Cold, Wet, Competitve Femduro a Success
by
Walter Johnston
Billy Bartley's first ever
Femduro, the Yo’ Mama 102/Lil’ Sista 102' sponsored by
Components Corporation, was run under less than ideal weather
conditions, and a few entrants shied away, but the concept of a
two part race, split between female and male competitors on an
equal basis, went rather well in its maiden attempt. Those who
ran the race overwhelmingly thought it was a fun event and put
on a good show of their rainy day driving skills. Spectator
attendance was not near what would be expected, but less than
ideal weather will make that happen. The hearty souls who found
a way to stay dry in the stands were treated to over 3 hours of
NEETS racing and surely thought their efforts at staying dry
were worthwhile. I have to say, I've never seen that many
canopies in a grandstand before.
The first leg of the races
was the female portion of the 4-cylinders, with 24 ladies taking
the green. #57 Gwen Sakowski jumped out to the early lead over
#32x Jackie Ziegler and #7x Amy Hammer. Denise Siegel roared
past all three in the first 3 laps, taking the lead and then
lapping her first car on lap 4. Siegel built a ten car length
advantage over second-running Hammer. Up from mid-pack to run
second came #61s Nicki Wachs by lap 15, with #19 Fluffy White
third, and Nadine Racho fourth. At the halfway point, Wachs
caught and passed Seigel for the lead, but three laps later, red
was thrown to clear a 3 car wreck in turn 4. When the green came
back out, Seigel retook the lead, but only for one lap, as Wachs
passed her again going into turn 3 to retake the point. It was a
lead she held for the remainder of the race, sometimes having to
run four-wide to keep the position, as Seigel gave it her all to
catch up. The final top 5 at the checkers were Wachs, Seigel,
#18v Susan Ryan, Racho, and White.
Next came the 6/8-cylinder
Ladies race with 23 cars, which saw #21 Marissa Niederauer grab
the lead down the back stretch before the end of the first lap.
#42x Jessica Hoffman held second spot, and #93 Carrie Pyle ran
third. Things went smoothly as Niederauer was running away with
the race until a red came out on lap 14, and Niederauer made
slight contact with the wall coming to a stop. On the restart,
with her windshield wipers not working anymore due to electrical
problems, Niederauer faded from the lead as Pyle came roaring
through passing Hoffman and Niederauer to take the lead. By lap
26, Pyle and Hoffman were the only two on the lead lap and Pyle
had a very large lead in that contest. Red was out again on lap
39 for a two car collision that blocked the track in turn 4.
With green out once more, Pyle, with a half lap lead, seemed
invincible, but Hoffman kept plugging away, and closed the gap
to a quarter-lap by the time the checkers flew at lap 51. Pyle,
Hoffman, Niederauer, #23z Wendy Molinaro, and #47 Christina
Phillips made up the top 5.
The men's 4-cylinder race came
next, and the start of it saw many minor accidents and spins, as
the rain fell at a considerably harder rate at this point and
the field was tight at the beginning. As the cars recovered and
repositioned, #61s Harry Sagar, who started on the pole, was
able to avoid all the minor skirmishes, and built himself a
comfortable lead. #18v Pat Verwys was a distant second at this
point, but a few laps later, Verwys pulled off with mechanical
troubles and Sagar was then the only car on the lead lap. #19
Jimmy White was holding second, as #777 Mike Racho ran third,
#34 Woot Lawrence had worked his way through the mayhem to run
fourth, and #472 Steve Elliston held on for fifth spot. Sagar's
car seemed to be handling much better than the others, as he
wove his way through lapped traffic despite the rainy, slippery
conditions, and he held on to take the victory.
In the final event of the
night, #93 Rob Pyle started on the pole in the 6/8-cylinder
race, on a lap of his own due to handicapping from the previous
female race's finishing order. Pyle shot to a 10-car length lead
on the very first lap, as #42x Dan Cascioli held on for a
distant second spot, with #43 Richard Petey third. The real
“mover and shaker” at this point was #1 Racin' Rich Johnson, who
started out fifth, 5 laps down. Johnson was speeding through the
field, passing Petey and a few others with ease, but for all his
valiant effort, any chance of making up all those laps in the
rain would be for naught. He did manage to pick up a spot in the
finish. Meanwhile, Pyle was carefully negotiating his way
through the traffic. Red came out on lap 62 for a stalled car
blocking the track, but green soon returned as Pyle continued
his dominance of the race. Cascioli was doing everything he
could to erase some of the deficit, but he'd have trouble
negotiating lapped traffic, hindering his effort of making up
laps. Red was thrown on lap 80 for a five-car wreck in turn 4
and a short cleanup followed, but green came out once more, and
Pyle drove away. Petey meanwhile, with a renewed sense of making
up for the deficit he'd started with, passed Cascioli to take
second spot, but he advanced no further as the laps ran out and
Pyle recorded the victory. Pyle, Petey, Cascioli, Johnson and
#29 Jim White made up the top 5 at the finish.
Race Notes: 47 cars total
entered in both races. Not the pre-entered number, but
impressive nonetheless considering how many last minute
match-ups had to take place for that number to compete. Billy
B.'s daughter Erin, a last minute entry, teamed with #6 John
Saccomandi. Billy was very nervous having Erin in the race, but
she did a wonderful job, so Billy will live to see another day,
with just a little more gray in his hair... Overheard many
drivers after the event talk about what a lot of fun the event
turned out to be. Considering the weather conditions, most cars
and drivers were in better condition than would normally be
expected...No DQ's in tech, so 10 teams went home happily with
trophies early in the evening, as Billy B. had to cancel post
race festivities on late notice. Overall weather and driving
conditions being what they were, it was a good decision and
Billy promises to make it up at the next NEETS post race get
together... Trophy help for the event was courtesy of Robin and
Elaine Vollmoeller, avid supporters of NEETS and thanks to them
for the idea of expanding the number of trophies to be given to
the top 5 from each event and especially for their donation to
help procure the extra trophies... Previously mentioned driving
conditions made for a longer than usual drive back to Long
Island and I'm sure many other destinations. We hope all made
out well on their trips home. The much needed rain wasn't
exactly needed on this particular day, but you've got to take
your lemons and make lemonade if you have to... Next event on
the NEETS Holiday Stock Car Series is the Halloween Frankenduro,
October 29th. Costume contests for both kids and adults are part
of this event, so don't miss it if you enjoy being a ghost or
pumpkin on Halloween (and pray for good weather)... ‘Til next
time, be safe and live well.
Source: Only on LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
October 9, 2005
