The mid-way point of the 2011 AMA ATV National MX Championship presented by DWT is here and it is so hard to believe that it has come this far this fast. The Championships are heating up in all the classes and the racing has not been this good in all the classes at one time in recent memory. The cool thing is we can relive a little of the first two rounds of the season with Racer TV this weekend. The docudrama ATV 24/7 program will air as a part of the Racer TV programming beginning this Saturday. This is the makeup for the pre-empting a couple of weeks ago and is set to air this Saturday, May 14, on the Versus television network at 4:30 p.m. EST. Round 2 featuring flag to flag type coverage from round 2 the Millcreek Spring ATV National and will be hosted by Racer TV/Speed Channel/NBC Sports' Jason Weigant.
As I mentioned before the racing this season has been ultra-competitive and it starts at the grassroots of it all in the 50cc 4-6 Class. Cumming Georgia's Ethan Alhm, North Point Florida's Haden Skelltet and Reynoldsburg Ohio's Ashton Ward are beginning to tighten things up as far as the championship. Alhm the point's leader has posted 4 out 5 class wins this season and leads by 33 over Skellet. Skellet has posted some strong rides this season taking the win in round 2 and a 2nd in rounds 1 and 3. However Skellet finished 7th the last two rounds and this has kind of opened things up for Alhm. On the backside of Skellet in points is the youngest member of the Mushin Racing Team and has seen some improvements in the last three rounds. Ward opened the season with two 5th place finishes and followed it up with a 3rd and two 2nd place finishes. This has tightened the battle for second in points to just 5 now heading into the halfway point of the season.
The 50cc 7-8 Class has several riders to be watching out for as this championship also heats up. Baird Motorsports' Laine Baird from Morganfield Kentucky has been the basic dominator in this class but the battles raging behind him are getting exciting to watch as well. Peru Indiana's Emily Boyer has shown great promise this season finishing with a couple of 2nd places and a 3rd place finish. She is only 20 points out of the points lead and has a 46 point cushion over 3rd place points holder Berlin Maryland's Kobe VanFossen. Another rider to be watching out for will be #84 of Booneville Indiana's Cayman Wilhelmus who did not make an appearance until round 4 at Budds Creek where he took the win. Wilhelmus followed up with a 2nd in Illinois and could be a contender once drops are made.
Another youth class that has caught my attention is the 90 CVT (8-15). One of things that really impresses me is that the points leader in this normally boy dominated class is a sweet little girl name Elizabeth Vogt from Milford Pennsylvania. Vogt is all smiles each time she has made it to the podium at Ballance MX and Sunset Ridge in Illinois. She currently sits 30 points ahead of another young lady out Milton Florida that won round 1 and took a 2nd and a 3rd to follow that up. Brianna Fortner did not make it to the last two rounds and otherwise was the points leader until Vogt who has missed one race was able to stretch the points lead out in the National Championship battle in that class.
These classes are obviously not the only classes in the Youth and Amateur ranks offer great battles on the track and in the points but speaking the two young ladies in the 90 CVT class has brought up a thought or two about the way things are going to look in the future in the Women Class. Already we have mentioned the amazing battles that we have seen developing between 7-Time and Defending Women's Class Champion, JBR/Dasa/Joe Byrd Quad Riding School Honda rider Heather Byrd. Byrd has been faced with many challenges this season and the first one came in the way of an old on track nemesis Rage ATV's Michelle Natalie. Natalie has taken 3 wins away from the champion and sits 4 points ahead of Byrd heading into the mid-point of the championship battle. Both Byrd and Natalie have seen consistent strikes coming in the way of the 16 year old fast girl from Florida, Blue Rok/Ditch Witch/Utilimap's Samantha Cheetham but a new threat is rising out of Nationally seasoned rider from Quincy Illinois by the name of Kelsey Dyer. Dyer has been looming in the background all season but made her presence known at round 5 in her home state. Dyer lit it up right from the drop of the gate at Sunset Ridge in Moto 1 taking the hole shot and leading the first couple of laps in a heated 4 way battle. Dyer dropped to 2nd for a couple of laps and fell to 3rd on the final lap before Natalie was finally able to make the pass. In the end Byrd snagged her second over-all of the season tightening the points up in the class and Dyer took her season's best finish of 2nd over-all at home. In my opinion this class is only starting to heat up. This could be the most exciting Women's title battle in some time.
I for one am looking forward to Steel City next weekend for round 6. Before I go there are a few things I wanted to throw out there:
1) There were 4 ATVs ranging from DS 50 to an 800cc Renegade Can Am stolen from a motel on May 7th in Canton, OH. Click here to find out more details
2) Check out the updated and fresh Photo Gallery here on ATVMotocross.com. There are a variety of photos to check out.
3) If you know of anyone that would like to participate in a Finding and Sponsorship relations type seminar at an upcoming event please feel free to email me at Rodney@atvmotocross.com.
4) Lastly, if you have any comments or suggestions to the Sight Lap article, feel free to email me as well.
That's it for now. Till next time, God Bless Your Hearts and All Your Vital Organs.
