Moss
Masters Muddy FVOR Opener
Wedron, IL
– May 2
By Nikki
Dixon
Photos by Brett Wilkinson
more photos @ www.muddywaterscreations.net
Scattered
showers swept across the area the night before the 2010 Fox Valley Off Road
season opener, round 1 of 5. “We
did get light rain over night” was posted on the FVOR website early Sunday
morning. Although while nearby
areas were barely touched, Wedron received a good soaking, much more than
promoter Gerhard Ward anticipated, until he arrived at the muddy park. The FVOR crew quickly went to work to prep and scrape the
kids’ course, so the riders could get around.
Several course reroutes and changes were made throughout the day to avoid
troubled hills and areas, and to give the best course possible. And after all, this is a hare scrambles
race, which is typically run rain or shine!
The course
actually tacked up nicely in most spots after a few laps, but there were still
several slick hills, deep ruts, and mud holes to keep things challenging and
interesting the entire day. The mud
riders really stood out when looking at the results and lap times, especially
early in each race. This race
required a little extra throttle control and patience, and line selection was
critical to staying out of trouble and putting together consistent laps. And for the riders that don’t do so well with mud, well,
this was one tough race!
26 quad
riders lined up in the starting area, ready to kick off the 2010 season at Fox
Valley Off Road. +30 class riders
Jim Hanchett, Andre Topper, and Daniel Burkitt led the first row start into the
woods, and splashing through the first mud hole as they dropped into the first
set of hills. Burkitt moved out
front and had over a minute lead as they completed the first lap, followed by
+30 class riders (28)
Kevin Johnson, Hanchett, Topper, and A
class rider Brandon Hibberd. Burkitt
was out front through the checkpoint for the first three laps, leading all
riders, with Topper closing the gap. But
on lap four, A-rider Hibberd hammered out an 11:37 lap to move out front, which
would end up the fastest lap of the race. Hibberd
charged ahead to complete seven laps, and take the A class win and quad overall. Burkitt battled past Topper on lap six
logging an 11:47 lap, and stayed out front to take the +30 win and second
overall. Topper had problems in the
final lap, dropping out of an overall podium finish, and allowing Johnson and
Hanchett to round out the top three in +30.
Brandon
Chapman grabbed the holeshot in the 11-rider Quad C class, and stayed out of
trouble on the muddy first lap, building up almost a three minute lead over
Calvin Young and Timothy McGurn. Young
took over the lead on lap two, followed by Bryan Wittersheim and Chapman. But Young dropped out of the race on lap
three, handing the lead to Wittersheim with Chapman still in striking distance,
and third place rider Jeff Meracle 10 minutes back. Then lap four claimed both Wittersheim and Chapman, as
Meracle became the new leader and stayed out front to complete five laps and
take the win. Timothy McGurn carded
second, also finishing five laps, with Joseph Smith charging into the top three,
after a tough 42 minute first lap.
65
Beginner was one of the biggest classes of the day with 21 riders. The young riders had a fresh course with
most of the trails wood chipped, but there were still several slick and muddy
sections to add an additional challenge. Jacob
McCarrens nailed the holeshot, followed by Shawn Thompson, Haydon Schmidt, and
Kolton Featherston as they entered the woods.
Schmidt moved out front on the first lap, trailed by Hunter Grampp, Mitch
Edmeier, Featherston, and McCarrens. Grampp
was the new leader after two laps, and put in nine consistent laps in the 4-5
minute range on the greasy course to earn the win. Tanner Whipple clocked several laps
under the 4 minute mark, to charge up to a second place finish, after running
tenth on the first lap. Edmeier
edged out Featherston by just six seconds to finish third, with Featherston and
Schmidt completing the top five.
The 65
Beginner course was shortened for the 50cc riders, cutting out some of the
troubled spots. In the 7-rider 50
Senior class, Tommy Fortune grabbed the holeshot, with Tanner Whipple (29)
right behind. Fortune
and Whipple battled for the lead on the first two laps, nearly matching each
other’s lap times, and just a bike length apart through the check points. Whipple opened up a lead on lap three, and steadily checked
out for the win. Whipple completed
10 laps, with his fastest lap time a 2:18.
Fortune finished second, and his fastest was a 2:20 on the final lap. Kale Cline, Travis Wilkinson, and
Allison Roland wrapped up the top five.
Joey
Fortune led the 8-rider Supermini class as they completed the first lap on the
east course, followed by Logan Kelly, Jarred Hall, and Nate Horning, all within
a minute of one another. Hall was
the new leader on lap two, as Fortune made some mistakes. But Fortune regained the lead on lap three, as most of the
class had a tough lap on the muddy course.
Fortune had the course dialed after a few laps, as he sprinted ahead to
complete eight laps and take a big win, and was the only Supermini rider to
break the 7 minute lap mark, with a 6:51, 6:40, and a blazing fast 6:14 on the
final lap. Horning and Hall each
completed seven laps to round out the top three, followed by Kelly and Anthony
Steinhauer.
Payton
Carey had a great start in the 13-rider 85cc class, leading the first three
laps, chased by Mitchell Ternes, Jeff Gourley, and Riley Schuhler. The rest of the pack struggled through
the first lap, including a bottleneck on an off camber uphill, which was tough
early in the race but shaped up well once a line was burned into the course. Schuhler picked it up on lap four with a
7:01 lap to take the lead, then strung together four impressive laps of 6:23,
6:16, 6:28, and 6:28 as he sprinted to the checkered flag. Schuhler was the only rider other than Supermini winner
Fortune to finish eight laps. Payton
stayed in the hunt, logging a 6:27 and 6:32 on his final two laps to secure
second place, followed by Gourley, Ternes, and Matthew McDonald. 
In the
65cc class, Mason Schuhler and Cody Barnes stayed close on the first lap, but
Barnes had troubles on lap two, allowing Schuhler to open up a three minute
lead. Then Schuhler had a bad third
lap, losing the lead to Barnes, but was just two second behind Barnes as they
came through the checkpoint. Schuhler
rode nearly flawless for the remaining four laps to pull away for the win, with
Barnes finishing second. Both
Schuhler and Barnes broke the 7 minute mark late in the race as the course
tacked up nicely, with Schuhler turning a 6:42 and 6:40, and Barnes a 6:21 on
the final lap. Luke Wamhoff, Colten
Zuidema, and Bryce Otterbach wrapped up the top five.
Half of
the 17-rider Thumper class made it cleanly through the snotty hills and deep mud
holes on the first lap, with Dylan Broll leading at the first checkpoint, chased
by John Conley, Nicholas Broll, Scott Dixon, and Nick Blacklaw, with less than
30 seconds separating the top five. Conley
moved out front on lap two, chased by Dixon and a hard charging Ryan Moss, who
turned 6:55 on his KLX110 thumper bike, which ended up the fastest lap of the
race. Dixon logged a 7:15 on lap
three to take the lead, but had an 11 minute lap four, after tangling with
another rider on a slick uphill, as Moss moved into the lead. The hills were a challenge for Moss’s
small 110 tires, but he pushed ahead to the checkers for his first win of the
day. Dixon and Conley rounded out
the podium, with the top three finishing five laps. The Broll brothers, Nicholas and Dylan, completed out the top
five.
The big
bikes were the final race of the day, with 125 riders signed up and ready to
take on the slippery course. The
first row start was the 5-rider AA class and 15-rider 86cc-Open A class. The Open A riders were quick in the dead
engine start, with Alec Bill, Timothy Reid, Alec Perry, John Siekmann, and
Benjamin Schmidt leading into the woods, and Kyleer Vance leading the way in the
AA class. At the first checkpoint,
AA-rider Derek Toberman was out front, trailed by A-riders Reid and MX
transplant Justin Baker, who was racing his first hare scramble, and on a
borrowed bike from Jesse Keith. Next
were AA-riders Ryan Moss and Matthew Westlake.
Moss charged through traffic on the slick first lap, after slipping off
the kickstarter, and starting towards the back of the pack. A-riders Keith, Siekmann, Bill, Perry,
and Josh Fehring wrapped up the top 10 after the first lap.
Moss
reeled in the top three riders on the second lap, to take over the lead. Toberman stayed right with Moss, never
more than 35 seconds back through the lap 2-7 checkpoints, and just a few bike
lengths separated them on laps 5 and 6. “Once
I was up front, I was just trying to stay out of trouble on the hills and the
holes,” said Moss. “Then
Toberman caught me, and I was getting a little tired, so I finally just let him
go and figured I’d try to stick with him.
But then I think he got tired as he slowed down, so I passed him back and
kept moving along. I had fun, as it
took some throttle control and experience to go fast, and not just pin it and
win it.” Moss inched away from
Toberman on the last two laps to earn another win, after topping the muddy
Thumper race on a KLX110 earlier in the day.
Moss also carded the fastest lap of the day, with a 10:34. Toberman, Westlake, and Vance rounded out the top four in AA
and overall, with fifth in AA going to Matthew Dissell, who finished behind the
top three riders in Open A. All
five AA riders logged laps under the 11 minute mark.
In the
86-Open A class,
Baker was on the gas as he passed Reid to move into the front
spot on lap two. Baker bounced off
plenty of trees as he led through the checkpoint for the next three laps, and
diced with Fehring and Reid for the lead. Fehring
was first through the transponder the next two laps, as the three battled it
out. By the white flag, Reid had
regained the lead, and held off Reid and Baker to the checkered flag. Stephen Stuenkel had a couple of bad
laps, but reeled in Scott Sexton on the final lap for fourth, with Sexton right
on his rear fender across the finish. Alec
Perry carded sixth, and turned a 10:43 on the final lap, which was the fastest
lap of the Open A class. Michael
Schramer finished seventh, and was the final rider to complete all eight laps.
Greg
Gourley and Robert Koscielski (630) led the 14-rider +40A class around the first turn
and into the woods. Tim Farrell was
first through the transponders after a lap, chased by James Wancket, Jay Hall
(650) ,
Kenneth Otterbach, Gourley, and Don Rashke who were all within a few seconds of
one another. Farrell made some
mistakes on lap two, as Hall and Rashke mixed it up for the lead. Hall opened up a little breathing room
in the next couple of laps, but Rashke closed the gap down to just 10 seconds
with two laps to go. Hall stepped
it up turning an 11:11 then an impressive 10:50 on the final lap, to earn the
win by a minute over Rashke. Hall
was just one of nine total riders to log a lap under 11 minutes on the
challenging course. Farrell rounded
out the podium, and also finished on the lead lap. Mark Spizzirri started back in the pack,
but charged up to fourth place finish, and Otterbach wrapped up the top five.
Randy
Southard grabbed the +30A holeshot, chased by Travis Held and Brian Roland, and
the rest of the 9-rider field as they headed to the first downhill. Held and Clinton Pherigo battled on the
first lap, coming through the checkpoint side-by-side, followed by Patrick
McClure, Southard, and Joe Janas. Most
of the front runners had a tough second lap, as Janas mastered the slick course
to pass into the lead, with Pherigo right on his rear tire. Janas strung together several laps
around the 12 minute mark to slowly pull away for the win, and was the only +30A
rider to complete eight laps. Pherigo
and Held traded the runner-up position back and forth, until Pherigo lost some
time on lap six, allowing Held to finish second, and Pherigo third. Ryan Duff carded fourth place, and
logged the fastest lap of the class with an 11:34, and Southard finished fifth.
JJ Cones
picked up the +30B holeshot, with Adam Fusinetti and the rest of the 13-rider
field in tow. Ryan Gusewelle moved
into the lead on the first lap, trailed by Jerry Oksas, Jason Drake, Matthew
Wamhoff, and Jaroslan Cerny through the first checkpoint. Gusewelle lost some time on the second
lap, as Okasa led for the next two laps. Gusewelle
regained the lead on lap four, and charged ahead to finish eight laps and take
the win, followed by Oksas, Cerny, and Cones who finished seven laps.
nailed the dead engine start to pull a big holeshot in 20-rider
201-Open C class, followed by Nicholas Wood, Devon Fredrick, and Zach Kodus. Matthew Walsh led at the first lap
checkpoint, as many riders struggled through the bottlenecks, slippery hills,
and deep mud holes. Fredrick reeled
in Walsh on lap two, and pulled away to complete seven laps for the win. Kodus charged up to a second place
finish, after running in seventh on lap one.
Early leader Walsh held off Wood for third, with Wood and Peter Kavsky
rounding out the top five.