Rain puts damper on 100th Loudon Classic

LOUDON — There was no checkered-flag finish at the 100th Loudon Classic this weekend thanks to wet weather and over-eager riders chasing a $55,000 first-place prize. What was intended to be a promising return for professional motorcycle racing to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway during Laconia Motorcycle Week after a 20-year hiatus proved to be a slow, wet mess of broken bikes, ambulance rides and red flags that ultimately ended in unceremonious confusion.

New England Motorcycle Road Racing, the competition’s operator, managed to collect a $250,000 purse to distribute to riders from an anonymous benefactor.

With that influx of cash came a faint hope among fans and riders that professional racing could once again be a regular event at NHMS. 

“I hope so,” said 10-time Loudon Classic winner Shane Narbonne. “But at the same time, I wish it wasn’t raining, because it would be a better show.”

There was a constant drizzle at the speedway Saturday, putting a damper not only on the track but the turnout, as well. Few fans braved the conditions, leading to near-naked bleachers and increasingly treacherous pavement.

The day prior, Narbonne placed first in the qualifiers with a lap time of 1:10.673. Such speeds were not to be achieved in the Saturday’s rain.

“As it keeps raining, the track gets worse because you get puddles, and the next lap you go, you don’t know if the puddle got bigger or if there’s a new puddle forming,” Narbonne explained. “As it rains harder, you get a lot more streams coming across so it’s very challenging compared to a dry race.”

Veteran racer Paul Duval qualified with a lap time of 1:13.7, despite suffering a broken finger and a myriad of electrical issues during qualification day.

“It’s amazing,” Duval said of the Classic’s pro-level return. “The field is bigger than even the fields back in the day, when the crowds were coming here 15 to 20 years ago because the purse is so big.”

“It’s really good they put up the money to bring it back,” said former racer Timmy O’Connor. “We would like to really be able to take it forward another step, but the weather this weekend might be a damper.”

Whether it was prophecy or his 38 years of experience, O’Connor’s words were more than true. Not a single lap was completed successfully at the 100th Loudon Classic.

“There’s never been anything like that before,” said Duval after surviving the race. “Occasionally we’ll have a lot of red flags on a rainy day, but we couldn’t really finish a single lap. It’s pretty nuts.”

A red flag on the track indicates a wreck or another hazard has appeared. When the red flag comes up, riders must slow down and return to their pit boxes immediately. After the track is cleared and the riders are regrouped, they can start the lap over.

Initially, the race was 25 laps, or just over 26 miles long. Less than a half hour before the start time, race organizers announced the Classic would be cut to 20 laps due to the unending drizzle. Even with the cut, it took over two hours to complete the race due to constant crashes. One spectator called it the longest race she ever watched.

“It’s tricky to race in the rain. The pavement changes quickly and the traction levels go up and down,” Duval said. “The visitors, I just think they largely couldn’t manage it also while trying to win the money.”

Racers who crashed were allowed to continue as long as their bikes weren’t damaged. Five riders, Josh Hayes, Eric Wood, Tyler Waserbauer, Tyler Sweeney and Jacob Crossman, suffered accidents and failed to finish the race. First place went to Tyler Scott of Pennsylvania. Second place was awarded to Blake Davis, and third to PJ Jacobsen, who managed to get back in the saddle after crashing his bike.

Duval, who finished in 18th place out of the 32 pros, called the race “exhausting.” 

“I really wanted the race to be over. I was losing confidence with every session because I saw all the crashes,” Duval said. “Some of them right in front of me. Some of them, I almost hit the riders that were down or hit a bike that was down, and I couldn’t see really well because my visor was fogging. With each crash I just lost a little confidence and I had been riding pretty darn slow for my own pace just so I could stay out of trouble.”

During the race, The Sun witnessed at least two ambulances on the track. The lap count remained unclear throughout the race due to the constant restarts and use of warm-up laps before the race was able to continue.

Somewhere during the penultimate lap came another red flag, forcing riders back to the pit. Competitors could be seen visibly shaking their heads in disappointment as they returned to their starting positions. Afterward, it appeared Scott was unceremoniously declared the winner. Riders began to return to their garages, only to be quickly called back to the pit minutes later when organizers changed their mind, declaring that there would be another warm-up lap followed by a final lap to determine the winner.

The announcement sparked an explosion of activity. Riders and their crews sprinted back and forth from the garages before rallying back to their positions. One rider, No. 368, failed to get into position in time and was unable to participate in the final lap, to the disappointment of his crew.

Less than three minutes after the restart, the race was once again ended. No winner was immediately announced.

Perhaps 20 minutes later, the winners were announced to a small, soaked crowd of media and spectators on the podium.

NEMRR Executive Director John Grush addressed the crowd.

“So, I have the ability to do whatever I want here, and we tried and tried to end this race with a checkered flag, and we were not able to do that,” Grush said. “There’s definitely a lot of feelings going around for everybody on this. Believe me, I wanted to see this thing end the way it was. A lot of people thinking we had two red flags happen, actually three right at the end, but a lap was never completed, so they always have to revert back to the very first red flag that caused the stoppage of the race, and because of that, that’s why the results ended up the way they are.”

There has not been a professional-level motorcycle race at NHMS since 2003. Part of that hiatus, some fans said, can be attributed to the track’s design as a NASCAR venue, and the ever-increasing speed of professional bikes. Safety concerns eventually led to the American Motorcyclist Association pulling pro races from the speedway. 

“It’s a NASCAR track with the oval, where we used to go into turn one, the pro guys go way faster than the club guys,” O’Connor explained. “It really just got too dangerous for the pros. They just outgrew the track.”

O’Connor cited the 1998 season-ending crash of Honda’s pro racer Miguel Duhamel at the speedway as an example.

“If you look at it, the way they have a pit wall to protect the pits, between there and that outside wall, there’s just not enough room for somebody going 150 miles an hour into there,” O’Connor said. “You’ll hit the ground and slide into it. Also remember, bikes are much more powerful and faster than bikes from 20 years ago.”