Busse, Lawson, Johnson command M2!

Story by Kenzie  photos  by 451 Photography (Amanda)

Results     4-29-23 (M2)

Rain was forecasted on this day much like the last event.  This time it put some sprinkles down in the early morning hours just to barely keep the dust down, then the sun came out and made for a very nice day of racing.  We don't try to dwell on weather but in this crazy year and all the "information" out there one only has to choose which forecast to look at and then watch it change every hour for a week.  

The local area qualifier stuff was going on the last few weeks so many riders who do both had to hussle to get back to Megacross in time to practice and or make their heat race, as many as 40 some riders treked the short 45 mile trip and made it in time to hammer more laps in the day.

The newer race day schedule worked well, keeping many of the classes that had riders back to back at M1, finding the needed time between motos.  Over 300 entries on this night as the same as last event with this schedule found the event done at 10;30 and riders ready to hit up what ever they like to do on Sunday.  Saturday night racing gives options so they can do many things on a weekend!

Racing was intense as it ever has been, 50+ class had Steve Perkins (164) pulling the holeshot and Larry Bank (13) keeping him honest in this night, seems this rivalary has with stood some time, you see these two racing all the time.  Sprinkle in some more senior riders like Juark and Sartain (12) makes it a solid class to compete in. Sx is the last hold out of the splitting of this age class.

Riley Busse came down from the great white north and showed some of the classes that he is a force to rekoned with.  Dominate is a word that could describe his ride tonight.  404 had the lead in most all his classes.

In the 50cc Open class we watched some of the little guys put on a good race and battle it out. As these kids take off Zeyden Lawson (514), Karson Connolly(14), and Jax Baker (99) start off racing real close to each other. It didn’t take much for Lawson to gain some space between him and the other two. On the first lap around Connolly was doing a good job with staying in front of Baker but at some point within the second lap Baker found an open spot and made a pass on Connolly and took second place from him. Connolly wasn’t going to let Baker keep that spot for long, right as these two are about to finish their second lap, Connolly makes the pass back! These little guys had two more laps left with Baker still staying real close behind Connolly waiting to see if he can find a spot to make another pass while Connolly is just trying to stay ahead and not lose his spot again. As the race is coming to an end Lawson still in the lead Connolly in second Baker still right up close in third still hoping to make a pass until he crashes. But luckily for Baker he was able to get up quick enough and keep that third place till the finish. 

The pressure was on for Wyatt Sandy (701) and Max Soti (56) in the 65 Sr class. Sandy took the lead right off the bat with Soti right on his tail. As each lap went on Soti stayed right with Sandy, Sandy was doing everything he could to stay in that lead. He had some real determination to stay in the lead and it showed. By the time these two were coming to finish their race they were running into lappers. But Sandy didn’t let that slow him down, he kept the lead to the finish and got a win and Soti kept his second with putting on a great race! These two should be fun to watch the rest of the season! 
In the 250 C race there were a couple different battles going on throughout the race. Within the first lap there was a battle already with Colin Summers (399) and Amos Vincent (358). Summers was leading with Vincent right up on him in second. By their second lap around Vincent made a pass on Summers and switched their places around! While these two are battling for first and second, Will Fabrizius (142) is in third Mikey Chiappini (177) in fourth, and Joshua Schumacher (7) in fifth. By the third lap around Schumacher made it around both Chiappini and Fabrizius. Fabrizius wasn’t gonna let Schumacher stay in front of him long, next lap around Fabrizius came in and took his third place spot back. Time was running out for these guys if they wanted to make anymore passes, as the checkered flag comes out Vincent wins the race, Summers keeping second, Fabrizius with third and Schumacher pulling fourth. 
As the 85 Sr class takes off Dominik Youngren (99) takes the lead with Austin Gehrt (127) in second not leaving much room between him and Youngren and as time went by Gehrt was only getting closer and closer. As the two were making their way to finish their third lap, going over one of the humps, Gehrt got tire to tire with Youngren but ended up killing his bike which let Youngren keep that lead for a bit longer while third place, Lucas Wood (27), came up and stole second place while Gehrt was trying to get going again. Gehrt was able to get moving again before anyone else came up and passed him. So now Youngren is still in the lead and Wood in second coming up hot to him and Gehrt in third with only a couple laps around. Wood didn’t stay in that second place spot long, just within that fourth lap he managed to take the lead away from Youngren and put him in second. As they only have one lap we’re all waiting to see if Youngren is going to be able to take the lead back or is Wood taking first for good. With the checkered flag out, Wood wins the race, Youngren takes second, Eddie Martens (412) made a pass on Gehrt in the last lap to take third and Gehrt finishes in fourth! 
Travis Wilkinson (199) couldn’t stay off the ground on this night and even with that being he still did pretty good in the Open C class. He started in first with Wesley Johnson (26) in second, and James Coleman (917) in third. It didn’t take Wilkinson long till he crashed at the tower jump on the second lap around and lost that lead. Johnson took the lead with Coleman in second now. When Wilkinson got going again, he was down in 9th place, if he wants a good finish he’s gonna have to put in some real work. By the next lap around he managed to pick off two guys and put himself in 7th and continued to just keep making passes. As the race came to an end Johnson finished in first, Coleman in second, with Braiden Herrera (8) in third and Wilkinson making it all the way back up to fourth to end the race!

It was a really good night of racing and the riders had a great time.  Coming up M3 on May 13th, looks like a pretty open schedule with hardly any moto going on so if you haven't tried a Megacross event yet, see why it's a very long sustained series that is over 30 years old and still going strong. Rain outs are rare as it can always be moved inside.