Martin plunders MegaX Shootout rd 5
Mendota, IL - June 24th
By BriAnn Stiles
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ith a partly sunny sky and a slight
chance of rain, pulling into the pits at the
Tri-county fairgrounds, the sky
became cloudy and dark. As I said to one of the Team
Megacross staff members, "I sure hope it doesn't
rain..." I was instantly scolded as he reminded me, "YOU SAID IT!
YOU SAID THE FOUR LETTER WORD!" Ugh oh!
With a series of three significant rain outs occurring at the Megacross Fairgrounds, Mother Nature directed the rainstorm astray from us and allowed Round 5 of the Megacross Shootout to go down.
With there being an insufficient turn out in the 4-Wheel A class, that didn't stop it from being one of the best races of the night! As the four 4-Wheel A riders lined up on the starting line, the gates dropped and the riders were off! Taking the main event hole shot coming around the tabletop into the first corner came the number 44 Honda, Chad Wienen, followed the Yamaha machine, Jeremy Beetz in second with number 337, Jeff Juran, all over him holding down the number three position. As the second lap came into focus, Wienen began to extend a gap between him in the lead and second place, but really that's where all the real excitement came into the picture! With Beetz in second and battling with Juran to keep his position, Juran made a scheming pass on the inside corner over Beetz taking over the lead and bumping Beetz into third. The next corner was clear and Beetz was on the gas and not willing to just hand second over as he held the gas wide open down the back straight away and charged right by Juran back into his second position bumping Juran back into third again.
Rocketing through the obstacles on the track, the crowd grew blaring loud as second and third, Beetz and Juran, came around on the fourth lap and headed into the whoop section in front of the grand stands. With his hand on the throttle, Juran skimmed the whoop section like a pro right past Beetz and into the second place position, once again Beetz made sure he was going to work for it as he took the inside advantage over Juran and took charge of second place bumping Juran back into third.
These two were back and forth the whole race, it seemed like they switched positions every corner.
As the heat poured on heavy, the last lap was in focus with Wienen running away with the moto while Beetz and Juran put on the show battling for second. Juran charged the rest of the moto with everything he had holding down the number three position, charging the corners twice as hard as he did in the heat race. Taking the checkered flag came Wienen wire-to-wire with the overall followed by Beetz in second, Juran in third, and 4-Wheel +25 winner, Travis Jones trailing in fourth.
"All I need is my hole shot and it should be smooth sailing from there. I really need work in that category." Said Chad Wienen
Also in the A division, there were twelve 125 A riders signed up and ready to race!
Taking
the main event hole shot came the number 837
Suzuki Ross Martin, followed by the number 522 Kawasaki, Ryan
Poulter in second with David
Ottel all over him holding down the third
position. Seconds later in the far back sweeper
corner
Ottel took charge and made a swift pass into
second over Poulter bumping
Poulter into third with the rest of the pack charging hard behind
him. With Ross 
doing what he does best, he extended a minor gap
between second place, Ottel,
by the second lap. Also during the second lap fourth place, Honda
rider Brad Modjewski took charge over
Poulter on the back straight away bumping
Poulter now back into fourth. As the
fourth lap came into play, Martin ran away with the moto as
Modjewski charged hard passing riders left and
right all the way into second place over Ottel
bumping Ottel into third place.
The pack raced a steady and consistent race with no major position changes until the end of the moto came into the works. With two laps to go, the racers were charging hard to make up lost time and positions.
Ottel didn't like the feel for third so giving it his best shot, he took it right back over Modjewski in the back bowl turn bumping Modjewski back into third place with one lap to go. Seconds later Justin Baker showed his "new comer" A class skills as he charged hard in the same exact bowl turn getting a front wheel in battling for the fourth place position with Poulter.
The track was set on fire as the last lap aroused. Martin still held the lead, now followed by Ottel in second, Modjewski in third, Poulter in fourth and Baker charging hard in fifth.
Taking the checkered flag came Martin with the overall, Modjewski in second, Ottel in third, Poulter in fourth, and Baker rounding out the top five.
"I'm not really out to beat anybody in particular, I don't really care... It's all about having fun now." Said Ryan Poulter.