February 1st

Saturday night, late January, playoff football, frigid temperatures, and of course D-17's yearly bash. Over 700 showed up for the third year in a row to bring home the yearly awards they spent the year earning. OVER 14,000 in door prizes, yes that's three zeros! Parts Unlimited and Pirelli stepped up in a huge way! Over 25 sets of tires and loads of gear. Jay Hall and Todd Sheedy teamed up for the "swag", keeping another 25+ sets of tires around for next season! "I just didn't have a big enough trailer!" stated hall.

From Hare Scrambles director Jay Hall, were do I start I would like to thank my wife Tammy for all her help I could not do it with out her. We had a good year and the sport is strong and looking for a good year for 07,with a better schedule and bonus points races this year.

It was a good year for AA rider Rick Kinkelaar winning D-17 class and looking forward see you next year. Rick look out before you know it your son Ty will be knock on the back door. Ty placed third in the 50cc class this year. A class winner Trey Verardo will be a good addition for the AA class good job Trey. The plus class had some of the years best point chasses 30A Will Heitman and Clint Pherigo,30B Paul Mitzelfelt,40A Ron Peterson and Tom Burtle,40B Andy Garecht and Frosty Clouser great job guys.

This year Sportsman Of The Year award was presented to +50 rider Robert Mitchell he was helping riders every weekend and had a smile before the race and after too, even if he did not do so good in the race. Robert I am sure Mark Cain would be proud this one.

The four wheeler class were full in forces at the banquet also with A class John Brush, B class Scott Burkitt, C class Bill Hammond,+35 class Daniel Burkitt all picking their first place jackets great job guys.

We can't forget the kids of H-S either and all the Moms and Dads getting the kids to the races on time great job. And thanks for the help at the races we could not do it with out you.... and Dave White we will make sure we include you also. Topping 65cc class was Jonathan Searl good ride and Travis Ward that's ok you will like standing by girls soon enough.

65 Beginner class killer Cole Evans put a great year and I think the 65 class better look out. David Brackney the 85 class winner keep putting better and better rider all year good job. And the 50cc class winner my favorite Jarred Hall rode his butt off this year ridding two classes switching from a auto 50 to a shift 65 guys try that back to back races. Ok this shifts no this one has no shifter great job.

I wish I could say something about everyone but it would be ten pages long so al I can say Great Job done and I hope you all had as much fun as my family did this year. We will see at the races The Halls

Five riders were double class winners. Brett Kalaher was a youth double champion, winning the 65cc and 85cc Junior Mini classes. Kevin ‘Bubba’ Bond claimed the wins in the 200cc and 400cc Stock classes while .Mike Popham was the winner in both the 250cc and 600cc 4-Stroke classes. Scott Petty was the best in both the Senior (+40) and Open classes while Bud Northrup claimed the Super Senior (+50) and Open Pushrod titles.

This award goes to those riders who participated the most during the year and is calculated by adding up all the points the riders earn in all the classes they ride. Young Brett Kalaher was the Youth winner with 1303 points from his 65cc and 85cc classes while veteran Bud North was the amateur winner with a 1314 point total accumulated from six different classes.

A special award is given at each event to the rider with the fastest overall time of the day for all classes in the youth and amateur competition. Shane Green was the amateur winner with six such awards for the year, while Caleb Emory and Brett Kalaher tied for the overall Youth Award win with six each.

Kaleb Northrup, through his website www.kingofthehill.org sponsors 3 King of the Hill series in the Midwestern section of the country. Each participating club runs a ‘King’ class once during the season for the ten fastest riders of that day, regardless of the class. The individual event winners get a nice trophy provided by Northrup, and the clubs add a nice cash prize. This year’s overall winner was Dustin ‘D.J. Compton who accumulated two wins, a second, third and fourth during the year in the Illinois/Indiana series.

Each year the director awards a ‘Director’s Choice’ award to one (or more) people who exhibited outstanding effort or support of hill climbing in District 17. Last year’s award went to Jim and Tammy Moody for their outstanding support of several youth riders in addition to their own son, Logan. In 2006 the district offered an exhibition non-award paying Women’s class. Even though she was promised no points or awards, Jessica Coon paid her money and rode in the class at nearly every event, so Hill Climb Director Gordon Green chose her to receive his special award in recognition of Jessie’s efforts.

An additional special award should have been awarded – perhaps called the ‘Close but no Cigar’, or ‘Second is the First Loser’ award. It would have gone to Gordon Green who placed in second place in three different classes – 450cc, 600cc 4-stroke, and 400cc Stock.

The enduro rider turnout was down a little this year on average but that was the case with almost every discipline in District 17 this year. We had 12 great races that included a couple 2 day events, a couple closed course events, and some true enduro events that made for a challenging yet exciting season. The Grand Champion was once again our local hero and ISDE veteran, Mr. Jeff Fredette. Jeff keeps showing that age just makes you smarter and faster. It’s always great to see “Mr. Six Days” hanging out at the events and showing all of us how it’s done. This year was a great year for the B & C classes with new faces showing up and racing the whole series. In the 250 B class we had two up and coming riders battle it out to the very end for the class and Overall B awards. Chris Huffman and Colton Edsall swapped wins all year long and pushed each other harder and harder at each race. In the end it was Chris Huffman taking both the 250 B and Overall B wins. The C class saw a new face with Tom Vanplew competing in the whole series. This was Tom’s first full season at riding enduros and his consistence paid off win the C class win. For the 2007 season we have 13 events on the schedule so it should be another great season. We worked on the schedule to try to avoid back to back events in the hopes of getting rider turnout back up. I hope to see everyone out there this year. I would like to thank Moose, KTM, Illinois Truck, and MidwestEnduros.com for their support of the events during the 2006 season.

Check out the photo pages for pics of the banquet........Event guides are shipped to the dealers check it out! In a few weeks we will be racing, spring is right around the corner.....................good luck and see you out there!