Poulter
Perfect at Megacross
April
28th, 2007 Round 2/11
Story & Photos by
Nikki Dixon
Want to
know what happens when you have good weather, a fun and safe track, and a great
race program? Well, you get a huge
turn out with full gates in every class. Throw
in some track changes, like the new tabletop out of a rutted turn and a rebuilt
whoop section, and a bunch of new faces along with the Megacross regulars, and
you get an action-packed night of racing under the lights.
Ryan
Poulter was the big winner in the stacked expert classes, which were
twenty-riders deep of talent. Poulter
nailed his starts and aced the 125A and 250A heats and mains.
Justin Nalezny was another double class winner, taking the victory in
125B Division 1 and 14-24. Adam
Marten also took home two wins in +25A and +30A, leading both mains from
wire-to-wire.
Poulter led the twenty-rider 125A class
around the first turn, with Justin Baker, Cameron Lansing, Justin Kelly, and
Kevin Markwardt in tow. Markwardt
went down, advancing Derek Whitney into the top five.
Poulter and Baker stayed close, while Lansing, Kelly, and Whitney mixed
it up for the third spot, trading positions and trying different lines.
Poulter slowly pulled away from Baker on the way to the win, with Baker,
Kelly, Whitney, and Lansing following him across the finish.
In the twenty-rider 250A class, Poulter
(27) grabbed another holeshot, trailed by Kelly, Kyle White, Cody Simonton, and
Lansing. Lansing and Whitney
quickly moved into third and fourth behind Poulter and Kelly.
As they completed the first lap, Kelly took the lead from Poulter, while
Markwardt moved into the top five. Lansing
was the leader as they jumped three-wide over the 80-foot triple.
Then they were five bikes wide over the quad and through the rhythm
section, with Lansing in front of Poulter, Kelly, Markwardt and Whitney. Poulter took the lead back, as Markwardt slid into second,
and you could throw a blanket over the top five as they raced around the track.
Mid-race, Poulter settled into the lead, while Lansing ran into problems,
and dropped out of the race. Poulter
grabbed the victory, followed by Markwardt, Whitney, Kelly, and Chad Westbrook.
Jeff Juran led the ten-rider Quad A
class in the start, followed by Stephen Schenk and Jimmy Golliday.
As they hit the first jump, Golliday moved into second but then went off
the track, allowing Shane Cochran and Cody Harbach to get around Schenk.
Leader Juran bobbled at the end of the whoops while completing the first
lap, and went over the berm and off of his quad.
Shane Cochran capitalized, taking the lead, trailed by Harbach, Schenk,
Jeremy Beetz, and Golliday. Harbach
had mechanical problems while in second, and lost several positions.
Cochran ran away with the win. Schenk
gave up a position to Beetz on the last lap as his quad didn’t sound right,
but he held on for third. Golliday
and Derek Engeli wrapped up the top five.
Chase Sexton got out front in 50 Senior
and never looked back. Anthony
Wallace, Austin Kukla, Jacob Wehn, and Jackson Jeffery trailed Sexton as they
went through the table-table-step-up section, with a tight race shaping up for
the second spot. Wallace was left
pushing his bike off the track, while Wehn moved into second with Kukla,
Jeffery, and Dylan Boyd in the hunt. Sexton
carded the win, as Wehn, Jeffery, Kukla, and Boyd completed the top five.
Mason Halsey led 50 Junior out of the gate, followed by Justyn Mack and Colton Krska, with Mack moving into the lead through the second turn. Krska went down on the new tabletop out of a rutted turn, while Mack, Halsey, Zachary Blasing, and Nick Harris led the way. Krska remounted to catch up to the pack, while Halsey regained the lead over Mack. Haley collected the win, followed by Mack, Krska, Blasing, and Harris.
The new
Supermini class had a good turnout, with thirteen riders lining the gate. Maxx Malatia (55)
started out front, chased by Brandon Pope, heat race winner Kody Kamm (53), Kyle
Mierzejewski, and Kyle Sandlin. Malatia
stayed out front, while Pope, Kamm, and Mierzejewski mixed it up the entire
race. The front runners stunned the
crowd as the launched the 80-foot triple before the rhythm section.
Malatia collected the win, trailed by Kamm, Pope, Mierzejewski, and
Sandlin. The top five proved that
you can be fast on any color bike, as all five were on different bike
brands.
It was
basically a Supermini rematch in the nineteen-rider 85 Senior class.
Malatia picked up another holeshot, with Pope on his rear fender.
Pope passed into the lead early, followed by Malatia, Kamm, Mierzejewski,
and Sandlin. The top five pulled
away from the rest of the field, with Malatia taking back the lead mid-race in
the turn after the whoops. Malatia, Pope, and Kamm went three-wide through traffic, as
Pope railed the inside in a bowl turn to regain the lead.
Pope jumped the big 80-foot triple as he sprinted to the checkers on the
last lap, and gave a victory fist pump over the finish.
Malatia, Kamm, Mierzejewski, and Sandlin wrapped up the top five.
Dan
Marino grabbed the holeshot in the eighteen-rider 85 Junior class, with Dillon
Schacht, Conner Robinson, Jordan Mackiewicz, and Jacob Wever in the hunt.
Robinson moved past Schacht for second, while Marino kept it out front to
the checkers. Heat race runner-up Malachi Messenger worked through the pack
after a bad start, passing Wever for fourth by the finish, behind Marino,
Robinson, and Schacht.
Twenty
riders raced to the first turn in the combined +25A/B start, with Adam Marten
out front, followed by Burton Lavens and Bob Gardner, who came together in the
second turn. Lavens went down, as
Gardner, John Conley, Everett Dahlberg, and Joe Buskirk got through.
Martens sprinted to the win, while Gardner and Buskirk diced through
traffic the whole race, with Buskirk closing the door on the last lap.
Conley and Jim Lyon completed the top five.
Matt Entwistle was the 25+ B leader as
they reached the rhythm section, trailed by Todd Heermann and Joseph Kopecky.
After a lap, Ryan George moved into second behind Entwistle, and in front
of Kopecky, Heermann, Troy Quest, and Todd Schmollinger.
Jesse Keith was buried in the pack, running around tenth place. Quest and Schmollinger made contact in a turn and both went
down. Kopecky passed George for
second, and started to reel in Entwistle, trying to close the gap by jumping the
80-foot triple. On the last lap,
Kopecky cased the triple opening up the gap for Entwistle to take the win,
followed by Kopecky and George. Keith
worked all the way up to fourth, with Heermann finishing fifth.
Sixteen riders filled the gate in 65
Junior, with Jason Mack picking up the holeshot.
Mack charged ahead, followed by Taylor McLaughlin, Nick Wallace, Chase
Sexton (486), and Colton Slamans. Sexton
caught up to Wallace, and the two raced side-by-side through several sections.
Mack celebrated his win with a no-footer over the finish.
McLaughlin finished second, and Wallace edged out Sexton for third by
inches.
In 65
Beginner, Kolton Day led around the first turn, with Jacob Pogliano, Kyle
Mesarchik, and Justin Carr in a pack. Mesarchik
went down in the whoops, while Kurt Harper and Kayla Miller moved into the top
five. Day carded the win, as Carr,
Harper, and Pogliano went three-wide over the finish line jump after a great
race.
In 125 B Division 1, Justin Nalezny and
Kyle Entwistle led in front of a first turn pileup.
As they reached the rhythm section, the running order was Nalezny,
Entwistle, Broc Pagni, Edward Martin, and Bryce Jacobs.
Entwistle and Pagni diced back and forth for second, until Pagni dropped
out of the race on the last lap. Martin
and Jacobs mixed it up, with Martin getting the nod.
Nalezny stayed out front for the win, over Entwistle, Martin, Jacobs, and
Gordon Kaskin.
In 125 B
Division 2, Daniel Sanders started out front, chased by Dallas Devinney, Mike
Chrisos, Jordan VanDeWyngaerde, and Josh Provost.
Sanders was on the gas and even quadding the first two tabletops in the
rhythm section, but Devinney kept Sanders honest. Provost picked off VanDeWyngaerde and Chrisos to move into
third. Reese Miller worked into the
top five despite sliding out in the turn before the checkered flag and causing a
few riders to stall. Sanders carded
the win, trailed by Devinney, Provost, Chrisos, and Miller.
Provost
collected the holeshot in 250B, followed by Nick Manning, Wyatt Hall, Mark
Garcia, and Denny Morsch. Heat race
winner Sanders was the rider on the move after a bad start.
On the third lap, Sanders moved into second behind Provost through the
small whoop section, in front of Hall, Manning, and Morsch.
Provost secured the win, while Sanders, Morsch, Manning, and Jesse Keith
completed the top five.