LLqualifier story 2007

Old Bridge Twp. Raceway Park
Loretta Lynn’s Area Qualifier
A Tale of 2 Days
By Scott Lukaitis/ photo by Lukaitisphoto.com
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. APR 14/15, 2007

Two words say it all. Loretta Lynn’s. The road to the amateur nationals at Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch in August begins many months before. If you want to race against the 42 best riders in your class you must start in March and April and do well in the local area qualifiers from there you go on to the regional and finally the big show.

Adam Blessing

One the weekend of April 14th and 15th for the first time in its 32 year history Raceway Park played host to an area qualifier. With the weather forecast for 2 entirely different days, riders were going to have to contend with all that nature could throw out them.

Frankie Lettieri

Saturday’s program went off under sunny skies and cool temperatures but the racing was anything but cool. Several riders make the long trip to New Jersey in search of their National Championship. Dade City Florida Honda rider Oscar Diaz showed impressive speed by finishing fourth in the MX Lites “A” class and winning the Motocross “A” class. Also taking the long trip were the Medaglia brothers Tyler and Jeremy from Ontario Canada. Jeremy won both the Motocross and MX Lites “B” stock classes on his Yamaha while Suzuki mounted Tyler was the winner of the “A” Lites class and the non-qualifying Open A class.

Tyler Medaglia

Sunday’s weather was the complete opposite. Overnight a powerful Nor’Easter blew in bringing with it torrential rains and winds with gusts up to 50 miles an hour. The storm which encompassed the entire east coast caused widespread flooding and even temporarily closed one of the roads leaving the track. But motocross runs rain or shine and although not all classes had enough to run several classes braved the conditions and ran the moto. Due to the track and weather conditions, a one-moto format was run and practice was canceled. Riders were given a hot lap to check the track out before their moto. The track was shortened due to safety concerns and racing was started. One of the best races of the muddy afternoon was the MX Lites “C” Modified in which Kawasaki mounted Zak Klaptosky made a last-ditch pass on the leader and fellow Kawasaki rider Kyle Thompson to take the victory. Local Suzuki rider Frank Lettieri was a double class winner on Sunday taking the victory in both the Super Mini 12-15 and MX Lites Schoolboy 14-16 class.