Dissell, Keith, Smith take wins!

Fox Valley Off Road Gp Rn3 Results

Sept 20th, 2014

Saturday,  Day 1 of the series final double header

 Photos by Freemotopix & Ryan Moss

Kicking off the last races of the Fox Valley Series in 2014 was the 3rd Gran Prix and with radar showing the likely hood of rain coming in the afternoon, riders came ready for a quick program.  The largest class of the day........45+ , seems like the older riders are really appreciating the longer motos, and lack of knee jarring, back wrenching whoops, or the possibility of slamming the face of a double/triple. Holeshot to Doug Propper Sr. (718)

he has practiced his holeshots and dead engine starts to perfection.  Lee Excavating's Kevin Lee (733) on board a Service Honda a/f 500  following in second, Craig Lee  (402) aboard his Yamaha 125  shows the diversity of the 45+ class.  Open class and 45+ is combined and run as last moto of the day.  7 riders in the Open class and 19 in the 45 class made for many levels of competition, but with the long layout/course it was nice to have these battles without getting in the way of others that run a different speed. Si Keith (3051) sliding around the outside of the first turn ran a good race as well. Early in the 45+ class Propper and Lee diced til the moto track where Lee has a little more hp and experience.  Craig Lee (no relation to Kevin) lost ground on the 500 on the hills, but got back in the hunt on the trail as the slightly more nimble 125 shines in those areas. Starting out in the 19th position was the eventual class winner Gerhard Ward on another Service Honda 500, on in which he has had the inability to start with consistency.  Some would say this is an age issue.  The race was over after 4 laps (lap times around 5 -6 minutes) Kevin Lee lead most of this moto, with Craig on his heels.  The last lap saw changes in the top 5, as Propper dropped the bike, getting back up finishing 5th.  Rod Learned on his Ktm took advantage of that misscue moving to 4th.  Ward passed Craig Lee on the long uphill section using the horsepower and then passing Kevin Lee on the finish line logs.  Late in the lap Craig found his way around Kevin as they battled to the finish.A/B  class is a combination of riders A, B, classes. Today the little "speedster" Mason Schuhler (338) moved to A class.  His brother Riley Schuhler (121) and other riders in the class, Travis Ward (51), Grant Bodmer (55), Blake Ryan (23) and Hall's Cycle's Jarred Hall (150) you have yourself some nice battles.  Just like in the Open Class and 14-29 classes which has even more diversity.  Team Kaos's  Ben"jamin"  Schmidt (153) coming off a 3-4 years of non riding and leaving the sport on top of the A class pile now has returns at 22 years old to to run against "kids".     Ronniemac Dissell (90) made his yearly guest appearance, this ripe old man with 8 years AA class experience had some fun today, halloween, goon riding comes early around here.    Below you have Bodmer and Dissell playing tag on the mx track with Benny railing the corners trying to get a win in moto one of the A class.  Mason and Tman Ward banging all weekend making jumps out of things that well simply weren't made to be jumped.  Riley Schuhler is getting a great view of these guys and competing with them as well. 

14-29 class seen "ronnie" play run and hide with some antics early in the race but checking out for the win.  Riley and Mason followed with Smith checking in 4th missing the podium by a small margin.  30+ class which runs on a second drop had the Perkinator Steve Perkins on his Ktm (622 set to battle Jesse Keith (69) on a Service Honda 450. The big question of the day was how many laps does this moto run.  Evidently the promoter got it wrong and ran it 5 laps instead of 4.  This allowing Keith to pass Perkinator for the win in that moto.  When asking how many laps it was then realized that in fact the exact correct number of laps was run, since Keith was able to pass for the lead. Perkinator failed to see this humor but in the spirit of GP racing this is / was acceptable.  ALL this action was happening in the first motos.  Kids and Women classes ran their first motos before Mother nature decided to rain on the parade.  12 mini riders and 6 women riders attacked the course.  Autumn Torres (435) and Gretchen Orme (455) did dice a little til the younger Torres wicked it up and put some distance on the field.  The up and comer in this group is Allison Roland (416), she has been putting in the work all summer and has started to be noticed in the top spots.  Orme has been hurt most all the season as her speed is faster then her balance and this makes for a long season.  Both battled for position through out the race with Ali's sister Autumn Franklin in the mix early til a crash put her back in the pack.

Torres pictured below has been a force as of late with a much improved riding process and smooth racing habits.  Many of the riders in the Women's class have improved substantially this season. The hills at Fox Valley this weekend were wet and slick at the beginning of the day (both days) and these riders endured and performed much better then earlier in the season.  It's nice to see those kinds of improvements from all the women in this class.  85-Super mini class was contested by Garrett Ward (231) and Tanner Whipple (327) for the top spots. Jay Pelka (328) and Jack Wallus (618) had a great battle back in the pack.  Pelka coming back from about a year off and Wallus trying his hand in the Gp racing as a newcomer. 

Ward would go on to win this moto, Whipple would save his winning ways for Sunday. Alex Moss (315) who has been stepping it up and riding much more attentive charged to the third and final podium spot in the 85-Super mini class.

Second largest class of the day was the C class.  Normally a high contested class and this day was no different.  Some younger riders are getting into the mix with older less experience riders so it makes for some interesting battles like 13 year olds up against 30 somethings.  Funny to see the banter back and forth between the age groups!  On the race track/course it's all "business"  they ride hard and try to get those much coveted bragging rights for the next sit around in the pits.  Dougie Propper Jr (930) holeshotted Alex Moss and Gman Ward in this moto. Propper and Ward banging bars a bit til the ktm Propper distanced himself from Ward.  Relatively new to the group is Michael Manuel (1058) he got in the fray along with Crf250 Honda rider Adam Dhamer (851), both riders chased the "kids" to the checkers.  Nathan Ming doing his best to keep his slim points lead alive in the AMA District 17 Championship GP Series too 5th. Here the Schuhler brothers are showing Travis Ward around the track. Rain came in cancelling the event's finish but not before getting a few riders a little wet. (338) Mason Schuhler after finishing his second moto.  Only A/B class was able to finish before they called the event.

 ALL of these photos and hundreds more from this event are on FreeMotoPix or Ryan Moss's Face book pages.  Since so many are on that social site anymore it's pretty easy to go and look for yourself on there.  Check it out.  Below is a few more we thought were pretty good shots.  NEXT Gran Prix!  Canton Club October 26th.  It's at Dave Edsall's farm and is pretty solid layout.  Nice big grass track section, flowing timbers, and great natural terrain.  We race there last year and had a blast!  Don't forget the annual Rider appreciation and awards day at Fox Valley Off Road on November 9th! Open ride, Door prizes, great food, and fun!