Galesburg M/C Motocross finally gets nice weather!

5-5-2024

Great River Shootout Series rnd 1.

Story by Kenzie

Results

Over a hundred year Galesburg Motorcycle Club has been plugging away, in fact this is it's 101 year, now moto hasn't bee around that long but in the beginning of moto, this motorcycle club was putting on Moto racing as far back as one can remember.  This place is very nice and has a track that is only raced 2 times a year which so many riders will skip many things to make sure they head over and race there.  Last Sunday they had a huge amount of rain so they kicked it back a week and was rewarded with some very nice weather.  Glad they could get the event in!  

First moto of the Open C race, Trae Geyer (98) didn’t seem to get the best start so he spent the first lap making passes and working his way up to Jacob Marquette (199). As soon as Geyer got up to Marquette in the second lap, they started an instant battle. As they were working their way around the track, things were heating up as Geyer kept getting right up next to Marquette and doing everything that he could to try and make a pass but Marquette was holding him off for as long as he could. Pretty soon Geyer had Collin Phares (89) and Myles Shreves (9) right on his tail bringing even more pressure on Geyer. Third lap, back part of the course, Shreves decided he was done following these guys as he made some passes and got around all three of these guys! Once Shreves got ahead he started pulling away to leave the three to battle it out for the last couple laps left. Pretty quickly after Shreves made his way around them, Geyer made the pass around Marquette to switch their positions right around. Marquette stayed right with Geyer but ran out of time to make the pass back, checkered flag was out and Geyer finishes with a fourth and Marquett with a fifth!

The Supermini class sure did have an intense race with the top four. Blake Pearson (427) took the lead with Lucas Wood (27) right on him in second, Casey Coakley (817) in third, and Ryder Cronk (35) in fourth all in a close pack. As the four of them race around the track, each of them are trying to gain speed to get closer to one another in hopes to snatch that lead. As Coakley goes around one of the corners, he makes a small mistake and almost let’s Cronk take his spot but he manages to save it to keep his third and stay in the battle. Beginning of third lap, Cronk goes into one of the corners but ends up falling over and takes himself out of the battle. He manages to get up pretty quick to try and bring himself back into the battle with the other three. As Pearson was still leading, the race was coming close to an end, and he still had Wood right on his tail. As they come out of that last part of the trees to come to a finish, Pearson was not with them anymore, which led Wood to take the win, Coakley in second, and Cronk with a third, Pearson must have crashed out there but still finished with a fourth!

Michael Vittetoe (761) takes the lead in the 125cc race with Grant Robinson (426) hanging right on his tail. About middle of the pack, we see another battle going on with Kaleb Fuchs (13) and Davin Shike (111). Shike did not want to spend much time behind Fuchs, second lap in he tried to take the outside of the corner and make the pass while Fuchs took the inside, Fuchs made sure to stay in his line and keep ahead. They all head around the track for another lap, Robinson still hanging on Vittetoe while Shike was pushing hard to find a way around Fuchs. Shike ends up crashing on the tabletop to give Fuchs some more time to stay ahead. Shike doesn’t waste any time on getting back up and moving since he really has to push now if he wants to get back with Fuchs. Pretty quickly here Vittetoe and Robinson are running into guys from the other class that’s out there with them, giving them even more of a challenge. The two are cruising around the track and it seems like Robinson is getting even closer as they go into corners and Robinson is able to get his front fender up next to Vittetoe’s back fender, still struggling to get completely around him. White flag comes out, bringing even more pressure for these guys. Shike had found his way back up on Fuchs and as they come into one of the corners they are rubbing elbows as Shike is eager to make a pass and that’s just what he did the corner before dropping back down into the trees! Just as time is running out Vittetoe and Robinson are coming around the back section of the track, Robinson takes inside of corner while Vittetoe is on the outside of him and Robinson makes the pass to take the lead! Robinson gets the checkered to win the race leaving Vittetoe with a second! Shike makes it to the checkered before Fuchs so Shike takes a fifth and Fuchs finishes with a sixth!

First moto of 250 B, Jake Hasten (14) and Austin Hanabarger (119) had an intense close race with Hasten winning that first moto and Hanabarger finishing right on him in second. Once that second moto started for the two, they put on another close race, but this time Hanabarger took the lead with Hasten right behind in second. While these two are out in the front, Mason Krog (95) and Carson Anderson (5) were out in the back of the pack having a close race. As Hanabarger seemed to be picking up speed and inching away from Hasten lap by lap, Krog and Anderson were only inches away from each other. Anderson was doing everything he could, taking every line to try and make the pass but Krog was not letting that happen. Race was coming to an end, Hanabarger got to the finish first to come out with a win while Hasten took second. Krog made sure to hold off Anderson to finish in fourth to leave Anderson with a fifth.

Make sure to look at the schedule as Galesburg M/C hosts some very intense racing which is different then moto.  They have a long ran track there which is a dirt track type racing event.  Short track is the style which is very fun to watch as well.  Their next race is in the fall in Sept for Moto and it will be bonus as well come out and see why they are still kicking out events after all these years!