Politics at
by Joe Lanute
Photos by Mandy
Lanute & Brett Wilkinson
Do you think it is time for a
change?
Do you favor the left or the
right?
Are you a conservative or
liberal?
What party are you with?
Are you pulling for the mature
man, the woman or the young guy?
No way.
Favor the left or right? What
line did you take down Rock Creek?
Conservative with your charges
up the hills or liberal with your use of throttle and brakes?
Did you attend the team party
Saturday night?
There were 245 riders to cheer for Sunday, 24 classes to accommodate men, woman, girls, boys and a few rabbits.
Pictured is the 50 Sr, and 50
Jr classes the little ones had a great ride with only a few hiccups in the
tighter woods section. Interesting to see a 50Jr rider win the overall between
the classes, but "Mr. Thompson" has been riding for a little bit of
time and has a lot of hours on the seat!
The first of five conventions
for 2008 were held at Fox Valley Off Road on Sunday and yet again the weather
was our friend.
A couple of good down pours in
the week kept the grounds moist and the dust to a minimum, the sun was just hot
enough to put some color on our shoulders. As always
First on the agenda was the 4
wheelers, the Prez dropped his hat and the race to the white house was on.
Actually the house is more cream colored and the only reason to race to there
would be to get your transponder past the scoring receiver located in front of
it.
Forest Burkitt made it there
first 8 times followed by John McCarrens, John had a tough first lap but worked
his way to the number two spot on the 4-Wheel A ticket.
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The junior delegates in
Mini-Quad had their caucus with Jake McCarrens and Michael Goode coming in one
and two. Jake on that new race mini quad found another line through the tight
tree section which worked well for him.
26 candidates tore into the
woods and after going 10 rounds, Cody Fortham (304) traded jabs with Fox
Valley’s favorite son Travis Ward(351).
Dylan Kress was hot in the hunt
with Cody, Travis, and Drake Lineback all in the top 4 freight train. Cody and
Dylan were in
a heated
battle with Dylan finding some wire out on the course and that hang up dropped
him out of the front runners on about the 3rd lap. Once Dylan fell back, Travis
caught up to fill the spot in 2nd. As the race wore on Ward passed Cody some
where after the field section (which would come to play later) and Cody was then
dropped to "vice-chair" position. Drake Lineback (312) all the time
working his way up from a 5th place start and every lap pulling in the leaders.
The lead changed four or five times between the 15 year old Cody and 12 year old
Travis, the young guns coming in the class were wanting to share the lime
light. The white flag lap is when all the "drama" took place,
Travis and Cody decided to fill the same spot in a corner, Travis the junior senator
from FVOR found out that sometimes it's better to fold then flop. While Travis laid
on the ground, Cody had the line and went on to a 30+second lead. Drake as hard
as he tried couldn't overcome those two. Travis held on for 2nd with Drake
making a last lap charge and reeling in Ward at the end finishing 2 seconds
behind. Dylan Kress (69) coming fast ended fourth with great lap times, he
also will be a force to reckon with in the 85cc race. Looking at the lap times
one could see the riders figuring out the course as they improved the times, no
tiring out for these young men, lap 7-10 were the fastest of the race. 
Ex Motocross star Dalton
Brough (32) decided to try his hand at HS racing. The lure of longer races, and
his obvious ability showed in this days race. Mason Schuler (138) a local hot
rod coming from last years 65 beginner class shows he can ride with the big
65's, along with some other notables in the class. Kurt (get a hair cut) Harper,
Mitchell Ternes, Tyler Spizzirri, Rachel Gutish, ALL transferring and really
doing well to conquer the bigger and much harder course. Jared Hall (150) from
the famed Halls Cycles lead the race for a few laps til a root took his chain
off. He finally got going but was down a large amount of time. He worked hard to
make it back to 4th, with Logan Housenga taking third. Dalton took the win, and
Mason's introduction to the 65cc class went well with a 2nd.
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The Thumpers always show us a good time and give us something to debate. 19 of those fur bearing animals were out there to show the meaning of competition. They didn't debate when to start, they just scurried in behind the women. You see when at a HS race, there are 2 rows, 1st row takes off, then 2nd row takes off. These delegates of the thumper class, (mainly mx background) seen riders leaving the line, will time to go! LOL, wrong. Notice the first lap time scores, you will see who the culprits are! Next event we have a surprise. A new meaning to Hare Scramble was shown today. The "jack rabbit" start made it interesting with the 9 women directly ahead. Not one other color of machines in this thumper day, all red! Honda lovers would be proud.
The normal suspects in the
lead Jeremy Petosky, and John Conley, with Nic Caldena. If the class keeps
growing it will have to be A and B? Danielle
Wilkinson (74) was heard mumbling about "hiring a mechanic", we
weren't sure why, until we see her pull in every lap to the back shed, it houses
an air compressor. That's right evidently she found out on the line she had a
flat tire, so every lap she wheeled in, gave it a shot of air, and went back
out. She would have had a strong finish, but
air is an important ingredient in t
The big bikes took to the full
course and received the full treatment from 
made the trip up from southern Illinois and showed
the rest of the 128 riders how is done. Lee a pulled some impressive lap times
with the overall win. Robert (bubba) Johnson did his best to keep him honest as
he is new to the A class with Lee being in AA class. 
Plus 50 had 6 of the mature guys campaigning; Gary Peterson(635) is the man to beat this season, he brought them in and my good friend Colonel ‘give ‘em heck’ Bob Mitchell finished fourth. Don Carequeville (633) (699) ran hard and took the 2nd spot with Doug Johnson (655) filling the podium with a 3rd place, being his first run of the season Johnson was happy to get in a good ride.
Clint Pherigo had a great day, "jay needs go racing somewhere every time we come here!" As Jay Hall (Hall's Cycle owner) was in New Jersey qualifying for the ISDE, Clint profoundly boasted of his good fortune while the boss was gone! Clint rode his Halls's gas gas to an impressive win in the 30+A class. Mark Spizzirri 30+ B winner rode exceptional also to put away his class.
Coming out of the creek in past years, specially after a good rain makes for some interesting line choices. Most all the riders managed it well after lines were dug in and the course manicured buy hundreds of passes. Some made it look easy, others well........
We wish a speedy recovery to
our good friend Josh Rodes, he received a purple heart for the day.
Next convention, June 15th
We couldn't resist. This shows that a KTM does have some power, and that a "hogie" (888C) can hang on........well most of the time.
Fox Valley Off Road's first HS of the season was a great success, many old faces and many new upstarts who came away with a great day of riding/racing and fun abound. Don't forget to check the race scores to see how you fare against anyone in any class! Check the results here! See you on fathers day!