Hayden Turbo

fter a long winter, everyone was ready to ride as the Tri-City Motorcycle Club’s season kicked off on a bitter May Day. The track was prepped to completion and 170 plus riders were signed up to get an early jump into the season.

The first event of the day was a combined gate drop of Quad A, B and C. Quad racer Jake Reaves #4x taking the holeshot shot through the first corners took the lead over the rest of the pack. Bryce Walters #791 worked throughout the moto to get around Reaves finally making a pass into the lead of moto two. Not to far behind was #255 Jeremy Beetz excelling to keep up with positions 1 and 2.

This season Tri-City has added a new class to list of moto’s. The Youth Quad class had 4 riders who rocketed through the track, 50% of them being girls. Mini Quad rider Tomijo Hayden took the holeshot and never looked back. “I had fun riding out there the only problem was my dad put my bars up to far so it was hard to ride.” Said girl racer Hayden. However #25 Brehkon Daniels was rite behind Hayden watching her every move. Third place finisher was #24 Brandon Johnson followed by #199 Blazin Daniels.

Jonathan Six put his Kawasaki out front early into the second moto of 125 A. During the first lap, Six slid out in a back section allowing all the other riders by. “Yea, I slid out in a rut on the first lap and everyone just got around.” Said Six. While Six was working his way through the pack #38 Brent Duffe was in the lead with #726 Matt Mellott right on him. Six hammered on making up enough time to still manage another first place win.

In the 125 B class Zack Martin took the holeshot while Derik Kostellic railed close behind. Second lap came around as Kostellic took an inside rut to make a pass sliding out but still able to keep the bike running. #609 Jason Minnaert took the lead while Martin and Justin Baker #99 followed close behind. The moto went on with racers banging bars, making passes, and unfortunately crashing. With final results of the second 125 B moto, Minnaert took the win while Kostellic took a second place followed by Martin.

In the mini division, Dallas Devinney was a runaway winner in the 85 Sr. class aboard his Suzuki. The moto was more of the same from Kenneth McKean and Jakub Baker as they ran off with the top three spots circling the track at extreme speeds.

In the smaller mini division’s we had a two-moto race for all 50 cc riders. Moto one of the 50cc racers consisted of the 50 Jr. class and 50 injected. Jonathan Mandelke #86 jumped into the lead in moto two while #333 Gina Grigoletti crashed in the first turn unable to keep up with the rest of the pack. #486 Chase Sexton trailed behind Mandelke taking a consistent second place finish in both races.

In the second moto of the 50cc racers, Brenny’s Cycle Works supported Taylor McLaughlin as he had his way with the rest of the pack taking the holeshot in moto two of the 50 Sr. class. With heavy eyes on McLaughlin, Bryce Ivey #64 watched McLaughlin’s every move until he made the pass to capture the win.

Eight racers of the Open and +45 classes sat on the elevated start of Tri-City’s track as they stared off at the 30-second board. #805 Damon Duitsman of the open class grabbed the holeshot with +45 rider Loren Cook right by his side. As the pack raced on #483 Paul Gerke from the open class had a graceful slide-out in the first turn resulting in a pile up for #172 Bobbie Gillespie, another open class racer. Gerke and Gillespie returned to the race while Duitsman had some difficulty keeping the bike up right resulting in two crashes throughout the second moto. Gerke raced to the end, taking another first place win in the open class

While the open class raced +45 rider Gerhard Ward took the lead over #35 Andrew Kooistra, #103 Orville Kline, and #1 Loren Cook resulting in a consistent place standings for both moto’s of the day.

In the women’s class there was the largest attended number of women racers this season. Nine girls showed up ready to race and alert. The competition was stiff as #113 Rochelle Charnowski took a first in both moto’s. Whitney Miller #36 moved into second place over BriAnn Stiles #3 in the first lap of moto two with Stiles close behind. The fourth position in the women’s class was Nicole Duranczky #102.

Southern IL motocross tracks have the well-known reputation of having pit bike classes late at night and now Tri-City has brought that enjoyment up north. During intermission several pit bike riders raced on the motocross track in at least one of the four classes. In 50 mod. #7 Dustin Bartz took the overall win followed by Nick Stiles #53 in second and Chris Neal #9 in third. There was one racer in the 50 stock class that raced the same moto as the 50 mod. class, Nathan Stiles. The buddy race was a big amusement to watch as riders crashed and fell off the side of jumps, killed the bikes, slid out in corners, and a lot more! The overall winners for the Buddy Class were Justin Kelly and Steve Perkins followed by Justin Baker and BriAnn Stiles in second. Third place finishers were two women racing their first race ever and just happened to have a pit bike handy. Mother and daughter Terry and Breanna Sinde took a proud third place finish. Following the Sinde’s were Nick and Shawn Stiles who had some difficulties through out the four-lap moto, but also took a proud fourth place finish.

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