Loudon Road Race Series Finishes 2013 Season at NHMS 

Scott Greenwood claims premier class championship with win 

The final race weekend of the 2013 Loudon Road Race Series season was held October 5-6, 2013 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. With most of the class championships still up for grabs, the riders knew that a strong performance in the cooler weather, and in Sunday’s case, rain, would be critical to season’s standings.

 Middleweight Grand Prix – “Dash for Cash” event 

The Middleweight Grand Prix “Dash for Cash” event on Saturday afternoon was held under clear skies and cool temps in the mid to upper 60s. The highly anticipated final race of the season for the class had the making for a dramatic finish to the championship. After capturing victory in the September event, Scott Greenwood held an eight-point lead over defending champion Eric Wood. Wood needed to best Greenwood by at least two finishing positions, which meant he’d need the help of riders like Christian Cronin or Shane Narbonne. 

Cronin was in fine form during some of the day’s earlier races, and Narbonne returned to LRRS action after driving solo across the country from the last AMA round in Laguna Seca, Calif., and had arrived at the track on Friday evening. 

At the drop of the green flag, Greenwood and Narbonne shot from the front row in a drag race to Turn 1. Greenwood held in the inside and was able to earn the hole shot with Narbonne, Cronin, Wood and Cory Hildebrand falling in line behind him. At the end of Lap 1, Wood made his way past Cronin and Narbonne and slotted into the second position. With open track, Greenwood worked to build a gap encountering lap traffic. Cronin was able to move past Narbonne and take over the third position, but shortly afterwards clipped the inside curb exiting Turn 7 with his engine case and low-sided out of the podium position directly in front of Narbonne. 

Greenwood turned the fastest lap of the race on Lap 4 at a time of 1:11.595, and was able to stretch out to a two-second lead over Wood. As Greenwood and Wood sliced through traffic, Wood was able to close the gap to Greenwood, gaining almost a full two seconds during Lap 5 and the battle was set for the second half of the race. The two leaders ran close for laps 6 and 7 with Wood hoping for a break in traffic to be able to make a bid for the lead. However, aboard his Argo Cycles Yamaha R6, Greenwood made no mistakes and was able to pull away and build a sizable lead over the remaining laps. With the help of traffic and his consistent lap times, Greenwood held his position and earned his third victory of the season to claim the championship in the premier class of LRRS. 

Wood brought home his Ducati 848evo in second position well clear of Narbonne’s DAS Performance Suzuki GSX-R600 in third. Joel Allen (fourth), Kip Peterson (fifth) and Cory Hildebrand (sixth) enjoyed a race-long battle, while Houk Nichols, Kristofer Knopf, Timothy Barber, Michael Weyant, Ryan Hobbs and Shawn Pigott rounded out the top 12. 

Justin Pallein was able to claim victory in the Amateur Division over Keith Cotter. Walter French Jr., Christopher Fifield and Clayson Baker rounded out the top five. It was Pallein’s sixth win in the class in seven 2013 starts. On the podium, Bruce Berlinger, the voice of LRRS, was thoroughly impressed with the race action. He commented how veteran racers Greenwood and Wood never fail to put in 100 percent effort, no matter what the circumstances and how all the top expert riders push each other to be at their best. 

Asked for this thoughts on the podium, Greenwood said, “I got a good start and saw that Shane (Narbonne) and I were pretty even as we got deep into Turn 1. I made sure I did just enough to grab the lead and from that point forward, I kept my head down, focused on having a mistake-free race. 

 “Christian (Cronin) and I had a race long battle earlier in the day so I knew he was going to be a factor, Eric (Wood) is always strong and Shane is a threat anytime he is in the field. Anything can happen and tried to put in clean laps and build a lead if I could. 

“Everything was great until about Lap 5. I came upon a lot of traffic and a waving yellow flag, costing me a lot of time. From there I tried to refocus and get back into the rhythm of knocking out quick laps. My father handles the pit signals and he kept showing no gap all the way to the finish to keep me honest. 

 “The Dunlop tires were amazing as usual, and it feels great to earn the season championship in Middleweight Grand Prix. To do it with a solid win at the final event makes it that much better. It’s been a great season overall and I have to thank all the longtime sponsors who have supported my program.” 

2013 Loudon Road Racing Series Overall Championship 

 Expert: 1. Rick Doucette 1764 2. Scott Greenwood 1282 3. Shane Narbonne 1028 4. Seth Hahn 978 5. Cory Hildebrand 883 

Amateur: 1. Larry Graffam 1050 2. Rick Kaeser 992 3. Bruce Marshall 928 4. Justin Pallein 920 5. Brad Erling 818 

2013 Loudon Road Race Series Class Championships 

125 Grand Prix 

Expert – Jake Vader 

Amateur – Harlan Hildebrand 

Formula 40 

Expert – Dennis Levesque 

Amateur – Mike Clark 

Formula 40 Lights 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – Rick Kaeser 

Formula 50 Lights 

Expert – Dan Frisbie 

Amateur – Rick Kaeser 

GTL 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – John Linn 

GTO 

Expert – Cory Hildebrand 

Amateur – Roger Ealy Sr. 

GTU 

Expert – Scott Greenwood 

Amateur – Larry Graffam 

Heavyweight Superbike 

Expert – Eric Wood 

Amateur – Brad Erling 

Heavyweight Supersport 

Expert – Cory Hildebrand 

Amateur – Justin Pallein 

Lightweight Grand Prix 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – Rick Kaeser 

Lightweight Sportsman 

Expert – Shane Narbonne 

Amateur – Samuel Greenwood 

Lightweight Superbike 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – Rick Kaeser 

Lightweight Supersport 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – Bruce Marshall 

Motard 

Expert – Trevor Chiappisi 

Amateur – Samuel Greenwood 

Middleweight Grand Prix 

Expert – Scott Greenwood 

Amateur – Justin Pallein 

Middleweight Superbike 

Expert – Eric Wood 

Amateur – Walter French Jr. 

Middleweight Supersport 

Expert – Scott Greenwood 

Amateur – Justin Pallein 

P-89 Lights 

Expert – William Morey 

Amateur – John Linn 

Production Twins 

Expert – Steven Heider 

Amateur – Michael Vaughan

Super Singles 

Expert – Trevor Arvidson 

Amateur – Samuel Greenwood 

Super Twins 

Expert – Eric Wood 

Amateur – Christopher Bouchard 

Thunderbike 

Expert – Rick Doucette 

Amateur – Samuel Witham 

Ultralight Superbike 

Expert – Trevor Arvidson 

Amateur – John Linn 

Unlimited Grand Prix 

Expert – Scott James 

Amateur – Roger Ealy Sr. 

Unlimited Superbike 

Expert – Scott Greenwood 

Amateur – Brad Erling 

Unlimited Supersport 

Expert – Scott Greenwood 

Amateur – Justin Pallein