From a press release issued by LRRS:

LRRS Season Capper

The Loudon Road Racing Series completed a terrific 2003 season this past weekend. While most class Championships were well in hand, the GP Singles title was still in doubt. Team Incomplete’s Todd Puckett was just four points back of Eric Yoo, both on Honda RS125s. Meanwhile Puckett’s teammate, Gregor Halenda, showed up on a Yamaha 426 Single in a Tigcraft chassis. In its second outing, the thumper showed remarkable speed and was looking to be a spoiler. Also, reigning #1 plate holder, Dale Greenwood Jr., was making his first appearance after recovering from a bad crash in July. Greenwood could have a deciding impact on the points. 28 bikes took the grid.

Halenda took the holeshot on his thumper, followed by Yoo and Puckett. After two laps, Halenda held a half second advantage over Yoo with Puckett and Greenwood another second back. At the halfway, the lead pack of four tightened up. In a great braking move, Puckett went to the front, followed by Halenda, Yoo and Greenwood. Puckett pulled a gap with Yoo desperate to get past Halenda. On the last lap, Yoo pushed past Halenda, and they both ran down Puckett. Halenda crashed spectacularly on the last turn trying to reclaim second. At the stripe, it was Puckett over Yoo by a bikelength, with Greenwood rounding out the podium. Eric Yoo claimed the 2003 GP Singles title by two points.

Eric Wood, fresh from his strong performance at the Barber AMA round, rolled up to the Unlimited Superbike grid, aboard his Dunlop-mounted Barden Bearings/Woodcraft GSX-R750 Superstock machine. Wood got a tremendous start and led the first lap by two seconds. Meanwhile, a dogfight took shape for second between Bob Blanchette, Mike Niksa, Matt Silva, Dave Ruocco and Jason Carter (all on GSX-R750s). While Wood checked out, the next four swapped positions lap after lap. Riding extremely well, Niksa pushed through the pack on his Parkway Cycles/Pirelli mounted GSX-R and began to put down fast lap times. The remaining four fought tooth-and-tong for the last podium spot. At the flag it was Wood, Niksa, and Blanchette. Silva claimed the title with a fourth.

The Middlweight GP Championship had already been decided, so the race was for the $1500 ‘Dash for Cash’ purse sponsored by Motorace, Goldfren, Dunbar Eurosports, GMD Computrack, New England Performance, VP Fuels and Street & Comp. Scott Greenwood sat on the pole aboard his Argo Cycles/Bettencourt’s Dunlop-shod GSX-R600. Teammate Jeff Wood surprised everybody by taking the grid aboard his Honda Super Motard. That was a break for everybody else.

Gus Holcomb took the holeshot aboard his Dunlop-equipped Honda, but the race was red-flagged when two riders went down in turn one. Scott Greenwood took the holeshot on the restart and held a small gap over the field at the end of lap one. Carlo Gagliardo followed on his Pirelli-mounted R6 with Holcomb and John Scheehser on his Michelin-shod Baccarossa CBR600RR in hot pursuit. Greenwood pulled half-a-second per lap on Gagliardo with Holcomb on his pipe pulling another half second on the pack. Meanwhile, Steve Giaccomaro was coming from the back on another fast Pirelli-mounted R6. On lap six, Holcomb pushed past Gagliardo into second, while Giaccomaro cleared the pack into fourth. Holcomb and Gagliardo put on a great battle until lap nine when Gagliardo repassed Holcomb and pulled a gap in traffic. Meanwhile Giaccomaro was closing fast. At the flag, it was Greenwood over Gagliardo, Holcomb, and Giaccomaro.

On the podium, Greenwood revealed that he had destroyed his record-setting Yamaha R6 during qualifying at the Summit Point round of Formula USA. Meanwhile, teammate Jeff Wood’s R6 was ‘torn down to the crank’ after the Barber AMA event. On the season, Greenwood remarked; “It’s not over yet. Jeff Wood and I are in a three-way battle with Matt Wait for the Formula USA National Championship. We’ll be going down to Daytona, winner take all…” He went on to pay special thanks to the cornercrews for their remarkable work in what turned out to be a very challenging season for them.

LRRS was strong in 2003. The track was the best ever, and the Penguin Road Racing School produced a number of talented new riders who are making their mark. Contingency money was up significantly in 2003 with Honda and Yamaha stepping up big in LRRS to join Suzuki. Kawasaki and Aprilia also paid. Dunlop, Pirelli and Michelin offered full trackside service and paid for performance with breadth and depth, yielding each a strong presence on the podium throughout the season. Several new dealers surfaced in 2003 as well, in support of many LRRS riders. 2004 is looking even better.

Complete results for the entire season are posted on www.lrrsracing.com