circus maximus  

Updated 12/2/2009

 2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Mark Neale, RI

2009 Champion

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Event History
1991    Tim Flanigan        54
1992    Jeff Barnum        67
1993    Barry Smith        35
1994    Mike Stanley        47
1995    Mike Pantaleano        72
1996    Bruce Monnin        64
1997    John Jacoby        72
1998    Mike Stanley        84
1999    Frank Sinigaglio       74
2000    Mike Stanley       85
2001    Steve Katz       76
2002    Steve Katz       71
2003    Tom Saal     103
2004    Scott Sirianna       87
2005    John Tighe       87
2006     Karl Henning       75
2007     Josh Githens       95
2008    Josh Githens       98
2009     Mark Neale       89
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Josh Githens       SC    08    225
  2.  Steve Katz         VA    02    144
  3.  Tom Saal           MI    04    120
  4.  Anthony Musella    VA    09    117
  5.  Scott Sirianna     NY    06     80
  6.  John Tighe         NJ    05     72
  7.  Bill Beckman       SC    03     72
  8.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    04     68
  9.  Mike Stanley       OH    00     60
 10.  Karl Henning       CT    08     56
 11.  Mark Neale         RI    09     50
 12.  Charles Goodwin    OH    00     42
 13.  Carl Walling       PA    02     38
 14.  Richard Curtin     NY    08     36
 15.  Nick Henning       CT    07     36
 16.  Bill Edwards       VA    03     34
 17.  Rebecca Hebner     CA    09     30
 18.  Joseph Burch       MD    06     30
 19.  Kathleen Lockwood  VA    08     24
 20.  Paul Bolduc        FL    07     24
 21.  Tim Dolan          NJ    02     24
 22.  Philip Livingston  DE    09     22
 23.  Chris Hancock      CA    09     20
 24.  Jed Shambeda       PA    08     18
 25.  Lane Hess          PA    07     18
 26.  Kevin Hacker       PA    05     18
 27.  Alfred Wong        IL    01     18
 28.  Mike Hazel         SC    04     18
 29.  Mark Love          MD    99     15
 30.  Gerald Lientz      VA    07     12
 31.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk  NY    07     12
 32.  Stephen Quirke     WI    05     12
 33.  Matthew Beach      MD    04     12
 34.  Brett Mingo        MD    03     12
 35.  Chris Robbins      UT    06     10
 36.  Angela Collinson   MD    05      6
 37.  David Weinstein    NY    03      6
 38.  Francis Spencer    MD    02      6
 39.  Carl Sykes         SC    01      6
 40.  Stephanie Welch    MA    09      5
 41.  Jim Munson         UT    06      5
 42.  Mike Fisher        PA    99      5

2009 Laurelists                                                  Repeating Laurelists 

Rebecca Hebner, CA
2nd

Chris Hancock, CA
3rd

Tony Musella, VA
4th

Philip Livingston, DE
5th

Stephanie Welch, MA
6th


Past Winners

Barry Smith, NY
1993

Mike Stanley, OH
1994, 1998, 2000

Bruce Monnin, OH
1996

John Jacoby, VA
1997

Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
1999

Steve Katz, VA
2001-2002

Tom Saal, MI
2003

Scott Siriana, NY
2004

John Tighe, NJ
2005

Karl Henning, CT
2006

Josh Githens, SC
2007-2008

Mark Neale, RI
2009
     

Rolinda Collinson, Rebecca Hebner and Tom Saal enjoy the mayhem.

Ex champ Barry Smith running with the newbies in an early heat.

Is this a race or the Hittites attacking Babylon?

Everyone for giving Don a raise, raise your hands.

blood amongst the kisses

A sweet aspect of John Jacoby's Circus Maximus event is that he rewards the first driver into each turn with a Hershey's Kiss. The candies replace the dolphins which were upturned in the Roman Colosseum to record the number of laps run.

No less than nine former champs were in attendance vying for another shot at glory but none would repeat. The Final started with two light, one medium and seven heavy chariots. On Turn 2, the light yellow car driven by Mark Neale took four hits to its right wheel. On Turn 3, it sustained another pair of damage hits to its left. Yellow started lashing his horses to get away from the pack of rabid heavies nipping at his (w)heels. On the second curve he was jostled but managed to pull far enough away that the other chariots could not catch him as long as he maintained his maximum speed of 21 and rolled for wheel damage.

On Turn 8, the other light flipped while the yellow right wheel lost another spoke. With at least nine more turns to go, everyone agreed that yellow would never see the finish line alive and the slaughter of the heavies began in earnest behind him. Horses and wheels were attacked with abandon as the pack turned on itself in its quest for blood. On Turn 12, a sixth spoke came off the right wheel of yellow. On Turn 13, yellow "encouraged" his horses a bit too much and went to 0 endurance as it entered the last turn. The crowd held its breath in anticipation of the body surfing sure to come. However, only a 7th spoke came out of the right wheel and a third from the left. The wheelwright was heard to loudly proclaim above the crowd to one and all his brand on the workmanship in those wheels. On Turn 17 the yellow chariot straddled the finish line and proudly wrote the manly speed of 17 to the cheers of the crowd, only to finally see his right wheel give way on a roll of 6 as he surfed to victory - a battered but proud winner.

Only one of last year's laurellists returned to the great circus this year with Phil Livingston faring no better than last year, again finishing fifth. Tony Musella was the only former laurelist to add to his totals, finishing fourth. The other four took home Circus laurels for the first time. Rumor has it that next year, there will be no Demolition Derby but John may have a special obstacle course constructed for those hardy souls looking for a challenge with a stream, bridge, and numerous obstacles to spice up the action.

Another good crowd at the circus tonite. Standing Room Only in the Colosseum. Yep, great night for a horse barbecue after the race. Burgers half price tonight.

GM John Jacoby (center) watches as ex-champ John Tighe moves with a pair of other ex-champs, Mike Stanley and Tom Saal, waiting in the wings.
 GM     John M. Jacoby [11th year] 102 Deerwood Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22911
   NA 434-973-3065

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