The weekend of April 28 and 29 marked the beginning of the 2018 Loudon Road Race Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with 180 riders emerging from their winter hibernation to grip their throttles, rip around the road course and drag their knees on the track during 26 races.

"It's April again, it's time to do it for the 29th season! I absolutely enjoy it. It's fun once we get out there to ride," said Eric Wood after winning the Formula 40 Unlimited on the number five Kawasaki ZX10R. "Some of the work beforehand gets tough sometimes, but I'm looking forward to working with the young guys especially. That's something you can really get excited about, whenever confident young riders come along."

Saturday was a perfect day weather-wise, which brought out a nice crowd for the riders, who stepped up the competition, rode hard and gave the spectators a heart-pumping display of skill and precision.

"When you have as many laps around here as I do you kind of get a quick understanding about what kind of track you have and how quickly you can push," said Scott Greenwood, winner of the MW Grand Prix on the number four Yamaha YZF-R6. "I have no idea what the lap times were. I was just trying to do my best to keep my head down and ride hard every single lap."

"You definitely need to get the points early, set the tone and you never want to work from behind. So you get second the first weekend, and you're already working uphill," said Charles "Jesse" Sandoz, winner of the LW Grand Prix on the number 18 Ducati Monster 1100 Evo. "It's good to come in first and start the season off right."

Some riders came out strong for the first round of the season while others hadn't quite worked out all the kinks yet, but recognized where their focus needs to be in order to win during round two in May.

"The confidence thing wasn't there. I don't think bike setup's there yet," reflected Christian Cronin after coming in second in the MW Grand Prix on the number 58 MV Agusta F3. "I kind of just rode around and accepted I was going to be second no matter what."

Check out the full results from all races: https://trackintel.com/ti/lrrs/ajax2014/results/index.html

Stay up-to-date with the Loudon Road Race Series:


For ticket information on all 2018 events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including the July 20-22 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend and the September 21-22 Full Throttle Fall Weekend, please stop by the ticket office, visit the speedway website at www.NHMS.com, or call Fan Relations at (603) 783-4931.