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Square Deal Riders Club
Winter Series - Round #1
story & photos by: Ryan Verrastro

ATV Racing Links
Harpursville, NY (11/27/05) - Around this time of year in the Mid Atlantic region most racers find themselves taking part in the inevitable end-of-season siesta. With almost all of the national and local series winding down to their final rounds riders think they have no choice but to retire to their neighborhood trails and get ready for the big freeze. But isn’t there more? Can’t ATVs operate in treacherous and frigid conditions such as snow and sleet? The answers are yes and yes. The problem is a lack of events held throughout the winter and the solution is the 2005/2006 Winter Series hosted by The Square Deal Riders club.

The woods was a winter wonderland with fresh snow
Located 20 minutes outside of Binghamton New York, SDR is a club established back in 1937. Rich in a heritage of racing, the facility is home to one of the oldest flat tracks in the country along with a not-too-new harescramble course. I am told by Gary Homanich, the club’s president, that their Winter Series in the longest running consecutive series in history with not missing a single year of events since the 40’s! Today the organization has a roster of 200 members that ride there regularly and enjoy clubhouse luxuries such as a kitchen and bar.

The harescramble course is about a mile long. At the start a racer is taking aim at a left turn 150 feet away. Passing turn one then directs you into a small woods section a hundred feet away. After about 100 yards of the first taste of the forest you arrive at a collection of high-speed straights that in about another 250-300 yards sends you into the last and longest piece of this tree-infested puzzle. The course was virtually rock free and very fast that proved to be a formidable test for both man and machine.

Along with running motorcycles the lineup featured 35 ATV racers spread across three classes. The morning classes were the mini quads and a 4x2/4x4 (similar to a B class). The afternoon belonged to the experts with seventeen of them in attendance.

Upon arrival the track was a winter wonderland with a coating of fresh powder provided in the days before. It didn’t take long for the icing to wear away on this cake as the morning classes dug in and exposed the true colors of the track. Those colors were different shades of clinging mud that enveloped all who passed over them. A “Clark Kent in the phone booth” type of transformation occurred to everyone behind 1st place as they exited the first woods section leaving all but one rider indistinguishable. The course would fix that quick further down the track, as everyone appeared to be rocket-mounted mud monsters after the first lap.

The kids on the other hand had a little less trouble with the water and dirt cocktails served up in the afternoon as they ran on an abbreviated track with only the first woods section and the straight-aways mentioned before. This allowed them to complete 5-6 more laps in the allotted 30-minute time frame that all the classes abided by during the day.

SDR doesn’t want riders coming off the track with frost bite later on in the colder months so they keep the races to thirty minutes instead of the usual 2hrs found in other series that run haresrambles. Good idea! Plenty of fun and thrills are served up at these races and 30 minutes is more than enough time to get your fill.

Jesse Crea leads the way!
The mini quads gave spectators great eye candy with close competition throughout their race. Jesse Crea grabbed the holeshot and led the pack through the rest of the race. Jordan Hawk owned 2nd place until he was a lap down around lap 9 when AJ Vallone secured the 2nd place finish. Michael Frederick had passed AJ for 2nd place on lap 6 but was then passed by both AJ and Dante Pultz on lap 9 and wound up in 5th overall for the day.

Next up was the Quad 4x2 class (again like a B class) with 11 racers on the line. The holeshot was taken by Mark Beadle aboard his Banshee followed by Jeremy Snow in second on his Raptor with Anthony Dirienzo in 3rd on his Banshee to make an all Yamaha 1-2-3 start. Mark was held up negotiating with the mud and allowed Jeremy to make the pass for 1st. But that didn’t last long when Mark regrouped and took back 1st place before the end of lap 1, meanwhile Jeremy experienced mechanical problems in the second woods section that forced him to call it a day before completing one lap. First place belonged to Daniel Conway after lap one when he passed Mark who got stuck in the mud. Mark retired after lap 2 leaving Daniel to lead the pack. Daniel’s pole position expired as Charles Vullo who battled the field in second place the whole race and finally moved up a spot to take 1st on lap 4 and then remained there for the rest of the day.

Dan Preston with the early lead
Finally the Experts lined up to take a shot at the checkered. Not only did this class posses the most amount of competition with seventeen riders all vying for the same goal but they also had to contend with the worst track conditions seen all day topped off with a blinding sunset. At the drop of the green it was Dan Preston that bolted off the line followed by Mitch Boughton in 2nd and Gary Chamberlain close by in third. After the first woods section you would see the same line-up continue but further down Mitch traded positions with Gary leaving Mitch in third and Gary in second. Mitch would regain 2nd during lap 3 with Dan still in the lead and Gary following close behind them. Something drastic happened on lap 4 where we saw Gary take first, Dan move to second, Seth Neumann elevate into third and Mitch retire. Those positions would stick for the rest of the race with Gary taking home the number 1 plaque, Dan receiving the second and Seth grabbing third.

As you can see plenty of action can happen in 30 minutes of racing in the mud and snow. SDR encourages riders to come and check out their cure for cabin fever. Registration is only $25 with a $5 admission fee and certain classes will receive payouts along with plaques. Every child that races in a mini class will receive a plaque to take home. This year’s opener was a blast but with 6 more events scheduled for the rest of the season it’s not too late to sign up. All events are AMA and ATVA sanctioned and the series allows you to miss 2 races to still be considered for points, so like I said it’s not too late. Check out SDR’s home page for more info and I hope to see you there!


www.squaredealriders.com
P.O. BOX 12
Port Crane, NY 13833
(607)693-2634

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