Benny O'Connor in the CMC 2009 Championship

BUCKEYE, AZ (June 15, 2009) - Benny O’Connor pilots his Carol O’Connor and Associates, Wiseco, Cycle Gear, N-Style, Joe Gibbs Motor Oil, Honda CR85R to the CMC 2009 championship after clinching 1st overall with a 1-2 finish in round 6!

But the final round was not without excitement…With a 17 point lead going into round six, Benny needed only to ride to a conservative 5th place overall to clinch the 2009 CMC Championship title. But his competitive spirit and a strong desire to achieve a personal goal of a 1-1 moto finish meant a conservative race was out of the question! Benny was quoted before moto 1 as saying “I don’t care if I break my arm; I’m going to get back up and finish the race!

Benny came out of the gate in moto 1 in 3rd place. He quickly went to work passing both the 2nd and 3rd place riders early in the first lap and never relinquished the lead, winning by more than 15 seconds at the finish.

Despite a dominating hole shot in moto two, the second moto provided much drama as a second lap crash put Benny off track and 10 plus seconds behind the pack. Charging hard into the newly added whoop section, the #303 Honda hit a cross-rut and caused the number 303 Honda to careen off-track into a trackside pit some several feet deep! True to his words, Benny quickly re-fired his Honda and charged hard, making up the several seconds lost to catch up to the hard charging 2nd and 1st place riders of Garret Zoulek and Eric Southhard.

With only one lap to go, Benny went to work looking for passing opportunities of the fast charging leaders; no easy task! A walk of the track earlier in the day revealed a newly created passing opportunity in the sand section and Benny took advantage of it, passing the #3 Yamaha of Garrett Zoulek for second place. The pass was all that was needed for the 1st overall finish for the day.

But not one to be satisfied with a second place finish, Benny continued to charge hard taunting the number 459 Yamaha of Eric Southhard, trying to pressure him into a mistake. With only the rhythm section (a series of jumps) and one last corner to go, both riders entered the rhythm section side by side, both determined to win the last moto of the season! Both riders executed the rhythm section flawlessly exiting the section with only one turn to go. Still side by side, the engines of both bikes screamed to redline with only the final corner to go.

In one of the closest finishes of the year, both riders entered the corner side by side, Eric on the outside and Benny on the inside. Exiting the corner with ever so slight an advantage was Eric and it proved too much for Benny to make up in the last 30 feet, giving a well deserved 2nd moto win and his first of the season to Eric Southard.

When asked about Benny’s determination regarding making up such a large deficit, Benny’s only comment was “Villopoto/Alessi”, referring to Villipotos amazing come from behind win at the first round of AMA Nationals at Glen Helen raceway, weeks earlier. He also stated “another 10 feet and I would have had him!

“We’re proud of him” stated Benny’s parents. “He has made tremendous advancements this season and continues to surprise us with his newfound speed week after week”. Consistency also played a major role in his accomplishment, having finished first in at least 1 moto every race of the season he competed in.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors; including: Carol O’Connor and Associates, Wiseco, Cycle Gear, N-Style graphics and Joe Gibbs Motor Oil. Thanks also to AXO and Royal Purple.

For more information, contact Ben O’Connor at (602)-481-7840 or email at tsoconnor@cox.net.

2009 Race Results as of June 8, 2009

Date                            Event                                      Class              Overall Result
Jan 1st, 2009                SpeedWorld Grand Prix          85cc Beg                      2nd
Jan 4th, 2009                CMC #1                                  85cc Beg                      1st
Jan 16th, 2009              WORCS                                  85cc C                         8th
Feb 1st, 2009               CMC #2                                  85cc Beg                      DNS   
Feb 22nd                      AMX Easy Up #3                  85cc A                         1st
March 1st                     CMC #3                                  85cc Beg                      3rd
March 8th                    AMX Easy Up #5                  85cc A                         2nd
March 29th                  CMC #4                                  85cc Beg                      2nd
May 2nd                      CMC #5                                  85cc Beg                      2nd
May 30th                     AMX Beat the Heat #1          85cc A                         2nd
June 6th                        CMC Final Round 6               85cc Beg                      1st