Maryland Indoor Short Track
45th Annual Rodney Farris Memorial Short Track Series
Round 1: Cow Palace Building at the Maryland State Fairgrounds
Story and Photos by Len Breech and Ben Breech
With a full arsenal of machines, Nick Henderson scored a win on each of them for three wins at the opener of the 45th annual Baltimore County Trail Riders Rodney Farris Memorial Short Track Series. While it is an approximation on the 45th year of this series, it is the 41st year in the Cow Palace Building on the grounds of the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.
While Henderson won three classes, he also fell victim to the dreaded “first-turn monster” in two other classes. And with lap times under seven seconds, if you fall, you aren’t going to win!
Henderson won the 250cc A/B, 125cc Mad Dog and Vintage contests on a 125cc Honda two-stroke. That machine has a tremendous history since it was new, as Georgie Price rode this for several years before passing it on to Mike Hacker, Jeremy Lucy and Henderson and several other riders. Henderson just reacquired it and dolled it up like it was when new.
Henderson grabbed the Vintage lead ahead of Cody Bauer, Rob Smith (riding a Bultaco that has raced here since the series started), Kris Keith and Ben Kitzmiller. After a few laps, Kitzmiller got by Keith for fourth, while Henderson pulled away.
Earlier, Henderson brought out the red flag in the 125cc Two-Stroke/ 150cc Four-Stroke contest by falling in the first turn and getting stuck under the machine. On the official start, Justin Haag took the lead, ahead of Todd Stith, Jared Florian and Jack Rutledge. The top four stayed the same over the eight-lap final.
Henderson led off the evening with a win in the 125cc Mad Dog Four-Stroke class. He again led off turn two, ahead of Tyler Eggleton, Joe Bromley and Zach Miller. While they stayed close, no one was close enough for a “Timonium Bump ’n’ Run” to improve their position.
The 150cc Adult contest had some of the more exciting encounters. Henderson and Todd Stith brought out the first red flag. Then Jared Florian joined them on the penalty line. Zach Miller grabbed the lead, ahead of Bryan Bemisdereer, Jedediah Haines and Alec Hoffman. Just before the final lap started, Florian and Stith collided in turn three, shortening the final by a lap.
The 250cc A/B class saw another wire-to-wire win for Henderson, this time with Phil Libhart, Haines and Evan Renshaw behind. The order stayed the same to the end.
Cory Texter won the only regular race open to Pro (and A) riders, the Open Sportsman contest. He took the lead, ahead of Mike Poe, Dan Bromley and Ryan Varnes. While they stayed very close, again there was no passing among the top four. Texter had earlier won the Dash For Cash for the fastest five Sportsman qualifiers, leading Poe and Bromley for all five laps.
While Poe finished second to Texter, he came back later and scored the victory in the 250/450cc A final, taking the lead ahead of his buddy Joey Alexander, Phil Libhart and Tyler Eggleton. The front four stayed close until the late laps, when Poe put some more space on Alexander.
Though he finished second to Henderson in the 250cc A/B contest, Phil Libhart had earlier won the Over 40 final, grabbing the lead ahead of Rich Mellinger, Jim Blair and Bryan Bemisdereer. While Mellinger stayed moderately close, Bemisdereer moved into third by the end of the second lap.
Rich Heverly scored a pair of wins in the 250cc/Open B and Hooligan finals.
After the 250cc/Open B final was restarted after three riders crashed on the back straight, Heverly jumped out to a large lead and pulled away from Noah Chambers, Cory Gilliam, Jedediah Haines and Patrick Giblin. Haines and Giblin actually passed Gilliam before halfway, while Heverly easily won.
After a slight delay for riders to change their transponders, the Hooligans were next up. Heverly led at the green, ahead of Trevor Monn, Justin Bender and T.J. Swartley, but off turn two on the fourth lap, both Bender and Swartley got under Monn, who fell later in the fourth turn.
The 65cc final was one of the closest of the evening. Brandon Ramsel took the lead off turn two, with Legend Erisman, Dylan Dancy and Hunter Kershner behind. The front three ran the entire distance nose to tail.
Cameron Schlough led Ramsel, Erisman and Jack Rutledge at the start of the 85cc final, but Ramsel and Erisman fell in turn three, making Schlough’s job on the restart much easier. He again took the lead, this time ahead of Rutledge, Dancy and Wyatt Seger, and easily won.
Cow Palace Building at the Maryland State Fairgrounds
Timonium, Maryland
Results: November 16, 2019 (Round 1)
50 CHAIN DRIVE: 1. Jaiden Neal (KTM); 2. Nick Sylvester (Hon); 3. George Phillipson (Hon); 4. Kloe Slunt (Hon); 5. Gavin Merson (Cob); 6. Sacha Agam (Cob); 7. Connor Hohman (Hon); 8. Charlie Walter (Yam).
50 SHAFT DRIVE: 1. Jaiden Neal (Yam); 2. Kloe Slunt (Hon); 3. Charlie Walter (Yam); 4. Gavin Merson (Yam); 5. Ryder Stelmack (Yam); 6. Julian Agam (Yam); 7. Sacha Agam (Hon); 8. Tim Gately III (Yam).
65 (7-11): 1. Brandon Ramsel (Kaw); 2. Legend Erisman (Kaw); 3. Dylan Dancy (KTM); 4. Hunter Kershner (KTM); 5. Nick Buono (KTM); 6. Jaiden Neal (Kaw).
85 (7-15): 1. Cameron Schlough (KTM); 2. Jack Rutledge (Hon); 3. Dylan Dancy (Suz); 4. Wyland Seger (Yam); 5. Brandon Ramsel (Hon); 6. Legend Erisman (Kaw); 7. Jonathan Coneby Jr. (KTM); 8. Vince Dilworth Jr. (Hon).
125 MAD DOD ADULT 4-STROKE: 1. Nick Henderson (Hon); 2. Tyler Eggleton (Hon); 3. Joe Bromley (Hon); 4. Zack Miller (Hon); 5. Alec Hoffman (Hon); 6. Spanky Sylvester (Hon); 7. Travis Boston (Hon); 8. Ryan Morrow Jr. (Hon).
125 2-STROKE/150 4-STROKE: 1. Justin Haag (Hon); 2. Todd Stith (Hon); 3. Jared Florian (Hon); 4. Jack Rutledge (Hon); 5. Nick Henderson (Hon); 6. David Bull (Hon); 7. Alec Hoffman (Hon); 8. Ryan Morrow Jr. (Hon).
150 YOUTH (9-15) AIR-COOLED: 1. Evan Renshaw (Son); 2. Vince Dilworth Jr. (Hon); 3. Wyland Seger (Hon); 4. Josh Bowman (Hon); 5. Hunter Kershner (Hon); 6. Ethan Lewter (Hon).
150 ADULT: 1. Zack Miller (Hon); 2. Bryan Bemisdereer (Hon); 3. Jedediah Haines (Hon); 4. Alec Hoffman (Hon); 5. Nick Henderson (Hon); 6. Spanky Sylvester (Hon); 7. Jared Florian (Hon); 8. Todd Stith (Hon).
250 A/B: 1. Nick Henderson (Hon); 2. Phil Libhart (Yam); 3. Jedediah Haines (Yam); 4. Evan Renshaw (Hus); 5. Rush Branson (Hon); 6. Skyla Townsley (Hon); 7. Samantha Resch (Hon); 8. Tim Seger (Suz).
250/OPEN B: 1. Rich Heverly (KTM); 2. Noah Chambers (Hon); 3. Jedediah Haines (Yam); 4. Patrick Giblin (Hon); 5. Cory Gilliam (Yam); 6. Jamie Richards (Yam); 7. T.J. Swartley (Hon); 8. Ben Kitzmiller (Yam).
450 A/B (NO PROS): 1. Mike Poe (Hon); 2. Joey Alexander (Hon); 3. Phil Libhart (Yam); 4. Tyler Eggleton (Hon); 5. Justin Haag (Hon); 6. Albert Cook (Hon); 7. Isaac Blevins (Hon); 8. Noah Chambers (Hon).
OPEN SPORTSMAN: 1. Cory Texter (Hon); 2. Mike Poe (Hon); 3. Dan Bromley (KTM); 4. Ryan Varnes (Yam); 5. Jerry Alexander (Hon); 6. Steve Lerch (Suz); 7. Joey Alexander (Hon); 8. Joe Bromley (KTM).
WOMEN 150 MAX: 1. Samantha Resch (Kaw); 2. Nicole Henderson (Hon); 3. Heather Boschert (Hon); 4. Molly Carbon (Hon); 5. Connar Henderson (Hon); 6. Delaney Cadden (Hon); 7. Skyla Townsley (Hon).
40+: 1. Phil Libhart (Yam); 2. Rich Mellinger (Yam); 3. Bryan Bemisdereer (Hon); 4. Jim Blair (Hon); 5. John Henderson (KTM); 6. Kenny Dahlin (Hon); 7. David Bull (Hon); 8. Dave Heverly (KTM).
VINTAGE 125-400: 1. Nick Henderson (Hon); 2. Cody Bauer (H-D); 3. Rob Smith (Bul); 4. Ben Kitzmiller (Yam); 5. Kris Keith (Hon); 6. Patrick Duffy (Hon); 7. Robert Meincoff (Suz); 8. Vince Dilworth (Yam).
HOOLIGAN: 1. Rich Heverly (H-D); 2. Justin Bender (H-D); 3. T.J. Swartley (H-D); 4. Jason Nuss (H-D); 5. Tim Seger (H-D); 6. Darren Lepage (H-D); 7. Trevor Monn (Hon); 8. Kris Keith (H-D).