Sunset Ridge host AMA Regional Qualifier
Walnut, Illinois June 4, 2006
By Merle Acord
|
“M |
ost of the eight hundred riders stayed for the whole
weekend,” said Jan Pisto
le the better half of the Bob/Jan Pistole Sunset
Ridge MX Park
promotion team.
This is the second year that Sunset Ridge has hosted an AMA Youth Regional Qualifier.
The AMA Youth Regional qualifier is a three moto event with the top eight in class being invited to the next level in their region; in this case North-central, where another three moto event will qualify a specific number of riders for the National AMA Amateur Championships July 31 at Loretta Lynn’s MX Park.
“Our normal parking and camping facilities were woefully inadequate for the number of vehicles we had to accommodate,” said Jan. “We had to open up an adjoining acreage next to the track to accommodate all of the motor-homes. Actually it worked out quite well and didn’t strain our resources beyond reason.”
The outside guy, promoter Bob Pistole, has developed a sandy soiled rolling hilly piece of Midwestern pasture farmland into one of District 17’s elite motocross park/tracks. The track is an all season, sand and soil mixture that takes a lot of moisture to rain out, it’s extra wide with an assortment of bowl turns, doubles, triples, high speed straights and sweepers plus step-up Mount Walnut.
How big is Mount Walnut? “It is so tall,” said a smiling Bob Pistole, “That the spring thaw is two weeks late melting the snow from its top.”
Bob supplemented his normal staff with the “Redbud” track crew plus trailering their tanker water truck to work with his own watering system to keep the dust down. The crew ran the starts, marshaled the course for any rules infractions and along with their other chores, waved the checkers.
“We had this AMA regional last year but not near the rider turn out as we
have this year,” said Bob “I think the word got out. This event is very
important to the riders and we wanted everything to be done right and still
not lose sight of the fact that racing is fun and that is what the gang from
“Red Bud” insured.”
“Did you see what the riders have on their left ankle over their boot?” said Gary Borelli race fan and owner of Borelli’s Meriden Street Cycle Shop. “Every one is wearing a transponder. It’s some kind of magnetic strap and it works in conjunction with a copper wire in a piece of conduit at the base of the finish line table top and when the transponder moves over the wire it triggers an electronic signal that registers the riders number lap time and position. Real “Star Wars Stuff”.
Lap times are important to many riders and class position is what it’s all about. A rider can get lap times for each lap he rides for the whole weekend. There’s a hundred dollar deposit for the transponder of which seventy is refunded at the end of the event.
“We had some problems with the lap-timing system on day one,” said Jan Pistole. “But they got it all straightened out and it works real well. Counts laps ridden total, and records lap times so there isn’t any doubt as to who did what. It’s the same thing they have using at NASCAR for a long tim.”
Leah Cantrell a true Georgia Peach from Marietta, Georgia went 1-2-1 in the 99-250 Women class for her invitation to the next level, a Regional Championship and a chance to advance to the National Championship at Loretta Lynn’s.
“I really like the track,’ said Cantrell, “I didn’t like it much in the second moto when I fell down. But I was able to recover and finish second, so it came out alright. With 1-2 moto finishes I wasn’t really worried about qualifying so I just went out and rode with the front runners and tried not to do anything stupid like falling down.”
Not all contestants were blessed with high moto finishes and they really wouldn’t know if they qualified until the last transponder crossed the copper wire, so to speak. One of those with a furrowed brow was Kawasaki rider April Roper from Winnebago, Illinois with a 5-8 card. “I love this track,” said April. “They even groomed it better than they normally do, if that is possible. I was seventh going into this moto so I hope I finished well enough to earn a place at the next level.” (April placed eighth overall)
Tori Klein, from Waterloo, Iowa, seventh overall with 10-4-4 finishes, had a rough first moto finishing 10th. “I crashed and hurt by hand and ankle. In the second moto I got a little arm pump but rode my hardest and finished fourth. I hope that is good enough to get me to the next level.”
“It ain’t over till its over”, even after acing two motos in the 85 Stock 7-11 Jesse Wentland after a little mishap that put him back in the pack in moto three finished sixth and will receive and invitation to the next level.
“This track is so much fun to ride,” said second place finisher 85 Stock 7-11 Brandon Pope from Spring Grove, Illinois. “I like the jumps and the sand and especially the finish line table top, you can really air out over that.”
Jack Owens from Charleston, Illinois said, “I feel pretty good, I’m qualified and I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Some like it rough; anyway that was Max Tannenbaum from Lilburn, Georgia’s statement, after finishing fifth in moto three and 5-5-3 overall. “I like my tracks just a little bit rougher.”
Tanner Wineland from Boulder, Colorado took the last qualifying eighth spot. We have MX tracks at home but none like this. This is great, a real fun track”
New tracks, new faces many riders take in more than one of the Regional just for that experience. Also a rider is allowed to qualify in any or all of the regions but must advance to the Championship thru the region he qualified in. Simply stated you can’t qualify at a Mid East Area Qualifier and then advance from a North Central regional; you have to ride a that regions Area Qualifier also. A rider theoretically can ride and qualify in all of the regions but can’t pick and choose which part of a regions program he wants to ride.
The week-end was winding down, Egan Rosell from Lebanon, Ohio riding a Suzuki in the 85Modified 7-11 class won the last moto of the week-end and his number one slot overall. It was time to pack it in.
“I want to thank most whole heartedly the staff from Red Bud Michigan,” said Jan Pistole the inside person. She is the person in charge of what happens in the little red barn where sign up, results and pay-outs are tabulated plus all the other chores associated with keeping Sunset Ridge Motocross Park running so smoothly. “The Red Bud crew was here from Tuesday on through the week-end, it worked out fabulously; we absolutely couldn’t have done it without them. They helped us with the gate, crowed controlled, they literally helped with everything.”
“Let me say one thing about our staff and the weather,” continued Jan, “They were both wonderful. The many wonderful compliments we received on how well the event was run was a direct reflection on how well the staff did their jobs. Thanks gang! The blue skies, and moderate winds, well we were thankful for that too.”