A little more than a week from now we will be headed to Sunset Ridge MX in Walnut Illinois. An extra week off with the Easter Holiday last weekend has been a blessing in a number of ways for folks as the extra time may have let the spring storms that have been plaguing the United States the last week or so run their course. The time has also allowed for riders to be better prepared after the clean-up from Budds Creek a couple of weeks ago.
As we look ahead to 5th round of the AMA ATV Motocross National Championship presented by DWT we see that preparations are well underway for the arrival of America's premier ATV Motocross championship. The folks at Moto Armory are having an open house from 5pm to 7pm on Thursday leading into the ATV Showdown at Sunset Ridge.
The future collection will be known as Moto Armory and while it will pay homage to its roots in motocross the full array of motorcycle dirt sports will be exhibited. So if you come out on Thursday you will get to see some pretty cool stuff.
Visitors will have a chance to meet and speak with former ATV Motocross National Champion DWT/MotoWorks/Can Am's John Natalie and his teammate Illinois Chad Weinen. They will be signing autographs and posters will be supplied. The event is located 5 miles east of Colona Illinois at 25126 Ridge Road, Colona Il.
Last week we reflected on Budds Creek ATV racing from Saturday. This week I wanted to take look back at Sundays racing and what was probably "the best moto of racing this season." The moto I am talking about it moto 2 of the Pro-Am Production class.
As Sunday morning dawned rain showers from overnight and the day before should have left the track in a horrible mess that would take a while to shape up for racing. However, Budds Creek owner Jonathon Beasley spoke with the Birch Creek promoting staff the night before ensuring them that he would have the track race ready by 8am. Beasley held up to his word and though there was some areas a little wetter than others, there was virtually no mud when the Pro Am Production came out for Qualifying. The track dialed in quickly and when the amateurs hit the track lines opened up all over as riders were ready after the horrible conditions they rode in the day before.
It was decided on Saturday after the rains began to fall and the track began to deteriorate that it would be best to run any mini classes that had not run in a one moto format on Sunday to try and dodge the conditions for these young riders. The forecast called for conditions to dry up and be sunny Sunday. This was obviously the right call and come Sunday the stage was set for a great 2nd moto of amateur racing.
Girls 8-15 years old kicked off a day of what would be some of the most competitive motos in recent memory. Maci Davenport jumped out to the early lead but the battle behind her was a strong one as a Jersey girl named Emily Irvin battle with Samantha Bronson and Elizabeth Vogt for the spot. Davenport is proving to be a strong rider as she not only leads the Girls class with 2 wins this season, but she also sits 7th in the 90cc Production 8-15 class where she runs strong and competitive against the boys.
Maci Davenport is not the only young female rider that has really showed some great promise racing against the boys. Chloe Buerster's riding skills have also caught my eye in the past couple of season of ATV MX. The way things appear if all these competitive young ladies continue racing, there should be a nearly full gate of highly Women riders coming in the next 5 to 6 years that should offer competition like we cannot even imagine right now.
Speaking of Women Class racing, how about the battle for the championship shaping up with Michelle Natalie and Heather Byrd? Natalie has 3 wins so far this season and one has to wonder what the next round will bring. We have seen Byrd under fire before from Angela Butler and if you were a fan in those days you may remember the classic championship battles between those two. Now in 2011 there is a new name emerging as possible contender. She is the 16 year Samantha Cheetham that we spoke about after the big battle in Kentucky. I feel her problems at Budds Creek will only fuel her desire to battle Byrd and Natalie.
A look at the other youth classes all proved to see some great racing. If there did happen to be a runaway up front, there was always a battle behind them that made for a great watch. 90 Automatic Jr. 8-11 class rider Kodi Ward had one of the most memorable rides on Sunday for me from the weekend for me. Brogan Guyer had taken the moto 1 win and Ward had finished 2nd behind him. Ward started the first moto in 8th and battled all the way up to second by the end. In the second moto though things went aria for Guyer and he could only salvage a 4th after a 6th place start. Ward on the other hand was in the battle of the season so far for him and DJ Bassani. Bassani got the early jump in moto 2 but Ward riding within 1 second for the entire first lap was able to finally make a pass stick on lap two. At that point these two riders stayed only a little more than 1 second apart the rest of the moto. As impressed as I was to see the heart of these two young riders in that battle, I was equally impressed by Kodi Wards podium speech and presence. This kid looked like a winner, talked like a winner and acted like a winner. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the season holds for this class of riders.
There were a number of battles throughout the day and the classes that has made it difficult to wait between races as a race fan. As the year goes by we will try to highlight some of them and hopefully shed some light on what I feel is the greatest Professional and Amateur ATV racing the world has to offer.
Photo By: Dave Smith - Raceday Pix
This is how the top 3 was all day
As mentioned earlier the Pro Am class had a (all things considered) near perfect race track to lay down their first qualifying times of the day. Amazingly though only 5 or so riders elected to qualify in the first session which meant they would only have one shot at getting the best gate pick for the day. This was sort of crucial as Budds Creek now offers such a short start into a 180 degree left hander that means early positioning is extremely critical if you do not want to get stuck back in the pack or squeezed out as Chad Weinen had done to him the day before in AMA Pro ATV Racing.
Regardless the first moto offered up some great battles. Casey Martin established the lead on lap one and tried to put the hammer down to gain some distance. It looked like mission accomplished for Martin until about mid-way through the moto Mark Madl who had started out in 4th made up some ground moving to 3rd then to 2nd place. On lap 5 Madl knocked down the fastest lap of the moto and pulled to within just under 1 second. He then inched in swapping position with Martin for nearly the rest of the race. Madle could never make a pass completely stick and Martin took the moto win.
This was only the prelude to the 2nd moto that would leave the race fans with what they came looking for. Jeffery Rastrelli who had started 2nd in moto 1 and finished 3rd behind the amazing battle was more than pumped for moto 2. Rastrelli stated that he had in recent weeks exerted a lot of energy early on in the motos and when it came crunch time he didn't have what he needed in the tank. So he admittedly rode too conservative in moto 1 but was ready come moto 2. Jeffery would have to have all the right cards fall at the right times to position himself for an over-all win. All he could do was get out front and hope for the best.
Getting out front seemed to be the easiest part of that moto for JB Racing's Jeffery Rastrelli as he took the lead on lap 1 with MotoXperts' Casey Martin hot on his tail. Behind Martin was again Blue Rok Racing's Mark Madl. Martin, Rastrelli and Madl set out in an amazing display of pure desire by all three riders. Martin was able to fend off Madl at the checkers and this would mean that Martin would take the overall win.
I think that all three may have walked away winners though in the end. Jeffery Rastrelli was able to make things happen the Pro Am Production class finally this season. Casey Martin rode in one of the highest pressure situations for two motos and did not falter and Mark Madl gained a lot of confidence in his speed and ability. And now the stage is set, are there any more players coming to the show? We will find out in Walnut at the ATV Showdown at Sunset Ridge.
Don't forget to tune into Racer TV on VERSUS this Sunday May 1st at 3:00pm EST. The first ATV MX show will be in the docudrama format called ATV 24/7 from Round 1 of the AMA ATV Motocross National Championship from Aonia Pass Motocross in Washington Georgia.
Till next time, God Bless Your Hearts and All Your Vital Organs.
