March 24-25 2007, Lexington, Ky.
It was simply the best BlueGrass Open ever, with temperature in the low 70's, an incredible grass surface, wonderful folks who took care of lunches and the Saturday night party (Bless you Sandy) and the best crew we have ever had setting up equipment. Thank you to the many, many folks who had a hand in providing so much fun to so many people. A special thanks also to Peter Hern who accomplished miracles in helping to train referees before and during the competition. It was the best refereed competition that USMGA has ever hosted with folks noticing the fine points of the rules.
Thank you to the Andersons and the Randalls who ran the prop set-up, to Cathy Alger who did all the registrations in record time due to a wonderful job of pre-organization, thanks to Erin Benson who did a sensational job of announcing, to Betts Montgomery and Sandy Clevenger who got lunches ready and helped with gear sales and just about everything else. Thanks to the Harmons for doing starter equipment for two days (which could qualify for hazard pay if USMGA wasn't an all-volunteer organization.) Thanks to everyone who did the thankless job of being an assistant referee, especially Hans Kallenberger our chief referee. Thank you to Pat, Hannah Rose, Tammy and Kristin, for spending an entire day slaving and painting the equipment, as well as Dave who painted the most beautiful poles we have ever used. Thank you to Sharon Leonard and Carol Jones, who practically fried in the bright sunlight as they did the difficult job of scoring. (The hat covers were a tremendous help, thanks Erin, as were the hat bands) Thanks to the Johnsons,the Hulberts, the Cruikshanks and the Couches for their help at so many jobs.
And our deepest gratitude to all the riders, Canadian, English and U.S. who came, some from long distances, to make the seventh BlueGrass Open the best and most exciting ever. In the Master's Division, Quicksilver stood with 119 points, the Dragons with 114 and Middlesex with 110 after three ground sessions. In the A Final it was a fight between Middlesex, the Dragons and QuickSilver throughout the final. But in the end the Dragons held off the English visitors for the win, leaving Quicksilver in third. Fourth and Fifth were tightly contested by the Flower Power team and the Canadian Spartans. The Flower Power team, a scramble team that met for the first time this weekend, ended up with Fourth. In the B Final, Southern Explosion pulled ahead with the win, while second place was a fight between the two tye-dye teams Flying Colors and Runaway Circus. Flying Colors took second with an exciting tie breaker. The tigers were fourth.
In the 4-Ever Young Final, the international 4-ever team, Smokin Guns, took the win. The team consisted of two English riders, two Canadian riders and an American rider. Second went to the Crash Dummies who held off the Younguns. The Novice Division was won by Chain Reaction. The Real Thing took second. Third went the Green Games Girls and fourth went to the Need For Speed team. The youngest team was the Grazers, who made their first apperance in the novice division.
To see some pictures from the weekend click here.
1st Quick Silver (49 pts.): (D. Clevenger, C. Greiling, S. Greiling, M. Lange, L. Montgomery)
2nd The Spartans (36 pts.): (K. Abbey, W. Brennan, J. Cruikshanks, J. Durward, S. MacDonald)
3rd Middlesex (34 pts.): (R. Bevis, E. Dobby, B. Thornton)
4th Runaway Circus (16 pts.): (L. Griffin, L. Griffin, M. Griffin, I. Johnson, A. Zietlin)
5th The Tigers (14 pts.): (J. Bray, L. Bray, S. Cole, S. Coulson, L. Crowl)
1st The Canadian Dragons (47 pts.): (B. Couch, C. Couch, M. Cruikshanks, S. Cruikshanks, K. Fischer)
2nd Flower Power (38 pts.): (A. Alger, J. Emblim, D. Phillips, K. Smith, A. Williams)
3rd Southern Explosion (31 pts.): (I. Cantin, L. Harmon-Ruppe, C. Hutchins, S. Melvin, D. Sargent)
4th Flying Colors (22 pts.): (L. Alger, K. Anderson, G. Briand, J. Leonard, H. Neuhauser)
1st Middlesex (42 pts.): (R. Bevis, E. Dobby, B. Thornton)
2nd Quicksilver (39 pts) : (D. Clevenger, C. Greiling, S. Greiling, M. Lange, L. Montgomery)
3rd Flower Power (33 pts.): (A. Alger, J. Emblim, D. Phillips, K. Smith, A. Williams)
4th Flying Colors (23 pts.): (L. Alger, K. Anderson, G. Briand, J. Leonard, H. Neuhauser)
5th The Tigers (9 pts.): (J. Bray, L. Bray, S. Cole, S. Coulson, L. Crowl)
1st The Spartans (40 pts.): (K. Abbey, W. Brennan, J. Cruikshanks, J. Durward, S. MacDonald)
2nd The Canadian Dragons (37 pts.): (B. Couch, C. Couch, M. Cruikshanks, S. Cruikshanks, K. Fischer)
3rd Southern Explosion (31 pts.): (I. Cantin, L. Harmon-Ruppe, C. Hutchins, S. Melvin, D. Sargent)
4th Runaway Circus (27 pts.): (L. Griffin, L. Griffin, M. Griffin, I. Johnson, A. Zietlin)
1st Middlesex (34 pts.): (R. Bevis, E. Dobby, B. Thornton)
2nd Quicksilver (31 pts) : (D. Clevenger, C. Greiling, S. Greiling, M. Lange, L. Montgomery)
3rd Flower Power (20 pts.): (A. Alger, J. Emblim, D. Phillips, K. Smith, A. Williams)
4th The Tigers (19 pts.): (J. Bray, L. Bray, S. Cole, S. Coulson, L. Crowl)
5th Flying Colors (15 pts.): (L. Alger, K. Anderson, G. Briand, J. Leonard, H. Neuhauser)
1st The Canadian Dragons (30 pts.): (B. Couch, C. Couch, M. Cruikshanks, S. Cruikshanks, K. Fischer)
2nd The Spartans (30 pts.): (K. Abbey, W. Brennan, J. Cruikshanks, J. Durward, S. MacDonald)
3rd Southern Explosion (28 pts.): (I. Cantin, L. Harmon-Ruppe, C. Hutchins, S. Melvin, D. Sargent)
4th Runaway Circus (22 pts.): (L. Griffin, L. Griffin, M. Griffin, I. Johnson, A. Zietlin)
1st Southern Explosion (33 pts.): (I. Cantin, L. Harmon-Ruppe, C. Hutchins, S. Melvin, D. Sargent)
2nd Flying Colors (31 pts.): (L. Alger, K. Anderson, G. Briand, J. Leonard, H. Neuhauser)
3rd Runaway Circus (31 pts.): (L. Griffin, L. Griffin, M. Griffin, I. Johnson, A. Zietlin)
4th The Tigers (24 pts.): (J. Bray, L. Bray, S. Cole, S. Coulson, L. Crowl)
1st The Canadian Dragons (54 pts.): (B. Couch, C. Couch, M. Cruikshanks, S. Cruikshanks, K. Fischer)
2nd Middlesex (44 pts.): (R. Bevis, E. Dobby, B. Thornton)
3rd Quicksilver (40 pts) : (D. Clevenger, C. Greiling, S. Greiling, M. Lange, L. Montgomery)
4th Flower Power (31 pts.): (A. Alger, J. Emblim, D. Phillips, K. Smith, A. Williams)
5th The Spartans (25 pts.): (K. Abbey, W. Brennan, J. Cruikshanks, J. Durward, S. MacDonald)
1st The Smokin Guns (24 pts.): (M. Cruikshanks, C .Couch, T. Dobby, L. Phillips, S. Williams)
2nd Crash Dummies (18 pts.): (T. Anderson, M. Johnson, D. Leonard, P. Neuhauser, S. Walter)
3rd Young Un's (16 pts.): (A. Benson, C. Benson, Y. Moe, B. Sanderson, J. Voss)
1st Crash Dummies (22 pts.): (T. Anderson, M. Johnson, D. Leonard, P. Neuhauser, S. Walter)
2nd Young Un's (19 pts.): (A. Benson, C. Benson, Y. Moe, B. Sanderson, J. Voss)
3rd The Smokin Guns (18 pts.): (M. Cruikshanks, C .Couch, T. Dobby, L. Phillips, S. Williams)
1st The Smokin Guns (21 pts.): (M. Cruikshanks, C .Couch, T. Dobby, L. Phillips, S. Williams))
2nd Crash Dummies (14 pts.): (T. Anderson, M. Johnson, D. Leonard, P. Neuhauser, S. Walter)
3rd Young Un's (13 pts.): (A. Benson, C. Benson, Y. Moe, B. Sanderson, J. Voss)
1st The Smokin Guns (107 pts.): (M. Cruikshanks, C .Couch, T. Dobby, L. Phillips, S. Williams)
2nd Crash Dummies (90 pts.): (T. Anderson, M. Johnson, D. Leonard, P. Neuhauser, S. Walter)
3rd Young Un's (86 pts.): (A. Benson, C. Benson, Y. Moe, B. Sanderson, J. Voss)
1st Chain Reaction (34 pts.): (J. Morrow, M. Morrow, H. Reeser, K. Reeser, O. Test)
2nd The Green Games Girls (28 pts.): (A. Benson, A. Carroll, L. Homblot, J. Miller, B. Randall)
3rd The Real Thing (23 pts.): (D. Clevenger, M. Gardiner, S. Morrow, D. Sanderson)
4th Need For Speed (24 pts.):(C. Burns, A. Jones, A. Johnson, M. Walter)
5th The Grazers (10 pts.):(M. Camp, S. Camp, J. LeMastus, S. Rowan)
1st Chain Reaction (31 pts.): (J. Morrow, M. Morrow, H. Reeser, K. Reeser, O. Test)
2nd The Real Thing (27 pts.): (D. Clevenger, M. Gardiner, S. Morrow, D. Sanderson)
3rd The Green Games Girls (20 pts.): (A. Benson, A. Carroll, L. Homblot, J. Miller, B. Randall)
4th Need For Speed (20 pts.):(C. Burns, A. Jones, A. Johnson, M. Walter)
5th The Grazers (7 pts.):(M. Camp, S. Camp, J. LeMastus, S. Rowan)
1st The Real Thing (22 pts.): (D. Clevenger, M. Gardiner, S. Morrow, D. Sanderson)
2nd Chain Reaction (21 pts.): (J. Morrow, M. Morrow, H. Reeser, K. Reeser, O. Test)
3rd The Green Games Girls (14 pts.): (A. Benson, A. Carroll, L. Homblot, J. Miller, B. Randall)
4th Need For Speed (13 pts.):(C. Burns, A. Jones, A. Johnson, M. Walter)
1st Chain Reaction (144 pts.): (J. Morrow, M. Morrow, H. Reeser, K. Reeser, O. Test)
2nd The Real Thing (132 pts.): (D. Clevenger, M. Gardiner, S. Morrow, D. Sanderson)
3rd Need For Speed (93 pts.):(C. Burns, A. Jones, A. Johnson, M. Walter)
4th The Green Games Girls (88 pts.): (A. Benson, A. Carroll, L. Homblot, J. Miller, B. Randall)