 2 0 2
** 12-13,14-15 GIRLS
573693 ILANNA KOWSKI NJ 15G 693 2 2 2 0 2
538851 WHITNEY KOWSKI NJ 12G 851 1 1 1 0 1
** 7,8 NOVICE
464167 KARSTEN TRIBUS NJ 8N . 1 2 1 1 0 1
514788 COLIN HAMBLIN NJ 8N 7 h 3 3 3 0 3
514759 KYLE HAMBLIN NJ 7N 6 h 1 2 2 0 2
** 9,10 NOVICE
514773 JAKE PLETSCHER NJ 10N 4 p 2 2 1 0 2
495055 CHRISTOPHER KOVAL NJ 9E 2 k 1 1 2 0 1
508574 CHRISTOPHER WHILEY NJ 10N 3 5 5 5 5 0 5
538771 JEREMY HANEY PA 9N 771 3 3 3 0 3
464245 BRADLEY STAUDT NJ 10N . 3 4 4 4 0 4
** 10,11 EXPERT
426054 PAUL FILIPPONE NJ 11E 1 F 1 1 1 0 1
508577 AUSTIN PADILLA NJ 10E n11 3 3 3 0 3
537365 RICHARD GODINO PA 11E 365 2 2 2 0 2
** 12,13 NOVICE
495056 DAKOTA CAUFIELD NJ 13N 056 1 1 3 0 2
538770 JOSH HANEY PA 12N 770 3 3 2 0 3
488299 DAVID CROFTON NJ 12N 299 2 2 1 0 1
** 14,15,16 EXPERT
426055 LUKE FILIPPONE NJ 14E 3 F 2 1 1 0 1
514785 GARY TRANSUE PA 15N 4 t 1 2 2 0 2
196852 DANIEL SMITH III NJ 16E 1 8 3 0 0 0 3
** 17 EXPERT
495086 THOMAS MARTIN PA 17E 3 1 2 1 1 0 1
382073 CHRIS KARKAS NJ 17E 073 3 3 3 0 2
382066 LUKE YERKES NJ 17E 066 1 2 0 0 3
** 18-21,35 & OVER NOVICE
514843 DAN BOWEN NJ 41N 843 3 2 3 0 3
514797 KYLE ROBINSON PA 18N 2 r 2 3 2 0 2
573663 PETER WOHLGEMUTH NJ 38N 663 1 1 1 0 1
** 5 & UNDER,6 ROOKIE
573662 JONATHAN WHEELER NJ 6B 662 2 2 2 0 2
544098 JEFFREY ELETTO NJ 5B 098 1 1 1 0 1
** 7,8 ROOKIE
538764 ALEXANDER J KOWSKI NJ 8B 764 1 1 1 0 1
573700 MASON SULLIVAN PA 7B 700 2 2 2 0 2
** 9,10 ROOKIE
573682 MARC MADEANO NJ 9B 682 4 4 2 0 4
538780 MITCHELL MATTIS NJ 10B 780 2 2 1 0 1
573672 ANTHONY PETRELLO PA 10B 672 3 3 3 0 3
573661 MAXWELL WHEELER NJ 10B 661 1 1 4 0 2
** 11 ROOKIE
538765 LUCAS JONES NJ 11B 765 3 3 3 0 3
573673 RYAN SHREVE NJ 11B 673 5 5 5 0 5
573694 JOSEPH BAYER NJ 11B 694 6 6 6 0 6
514805 BEN PAINTER NJ 11B 5 R 2 1 1 0 1
573660 JACOB SARGENT NJ 11B 660 4 4 4 0 4
573655 SKYLER BRAZDOVIC NJ 11B 655 1 2 2 0 2
** 12 ROOKIE
573656 RICHARD WHEELER NJ 12B 656 2 2 2 0 2
538800 THOMAS LOCKARD PA 12B 800 1 1 1 0 1
** 13 ROOKIE
573657 STEPHEN SZILAGYI NJ 13B 657 1 1 1 0 1
538789 NICK DICHIARO NJ 13B 789 2 2 2 0 2
538760 DANNY MUESSIG NJ 13B 760 4 4 4 0 4
514814 JUSTIN ZRELAK NJ 13B 814 3 3 3 0 3
** 14,15 ROOKIE
477050 KYLE LOCKARD PA 15B 4 r 2 1 2 0 2
256433 ANTHONY TALAMINI NJ 14B 433 1 2 1 0 1
