Bartlett wins at Thunder Bowl

TT motorcycles and quads returned to Thunder Bowl Speedway in Mound House Saturday night for their second race of the season at the track.

There were 98 entries, counting riders who ran more than one category.

Kids on 80 and 90cc quads kicked off the action with Ben Bartlett of Fernley taking the win in the main after finishing second to Chris Wentz of Susanville, Calif., in the heat race. Wentz captured second in the main, followed by Tyler Wentz, Fallon's Blaine Plummer and Hope Carmichael of Reno.

Younger kids on 50cc quads and bikes were up next, with Cole Plummer of Fallon taking both the heat and the main. Tyler Pfeifer of Reno ran second in both events, followed by Dalton Laney and Cole Carmichael of Reno.

James Estes, Jr. of Carson City dominated both the heat and the main with wire to wire wins in the 80cc Youth category. Tyler Pfeifer was second in both races. Tyler Carnahan of Reno was third in the main, followed by Minden's Ricky Ziemer and Erin Hardy of Stateline.

Edward Bartlett, Jr. of Fernley took both heat and main convincingly in the Air-cooled Quad class, taking the checker ahead of Fallon's Peter Murphy, Jeremy Jacobs of Reno, and Daryl Grover of Fernley.

Reno's Dave Keil bided his time in the 100-150cc Expert division and grabbed the lead from Rick Ziemer of Minden to win both the heat and the main. Ziemer took second in both races, with Reno's Randy Brunelli and Mitch Gallagher finishing third and fourth respectively in the heat and main.

So many Open Quad Novice division runners showed up that they were split into two separate races. Morgan Ray of Sparks won both heat and main. Minden rider Ruben Garza chased Ray home in the main followed by Susanville's Aaron Wentz, Patrick Thomas of Sparks and Mark Claus of Dayton. Claus finished second in the heat, followed by Wentz, Reno's Brian Starbuck, and Roger Curha of Fernley. Dean Oberhansli of Hawthorne made a shambles of the second Open Quad Novice group, opening huge leads to take both main and heat race victories. Aaron Fulton of Sparks rode to a comfortable second in both races, with Dale DiPaula of Crystal Bay taking third in the main followed by Gardnerville's Ryan Stoffer and Mike Smith of Carson.

Reno Rider Russ Pereira won both main and heat in the 250-45-cc Amateur class. Bill Lambert of Winnemucca took second in the main, followed by Reno's James Estes, with Reno riders Joe Pecorilla in fourth and Adam Thissen fifth. Estes was second in the heat, ahead of Pecorilla, Lambert, and Thissen.

Allen Sine from British Columbia won both ends of the Open Expert Bike race. Rich Holland of Reno took second in both heat and main, with Carson City's Kurt Fritz third.

The Open Quad Expert heat race was red-flagged on lap two when Scott Gilgovan performed some unplanned aerobatics coming off the jump into the infield on his quad. Gilgovan was transported to Carson-Tahoe Hospital with a possible broken collarbone, but was alert and talking to the track EMTs shortly after the incident.

When the race resumed, Louis Lazenby of Fallon showed his heels to the rest of the field, coming back to repeat the performance in the main. Terry McTimmonds of Minden took second in both races, with Shawn Carmichael of Reno finishing third in the main ahead of Fallon's Randy Grunwell and Kyle Martin from Dallas, Texas.

The Over 35 Veteran class was very competitive. Randy Brunelli took the win in the main with a last-lap pass, as Allen Sine edged Dave Keil for second. Russ Pereira was fourth and Mitch Gallagher fifth. Sine won the heat race with Brunelli second and Bill Lambert third.

Joel Hodes of Schurz won the Over 25 Quad main, with Fallon's Russell Adkins second, Dale DiPaula third and Brian Starbuck fourth. Adkins beat Hodes to the flag for the heat race win.

Mitch Gallagher of Reno captured both heat and main victories in the Vintage Motorcycle class. Allen Sine was second in the main, followed by Tim Rubsam of Carson City, who overcame two spills to finish third. Ken Johnson of Gardnerville was fourth and Sparks Rider Lane Allen fifth. Rubsam took second in the heat race with Sine third.

Mike Smith took the main in the 4-Stroke Quad category ahead of Ryan Stoffer, Dale DiPaula, Morgan Ray, and Aaron Fulton. Fulton won the heat race with Ray second and Smith third.

Only two Open Pro Bike riders contested the class, with Rich Holland beating Frank Pfiefer to the flag in the heat and Pfeifer returning the favor in the main. Both riders are from Reno.

The final event of the evening, Open Quad Pro, was a wire to wire win for Shawn Carmichael. Louis Lazenby survived a race-long tussle with Terry McTimmonds and Mike Cates of Battle Mountain to finish second. McTimmonds was third and Cates fourth, with Jason La Puint of Sparks rounding out the top five. Lazenby won the heat with Carmichael second and McTimmonds third.

Three more TT Motorcycle/Quad races are planned for Thunder Bowl in September and October, with dates to be announced.