Home Community Sutton local takes home Sutton Fair Demo Cross runner-up trophy

Sutton local takes home Sutton Fair Demo Cross runner-up trophy

August 18, 2026

Subscribe Now

By Angie Sullivan

Friday night offered near-perfect conditions for the Demo Cross race at the 169th Sutton Fair & Horse Show.

The Demo Cross race and the Demolition Derby are both run by Impact Motorsports and contracted by the fair.

In Demo Cross, drivers race head-to-head on a figure-eight dirt track while navigating jumps, turns and collisions with other vehicles. The Demolition Derby features drivers deliberately crashing into one another until the last running vehicle remains.

Connor Chadwick of Sutton won his heat in Demo Cross and was runner-up in the final A Main feature. He said he loves the local aspect of the event. This is his third year competing at the Sutton Fair and Horse Show.

“You can have your whole family there to cheer you on and support you and root for you and have a great time,” said Chadwick.

His truck was first decorated with the handprints of his two daughters, Maddisyn, 14, and Emma Jean, 6.

“I came up with the idea of having my two daughters painting their hands and putting their handprints all over the truck. Then that turned into friends and their kids helping, and it brings everyone in on it,” said Chadwick.

This year, his supporters wore team T-shirts decorated with a handprint and the number 19 as they cheered from the sidelines.

“It was nice to look up into the crowd and see a big section filled with my friends and family wearing my shirts and showing their love and support for the wild ride,” said Chadwick. “I could hear them cheering for me over top of the noise of the motor of the truck and it sure put a big smile on my face.”

By Saturday, the rain had transformed the arena into a very different kind of challenge for the Demo Derby.

Mike O’Hara, who worked as the excavator operator during the event, said the conditions were among the worst he had experienced.

“It might have been in the top three worst track conditions I’ve ever seen,” O’Hara said. “That being said, I’ve spent the last 35 years in the excavation business and I know all too well that you can’t control Mother Nature.”