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"NEWS NOT HISTORY"

Barnes,Donnelly, Arnold conquer Megacross M3

05/14/2022

Photos by 451 Photography (Amanda)

Story by Kenzie Aters

 Cody Barnes 99 had a weekend off in fact a couple he was coming to M-2 but had something pop up so he came out this weekend. It's been a while since we seen Cody here at Megacross, in fact something like 4 years.  It was good to see the family and glad to see he is healthy and competing well in his wood pro racing career.  Phoenix Honda is his main sponsor and they would have been proud of how he handled his mediocre starts and come from behind passing the field for 250 A and Open A wins.  It wasn't easy, the riders who race Megacross made him earn it and it was some great racing to watch, as a fan I enjoy it a bunch when they are racing 3-4-5 riders deep and watching them take different lines, A class riders do it so effortlessly.  RJ holeshots were on point tonight as was Kyle White's.  Cody has been training and his corner speed on flat corners, especailly the entrance speed was very fast. Woods riders take inside lines, it's simply how they attack a course, tonight the inside lines developed nicely and Cody took advantage of them.  Bad starts made for some good passing and racing.  It was good to see him "home" again. At the time of this story being finished we found out he won his first xc2 pro race in Ohio last Sunday.  There were some little kids running around with "99" posters.  Nice touch Cody.

t was a perfect day for round 3 of Megacross, the weather was beautiful, the track was groomed perfectly, the guys even had to water quite a bit. The weather was so much better than what we had two weeks ago at the last Megacross. Many people came out to enjoy this beautiful race day with us. In fact all the water that was put down dried so fast that it got a little dusty, but mid way through the races the track crew caught up with the moisture and clear skies the rest of the night.

 

There were many great races throughout the night that we got to watch; one was the 50cc 4-8 class. Daron Harvey and Jaxson Donnelly put all they had in that race and made gave each other some real competition with passing each other every lap! Harvey took off with the lead with Jaxson Donnelly

 right behind him in the first lap. Harvey was able to keep that lead until the second lap when Donnelly passed him which brought Donnelly in first and put Harvey in second place, but he didn’t let that slow him down any. Harvey made sure to stay close behind Donnelly the entire third lap and just right before they go into their fourth lap, Harvey makes the pass in the corner right before the finish line jump! So now we’re onto the final lap with Harvey back in first place and Donnelly in second place right behind him. As the two boys come racing into the into the S-turns one right behind the other, Donnelly makes an awesome pass around Harvey and wins the 50cc 4-8 class!

The 50+ class started with Steve Perkins leading with a pretty decent size gap from the rest of the pack with Larry Bank in second place, Kevin Lee in third, and Anthony Bartemio coming in fourth place. By the third lap Bartemio managed to get around third and second place and get up close behind Perkins. By the end up of the race Perkins still kept that lead and won the race with Bartemio finishing in second.  Anthony is a very good at ''outdoor'' racing it's good to see him venturing out and learning the sx style racing it will help with his national title attempt this year.  Even these older riders have such desire to race hard and win.  Never to old to ride a dirt bike they say, and this proves it!

 

10 women lined up on the gate to go out and race the Women’s class, all 10 of them ready to go waiting for the gate to drop and hoping they get off the line fast enough to get the hole shot and take the lead. Gina Grigoletti was lucky enough to be that person who pulled the hole shot and take the lead, as they’re all about to finish their first lap of the race, Amber Logeland was going a little too fast into the corner right before the finish line jump and ended up crashing pretty good, but that didn’t keep her from going on with the race. As the race goes on Gina Grigoletti is managing to take all the right lines to keep in first with Lilyenn McDonnell right behind her. Just as the girls are about to finish their fourth lap McDonnell takes full advantage and passes Grigoletti, but as that didn’t last very long Grigoletti was able to pass her back and with just enough time and finish the race and take first place, leaving McDonnell with a second for round three of Megacross.

Bryce Arnold and Brody Brewer put on a good show in 85 Sr, those two were right up on each other throughout the whole race. As the kids took off Arnold was leading with Brewer in second and Landon Brandt in third, Arnold was able to stay in first for the first two laps but within the third lap Brewer took the opportunity and came right up and made the pass that put him in first place. The two battled the entire race, at one point they were even bouncing off of each other and sliding off of the track! They were both fighting hard to get that first place even with lappers starting to get in the way towards the end, but Brewer was able to get around them a little quicker and win the race with Arnold in second and Dane Miller coming in third.

Open A  Class photo decription, these two Connor Robinson and Rj Mackenzie have been having some epic battles of late. If you remember M-2 they were the only two in the class and still battled all night, but tonight there were more riders and more competiton, here is what we seen!  Conner and Rj rubbin elbows.  Now no one went down but they are sure fun to watch as they have now bettered each other different times this season.  Lets see who pulls it off at M-4.

Remember coming up Memorial day weekend, M-4 will also be hosting Great River Shootout Series! It's that series 2nd round and it will be a great way to kick off a very night MM weekend.  The great thing about Saturday night racing is that you can come out and race at a time that doesn't interfere with other plans normally.  Have Sunday to do the things you like and for a bonus on Monday have that extra day as well!  Have a save holiday weekend looking forward to seeing everyone Saturday night!