TIMONIUM, MD

Chris Klinefelter became the first rider to win two full-size bike classes in the 34th annual Rodney Farris Memorial Short Track Series. Prior to this year, a rider was only allowed to enter one full-size class and one of the Adult Mini classes. Due to declining numbers, this year the Baltimore County Trail Riders and Cockeysville Optimist Club decided to let riders enter up to three classes, like regular events. They also added an Open B class for riders to get the hang of this small concrete oval before being thrown to the wolves in the regular 450 class. They also added a Vintage class, primarily for the Bultacos in the back of the garage. One thing that stayed the same was time trials for starting spots in the 125, 250, 450 and Pro classes.

In the 250 contest, Klinefelter grabbed the lead, ahead of Dalton Winkler, Rich Mellinger and Joey Alexander. The top five stayed the same, with Klinefelter gradually putting some distance on Winkler.

Repeating the start of the previous night's clash, Chris Klinefelter (99S, above) took the lead in the 450 final from Dillon Cava (86A), with Winkler, Tom Majeski and Travis Diem behind. The others spread out while Cava stayed close behind Klinefelter, waiting for a mistake that never came.

While most of the finals went nonstop, with an occasional unsuccessful bump-and-run littering the track, the final race of the evening, the 450 Pro contest, took three starts to get going. Jason Isennock (34, above) and Jake Johnson traded the lead off turn two, only to be greeted by a red flag. And each time, Raun Wood and Cory Texter were the guilty parties, although there were others involved the second time. The third time was the charm, this time with Isennock just in front of Johnson, Mike Poe, John Long and Paul Allison. For 15 quick laps, the front three staged a very close but clean battle for position, but the order stayed the same.

The Vintage final was a case of déjà vu, as frequent 360/400 winner Rob Smith (69, above) put his highly "indoor-refined" Bultaco in front of Mark Burkholder and Kris Weiss. Smith pulled out to a half-lap margin by the end, while Matt Langrehr got by Weiss on the fourth lap for third. Afterward, Smith said he wanted to dedicate his wins (he was one of several to win their class on both nights) to his longtime buddy, Big John Davis, who died recently, and Larry Weiss.

Dalton Gauthier scored a pair of wins, easily outdistancing Colin Cunningham and Chris Thomas to win the 65cc clash by half a lap. He then scored a hard-fought 85cc win. Colton Smith led previous winner Joey Schmidt and Brandon Price, but Price and Schmidt collided on the second lap. Schmidt got away before the red, and he led the restart, with Gauthier, Smith and Ryan Dragunas following. Gauthier took the lead off turn four on the sixth lap and held on for the win.

After not riding for more than 20 years, Jerry Alexander bought a 50 during the week, almost won the Adult 50 contest on Friday, and on Saturday took the lead from Mike Cortese Jr., Jonathan Jordan and Joe Gathercole. Jordan took second on the fourth lap, while Alexander almost cruised to the win - almost. He stalled in turn two on the final lap and couldn't get his bike restarted, giving the win to Jordan.

Jake Shoemaker put District 7 president Wayne Sody's "Honda 1" in front of Joe Dragunas, Brian Phillips and Matt Weidman and again won the Adult 100 class. Megan Bell used the same machine to claim the Women's victory.

Matt Trout topped the 125 class, over Colton Smith and John Henderson, while Smith easily won the Youth 100 class, over Ryan Dragunas and Ryan Varnes.

The Youth 50 winners were Tucker Hake in the Chain division, Tim Colonell repeating in the Shaft division, and Ramzee Hawk topping the Stock (7-8) group.

The scheduled third and final event on December 19 was canceled due to the heavy snowstorm that hit the I-95 corridor late Friday night.

Results

50 SHAFT: 1. Tim Colonell (Yamaha); 2. Nicholas Crone (Yamaha); 3. Alex Thomas (Yamaha); 4. Tyree Moore (Yamaha); 5. Payton Moore (Yamaha).

50 CHAIN: 1. Tucker Hake (Honda); 2. Jacob Gast (KTM); 3. Doug Cook (Cob); 4. Trevor Williams (Honda); 5. Ethan Stroh (Cob).

50 STK (7-8): 1. Ramzee Hawk (KTM).

50 ADULT: 1. Jonathan Jordan (Honda); 2. Mike Cortese Jr. (Honda); 3. Cory Texter (Honda); 4. Joe Gathercole (Honda); 5. Jeff McManus Jr. (Yamaha).

65: 1. Dalton Gauthier (KTM); 2. Colin Cunningham (KTM); 3. Chris Thomas (Suzuki); 4. Chase Smith (Kawasaki); 5. Georgie Price V (Kawasaki).

85 (7-15): 1. Dalton Gauthier (KTM); 2. Joey Schmidt (Honda); 3. Ryan Dragunas (Kawasaki); 4. Colton Smith (Kawasaki); 5. Cameron Smith (Kawasaki).

100 YTH: 1. Colton Smith (Suzuki); 2. Ryan Dragunas (Kawasaki); 3. Ryan Varnes (Suzuki); 4. Jeff Standiford (Honda); 5. Cody Bauer (Honda).

100 ADULT: 1. Jake Shoemaker (Honda); 2. Joe Dragunas (Kawasaki); 3. Brian Phillips Jr. (Honda); 4. Samantha Bergman (Suzuki); 5. Matt Langrehr (Honda).

125: 1. Matt Trout (Yamaha); 2. Colton Smith (Kawasaki); 3. John Henderson (Honda); 4. Joe Dragunas (Kawasaki); 5. Albert Cook (Suzuki).

250: 1. Chris Klinefelter (Honda); 2. Dalton Winkler (Yamaha); 3. Rich Mellinger (Yamaha); 4. Joey Alexander (Honda); 5. Roy Miller (Suzuki).

450: 1. Chris Klinefelter (Honda); 2. Dillon Cava (Honda); 3. Dalton Winkler (Yamaha); 4. Tom Majeski (Yamaha); 5. Roy Miller (Suzuki).

OPEN B: 1. Matt Langrehr (Honda); 2. Robert McFadden (Yamaha); 3. Eric Hackman (Suzuki); 4. Jason Cunningham (Honda); 5. Mike Cortese Jr. (Honda).

OPEN PRO: 1. Jason Isennock (Suzuki); 2. Jake Johnson (Honda); 3. Mike Poe (Honda); 4. Paul Allison (Yamaha); 5. John Long (Yamaha).

WMN: 1. Megan Bell (Honda); 2. Kristina Mester (Honda); 3. Samantha Resch (Yamaha); 4. Amanda Hardy (Yamaha); 5. Sarah Sexton (Suzuki).

VINT: 1. Rob Smith (Bultaco); 2. Mark Burkholder (Bultaco); 3. Raymond Jenkins (Bultaco); 4. Kris Weiss (Honda); 5. Matt Langrehr (Bultaco).