With a new name
and new attitude, the first annual Banquet for EEKR go-karts was
a huge success. There were over 277 people in attendance for
what turned out to be the biggest event of the 2007 racing
season here on Long Island. Calverton Links, where the banquet
was held, pulled out all the stops to make everything just right
- from the arrangements on the tables, to all the wonderful
appetizers and finally the buffet-style dinner that
evening. There was so much great food to eat that nobody went
home starving. You could even get seconds if you wanted. Show me
a place you can go and get seconds and I'll show you Calverton
Links. I especially liked the Ice Cream Bar after dinner. Thanks
to the entire staff who did an excellent job to make this
a memorable event.
Hosting the
evening’s events was Vice President of EEKR Joe Orlando. I
personally think that he did an outstanding job and made
everything go along smoothly. These following awards were given
out to start out the evening:
John
Niederauer Award
was presented to Bill Wegmann
Most Improved
Driver Awards were
presented to:
JR. Open- Alexa
Orlando
JR. Champ- Max
and Jack Handley
SR. Open- John
Vullo Jr.
SR. Champ- Mike
Power
Character of the
Year Award
was presented to Rob Manning
Rookie of the
Year Awards were
presented to:
JR. Open- Luke
Palzer
JR. Champ- Jeff
“The Hammer” Goodale
SR. Open- Richard
Davidowitz
SR. Champ- Rich
Wilson
Crew Chief of the
Year Awards were
presented to:
Joe Orlando and
Brian Delaney
Mechanic of the
Year Awards were
presented to:
Tom Soper and
Billy Barnes
Most Spectacular
Crash Award
was presented to:
Kaitlin Beebe
Sportsmanship
Awards
were presented to:
Kaylee Soper and
Joseph Gulotta
Hard Charger
Award
was presented to:
Arty Tappen III
Team Player
Awards
were presented
to:
Long Island
Jam's Junior Jam Reporter Danielle McCormack and
Photographer Bob
McCormack
Trophies
were
presented to the following non-point classes:
Novice:
Ryan Barbieri
C.J. Zukowski
R.J. Gage
4 Cycle Kid
Karts:
Ryan Zukowski
Erik Kloppenburg
Jayne Rios
Austin Elliston
Meghan Coles
JR. Sportsman
Champ B:
Alex Leggio
Nicholas
Maskulyak
George Tomko
JR. Champ
Beginner:
Mike Malone
Before dinner was
served, EEKR Acting President Dave Brigati presented Theresa
Strumpf a check for $500 for Racing Against Cancer.
Theresa was grateful to Dave and the club for giving such a
generous donation. It is nice to see that EEKR go-kart racers
have such big hearts.
After dinner,
trophies were given out to the following classes from second
place on down. After dessert, the parade of champions took
place.
JR.I:
Champion: Kyle
Soper
2. Luke Palzer
3. Derek Wegmann
4. Joseph Gulotta
5. Ryan Lutz
6. Elijah Rios
7. Tyler Fehr
8. Kyle Hubany
JR. II:
Champion: Alexa
Orlando
2. Alex Colasanto
3. Kaitlin Beebe
4. Robert Dalke
5. James Hayden
JR. Restricted:
Champion: Timmy
Lutz
2. Jason Wegmann
Lite:
Champion: Jimmy
Byrne
2. Jason
“Hollywood” Agugliaro
3. John Vullo Jr.
4. Dean Grunert
5. Melissa Barnes
6. Kevin Orlando
7. John Thompson
8. Richard
Davidowitz
9. Russ Skippon
JR. Sportsman
Champ A:
Champion: Arty
Tappen
2. Craig Lutz
3. Jack Handley
4. Timothy
Gregory
5. Danny
Schiesier
6. Mike Power
7. Max Handley
8. Mark Stewart
JR. Champ:
Champion: R.J.
Schnurer
2. Brian Hansen
3. Jeff “The
Hammer” Goodale
4. Matt
Bonsignore
5. Kaylee Soper
6. Cody Triola
7. Thomas Manning
8. Emily Zeh
JR. Champ Animal:
Champion: Tommy
Doelger
2. Thomas Manning
3. R.J. Schnurer
4. Timmy Lutz
SR. Champ:
Champion: Vinny
Delaney
2. Trevor Perry
3. Rich Wilson
4. Frank Hodge
5. Mike Nolan
6. Tony Colandro
Jr.
7. Richard
Davidowitz
8. Terry Froelich
SR. Champ Over
35:
Champion: Joe
Hodge
2. Mike Power
3. Scott Wolf
4. Chuck Cullum
5. John Visconti
6. Eddie Barbara
7. Marc McEvoy
After all the
Champions were crowned and the rest of the trophies were given
out, we had the biggest raffle you have ever seen. You couldn't
believe what was up for grabs - everything a go-karters little
heart desired. Chain guards, gears, helmets, oil - you name it,
we had it. We even had a brand new racing go-kart up for grabs.
There were so many things being raffled off, it took a whole
hour to get it done. Of course everybody wanted the go-kart, but
only one person could win that. Congrats go out to Alex
Colasanto, who won the go-kart.
Memeber of EEKR
would like to thank
all the people involved in the making of the 2007 EEKR Year
Book. They put together some great pictures and write-ups
from the past year from Riverhead Raceway. They would
also like
to thank Long Island Jam’s J.A. Ackley and his Junior Jam
Reporter, Danielle McCormack, who gave them some great
pictures to contribute to the Year Book for 2007 and kept
them
informed on the Jam each week. Thanks also go
out to all the EEKR
go-kart board members for doing an outstanding job this season. In their first full year
as EEKR go-karting they definitely made their mark known to the
racing community.
Source: Danielle
McCormack/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
December 7, 2007
