Competition, Racing, and Sportsmanship Shine at Fox Valley Off Road.

rnd 3   District 16 & 17 Points paying event.  Results (lap times and more)    photos by Nick Smith 893 photography

July for the last few years has been the time of the year when District 16 riders come to Fox Valley Off Road for a round in their points paying series out of WI.  It's been a back and forth battle between the top riders which this year was no different.  The particulars for this event such as weather wasn't a big factor, but rain in the forecast made it interesting to layout a course that was challenging but conducive to this years wetter then normal conditions.  The "big" rain which hit the 2nd round didn't materialize this weekend and it ended up being a dry and even dusty trail. 

We will start this short story with something that you don't see in today's sports much anymore.  We have seen it a few times while going to Off Road events but this day it was interesting to say the least.  In the morning youth classes which is comprised of 85cc, 65cc, 100cc and Women's class machines, there are a couple of riders who have been competing for a "long" time even at their ripe young age of 14.  Tanner Whipple (1E) and Garrett Ward (231) both kids are sons of local promoters and have become friends over the years, but are pretty competitive when it comes to the green flag dropping and heading for the checkers.

Today,  Ward was cruising in the lead and as usual Whipple was hot on his heals.  This has happened three or four times at FVOR but today something special happened.  Ward has been getting a little to aggressive lately and there was this log on the side of an off camber which was angled.  He had been "doubling it" or jumping it for quite a few laps.  Lap 3 comes along and Ward mis-judges the leap and his rear tire hits the log, and off into the briars he goes.  Realize there are only two riders in this 100cc class, Tanner is directly behind and sees Ward upside down in the thick underbrush.  Sportsmanship is what it's called.  Tanner stops and not only asks if Garrett is ok, but parks his machine and helps him or tries to help him get his bike out of the thicket.  The two boys are struggling evidently like most things Garrett does he did this thing "well" too.  The bike is stuck, really stuck.  They tug and they push, can't get it upright.  Another rider comes along, this time Gretchen Orme (455) who races in the Women's class, she see's the boys and the predicament she then two parks her ride, and comes to help the two boys.  Now that there are three humans pushin and tuggin they finally get the bike out and are ready to mount a charge to the end of the race.  Tanner takes off, Gretchen as well.  Garrett is a little behind but soon catches up to Tanner and the race is on once again!  After that race Garrett stated " that one hurt, but Tanner helped me, so we could race again"  In the day and age where we see all the nonsense adults spend time doing as it's depicted on the national news, it's this writers opinion that with riders like this we have hope for our sport!    Speaking of the Women's class, has anyone been paying attention to those riders lately?  There has been some vast improvements to the abilities of these young ladies. Autumn Torres (435) and Allie Roland (416) have stepped it up this season to compete with the long standing women riders of the class.  Roland on another Kx 100 had the holeshot and led for half the race, Torres who just this year stepped up to a yz 125 got past Roland some where in the back section on lap 3.  Bri-an Stocklen (464) and Autumn Franklin (423) were in the hunt early but got hung up and dropped a minute by the end 3rd lap.  Seems 40 minutes into the race things went goofy for many riders.  The morning race for the youth classes has been heating up all summer, and this day was just another example that even though it's kids classes, the racing is still intense and fun.

The next race up for the day on the big track is C classes, the ole guys in the 50+A and B classes.  Shawn Van Alsburg rode a solid race in the 50+A class holding off Kenny Otterbach and Ricks RV's Kevin Finefield for the win.  Shawn has been the rider to beat all season in the 50+ class, his only nemesis has been when the scores are combined there are a couple C class riders on 100's that give him fits.  Those two riders, you guessed it, the two from the above paragraph.  Shawn's goal this year is to "overall" the morning big bike class and as of yet that hasn't happened.  He takes off first off the line, Tanner and Garrett are last off the 4th line 2minutes behind.  Kenny just shakes his head man those kids are riding well.

Special notes on these classes.  Little C, Big C and 30+ C classes have been having solid battles all season long!  Looks like Brad Cloyd is pushing hard in the 50+B class and doing well in D17 HS points.  Same with Justin Long, and Chad Piecha 30+ C class riders who have pushed each other all summer long.

JD Friebel(17) and Austin Wells(93) the heavy hitters from WI and IL were set to push the limits in the afternoon class.  Mason Schuhler (138) the local hot rod of late and Mason Amerling (31) who came down from WI to battle with the IL boys.  This time Friebel wasn't going to be denied.  He rocked a solid holeshot and everyone thought man it's over. Wells who has been having a few issues firing his thumper off the line gave everyone a false sense of security and spotted them a good 20-30seconds.  Schuhler who isn't an AA rider yet, sat patiently while the AA class took off and his Open A class which is 30 seconds behind line 1, he then rocketed off and set his sites on the lead group. Travis Ward (51) who is the park owners kid riding the Service Honda 250 today got as high as 3rd then faded back to 5th overall and 4th in class.  Amerling stalked Ward most of the first part of the race, passing him around lap 5 and then was in a battle with Schuhler who has caught up to the lead pack and was jumping his way through the Ex section with ease.  Wells methodically picked off riders one by one and even late in the second hour got into third and brought Friebel close but even with them both stopping for gas just couldn't get a visual on Friebel to set the "go get em" energy needed.   At the point of the two AA riders stopping this put Schuhler in the lead time wise but he was still running third without the time deference.  Notable mention Woodstock's Ryan Moss who turned 40 this week ran up front with the crew but ended up 6th with Halls' Cycles Jarred Hall 7th overall for the day.  Last thing about this afternoon big bike race was another form of competition, and determination.  That recognition goes to Matt Mcdonald.  As he rolls through the barrels later in the race, he yells to dad to get him some tape, he tells dad he has wore off the skin on this fingers.  Next lap in dad (Don) is waiting with band-aides and duct tape (of course).  As we watched Matt pull in, pull his glove off it would make a grown man cringe.  three fingers with basically no skin on the finger tips.  Now who knows how "tough" anyone is, but for this guy that is one for the memory books.  Don taped him up, and off he went, Matt had other issues this day, but finishing a solid 8th overall with this adversity is one hell of an accomplishment. Here Matt is launching the log by the finish line.

Atv Racing has seen a small spark and a few more riders have been coming out.  Some have healed up from last years crashes and new C riders came out to give it a try.  The course gets changed around a little to make it more fun and maneuverable as they need a little wider areas to run in.  The east side of the the lower road always is a place were ATV's have gone in the past but with the heavy rains this spring the off camber and it's cross trails were a little too nasty for them to ride safely.  Coming down the hill we seen riders taking different routes and the promoter getting a "finger shake" meaning no no no not a good trail to use.  So by the lap three the course while the riders were on the west side was changed to make it rideable and keep them from highsiding down a hill.  Brian (i am low on anti-freeze) Wittershiem took an early lead only to stop and fill er up on lap one.  Chris Brietwieser was in the lead for a while, as Brian slowly but methodically caught back up.  Andre Topper after taking some time off came back out and tried his hand in the over 30 class.   Kevin Johnson rode a solid race but later in the event got over heated and stopped early.  Joe Nemitz won the B class with Brent Colye keeping him honest.  

It was a hot July day, rain held off and with some quick changes throughout the day all the classes got a different look.  Next up at Fox Valley is the AMA District 17 bonus points event which normally brings out some riders from down south so like this day with the WI  riders here it looks like more great competition and fun to be had.