From the NJ Motocross Archives comes this race report all the way back to 2006. I found it when going through an old hard drive and I don’t think it was ever posted on the site. I’m not sure what publication this way for but check it out below:
Old Bridge Twp Raceway Park
Blizzard hits New Jersey
By Scott Lukaitis/ Photo by Scott Lukaitis – Lukaitisphoto.com
ENGLISHTOWN, NJ APR. 23
A Blizzard blew into Raceway Park on April 23rd for round two of the Thor/Parts Unlimited Northeast Classic series. Not the snowy kind of blizzard associated with the Northeast winters but Kawasaki rider Ryan Blizzard. Blizzard overcame the muddy track conditions to take home top honors in all three classes he entered.
Once again the weather proved to make for another dreary rainy day at Raceway Park. Each race weekend this season has been plagued with unfortunate weather conditions and after torrential rains, the night before the event Mickey Kessler and Rich Zupko spent the morning in the bulldozers clearing the top layer of muck from the track.
Expert class racing:
In the first 125 expert moto, Phil Nicoletti put his Honda out front ahead of the stacked field. He was followed early on by Casey Clark, Jay Weller, Jim McIlvaine, and National #84 Barry Carsten. Nicoletti turned up the gas and at one point in the moto held on to a 14 second lead over Clark. Clark and his mxpayday.com Honda began to reel in Nicoletti and got close at the end of the moto. But, it was too little too late as Nicoletti held on for the moto win followed by Clark and Kawasaki rider Jay Weller.
Nicoletti again grabbed the early lead in moto #2 followed closely by Carsten and Clark. While leading Nicoletti went down in a slippery and remounted about
71 slipped out in the mud and remounted in about 10th. Carsten assumed the lead with Clark in tow. Within a couple of laps, Nicoletti had already worked his way up to 5th when he went down again in another corner. He remounted quickly but the damage was already done, there was no way he could catch the leaders. Carsten held on for the moto victory followed by Clark in second and Nicoletti in third. Clark’s consistent 2-2 finishes gave him the overall followed by Nicoletti and his 1-3 moto scores. Carsten rounded out the podium with 4-1 motos.
Barry Carsten put his Bromley’s/MSR sponsored RMZ450 out front of the first 250 Expert moto followed by Clark and Kawasaki rider Brian Mulcahy. Thor sponsored Phil Nicoletti was working his way through the pack after a bad start when the rains came. Nicoletti was on the gas eventually working his way into the top spot. Then disaster struck as the big Honda stopped running forcing Nicoletti to hand the lead back to Carsten. In a wild final lap, Clark was able to get the victory followed by Mulcahy, Kevin Brodsky, and Carsten. In the second moto, Clark grabbed the all-important holeshot with Mulcahy and the rest of the pack in tow. Halfway through the moto, it was Clark followed by PDL teammate Kevin Brodsky, jay Weller and Carsten. First Weller got by Brodsky then it was Carsten’s turn. So going into the final lap it was Clark followed by Weller and Carsten. Clark held on for the victory and 1-1 overall. Carsten used a last-lap last straight pass on Weller to claim second for the moto and overall. Weller rounded out the moto in third. Kevin Brodsky used 3-5 motos to take third overall for the afternoon.
Amateur class racing:
In the first 125 Amateur moto MTF/My Holly Suzuki Kawasaki Kyle Whritenour grabbed the holeshot ahead of Kawasaki riders Ryan Blizzard and Addison Kramer. The Kawasaki trio was joined by KPS rider Dakota Kessler on yet another Kawasaki. Kessler would eventually work his way past Kramer into third and that’s how the moto would end with Whritenour in first, Blizzard in second and Kessler in third. The second moto saw Kessler and Michael Dawson get off the line side by side with Kessler staying lower over the staircase to take the early lead. Kessler would hold on to the early lead followed by Blizzard, Whritenour and Dragon Optical/Monmouth Cycles rider Pete Devlin.
When Kessler went down at the bottom of the Pension Rd. Plunge Blizzard took the lead that he would not give up. Blizzard won the moto and overall followed by Whritenour in second and Yamaha mounted Chase Burdette in third for both the moto and overall.
In 250 Amateur class racing, it was again a Kawasaki benefit with Whritenour taking the early lead followed by Blizzard and Honda rider Jason Hess. The positions would change only slightly as Blizzard got by Whritenour and went on for the moto victory. Whritenour was second and Hess rounded out the top three. The second moto saw Mt Holly Suzuki rider Daniel Fodor grab the holeshot followed closely by the top three from moto one. All three riders would eventually get by Fodor with Blizzard again assuming the lead. On the white flag lap while running in third Hess went down handing the third spot to Dragon Optical/MSR sponsored Mike Tippin. Blizzard won the moto and another overall for the day followed by Whritenour in second and Tippin in third. That is how they would finish overall as well.
