M-3 Young guns putting in the work!

5-11-24

Story by Kenzie

Photos By 451 Photograghy

Results

The 3rd race of Megacross is in the books and it's heating up with the young guns in the youth and little older classes. Most of these "kids" are putting in laps and speeds of some of the more accomplished racers.  It shows in their intenesity and go for it attitude. Schoolboy class tonight was a perfect example. 

The Schoolboy class heats things up once again! Grant Robinson (426) snatches the lead up as Brody Brewer (586) grabs second, Lucas Wood (27) out in third and Bryson Wells (926) in fourth! Dane Miller (152) didn’t seem to get that great of a start, but he didn’t let that stop him from working his way to the top. Second lap in and he made a quick battle with Landon Lee (964) fighting for that fourth place spot now that Wells dropped back. The two went down the front straight away right up next to each other, right behind them comes Landon Brandt (614) and Wells up next to each other. Miller went into that corner after straight away first to get ahead of Lee and take that fourth place spot. Brandt quickly gets right on Lee’s tail and is working to find a way around him. Third lap in, Miller gets right up on Wood who is still holding that third place while Brandt makes the pass around Lee section after front straight away and instantly starts to put a gap on Lee. Things get real intense between Wood and Miller as Wood is taking all the insides to just keep ahead, but Miller is not backing off! Time was running out for these guys, down to the last lap, Wood and Miller head down the straight away again, Wood takes outside of the corner, Miller tries to go inside to make the pass but it seemed like it slowed him down a tad as he couldn’t go through the corner as smooth so Wood stayed ahead. As checkered flag was out, Robinson takes the win, Brewer takes second, Wood in third and Miller coming out in fourth! These guys put on an amazing race every time, makes it very exciting to see how they’ll keep doing this season!

After the race, grabbed Wood to hear how his race went from his point of view, “I raced pretty good, got a good start, and kept running good out there and pushing to get podium. I couldn’t make any mistakes with Miller behind me. Tonight was my first podium in the Schoolboy race and it’s only my third race in Schoolboy so I felt pretty good about it”.

As the Womens Advanced class takes off the line, Jaiden Minnaert (35) pulls the hole shot, Mallie Arnold (99) in second, Addison Smith (27) grabbing third, Sadie Quest (106) taking fourth, and Rylee Woods (610) out in fifth. Within the first lap they already start switching things up. Arnold makes a pass around Minnaert to steal the lead while Quest makes the pass around Smith right after the front straight away and pretty quickly  Woods makes the pass around Smith to bring herself up to fourth! Shortly into the second lap Quest makes another pass around Minnaert and gets right up on Arnold who is still holding the lead! As Minnaert has dropped down another place, Woods has her eyes on Minnaert and pretty quickly Woods made that pass around Minnaert to switch their places around! Arnold and Quest race around the track on their third lap now, Quest comes in and steals the lead from Arnold, putting Arnold in second now. Out back behind these guys Smith makes her way around Minnaert while going down the front straight away putting herself in fourth. Quest still in the lead going through the “s” corners and gets stuck in the corners so Arnold comes up and snatches up the lead once again! While Quest is trying to get going again, Woods comes in and grabbed second place. Once Quest got going again she was back in third place. The girls stayed racing hard the last couple laps but it was time for the checkered flag, Arnold came across the finish line first to take the win, Woods came out with second place and Quest finished with a third!

After that intense race Arnold said “race was good, I got a bad start but pushed my way to the front. I’m happy I got first but I didn’t want to push too hard and hurt myself so I just kept it calm”. After that, went to Woods to hear her point of view of the race, “I felt pretty good, little slow in the corners and a slow start. It was very intense trying to catch up to Quest and Arnold. I would like to thank Precision Works for building me a bike and sponsoring me and my parents for bringing me out here to race”.

As the 50 Jr class comes around the front straight away in their first lap Bryson Mejia (27) takes the lead with Brantley Vols (321) coming around in second. As both of these boys picked up their speed they took off from the rest of the class. While Easton Ball (18) was hanging out in third, he had Connor Ethell (804) hanging right on him, and before the first lap was up Ethell made the pass to put Ball down to fourth. Pretty quickly after Ball drops down to fourth he’s got Corbin Moon (118) coming right on his tail, bringing more intensity to their race. The kids are only in their second lap around when Moon decides to make the pass on Ball and switch their positions around. Once Moon got around Ball he was headed for Ethell in hopes of catching him and making a pass. Onto the fourth and final lap, as the kids are coming down the front straight away we notice Roman Underwood (121) starting to inch forward towards ball, with little time left Ball just had to make sure to make no mistakes and keep giving it all the throttle. With Mejia coming to the finish line jump that means checkered flag! Mejia takes the win, Vols takes a second, with Ethell in third, and Moon in fourth! Ball keeps it smooth and steady to keep ahead of Underwood to finish in fifth, leaving Underwood with a sixth!

As each race goes by we watch as these little guys make improvements, like Easton Ball, who answered some questions about how his race went and how he felt, “felt good, likes racing, I got fifth place in 50 Jr.” When asked what he wants for the next race he replied with “I want to jump”. His favorite part of the races is doing good and wants to thank his dad for bringing him to all the races.

The start of the 250 C race is always interesting with over 20 riders in the class. Once that gate drops these guys are off into that first corner and instantly starting their battles all trying to climb their way to the top. Pretty quick into the race, the top three, Bryce Arnold(9), Cutter Riebe (322), and Parker Weber (847) pull away from the rest of the class while the rest all keep close together. With majority of the class being so close together passes are being made back and forth, left and right. As time goes by, Weber starts to drop back a bit from Arnold and Riebe but still stays far enough ahead to not be in the mix with the rest of the class. Out in fourth is Max Chiado (64), with Brennan Northcutt (723) in fifth, Braiden Herrera (8) in sixth, and Devin Miller (17) in seventh all in a close group having their own battle. Last lap in and these guys had to start making some passes if they wanted to move up any further. Miller makes the pass on Herrera to switch their positions around, and as Northcutt was feeling eager to make a pass, him and Chiado were going through the section after the front straight away and that’s when Northcutt went for it and made the pass on Chiado. Time was up and checkered flag was out, Northcutt came out in fourth, Chiado in fifth, Miller in sixth, and Herrera finished with a seventh!

Over the winter Ethan Escatel (451) and Cole Johler (309) had some awesome intense racing, they decided to keep that going as they had another intense race in the 85 Sr class on this night. As the 85 Sr class takes off the line, Austin Gehrt (721) takes the lead with Wyatt Sandy (701) grabbing second and Johler and Escatel grabbing the third and fourth positions. Escatel was out there hanging right on Johler’s tail, really making Johler work to stay ahead. As these kids were racing around the track Johler was taking the insides of most of the corners to stay just ahead of Escatel but also trying to inch towards Sandy who was keeping that second place spot. The last couple laps out there Johler and Escatel were closing in on Sandy so Sandy had to make sure he stayed smooth and make no mistakes. This close race was about to come to an end as Gehrt was coming around to get the checkered flag for a win. Sandy held off Johler to finish with a second and Johler held off Escatel to finish with a third while Escatel took a fourth place finish!

Found Wyatt Sandy after the race and got to ask him a few questions about his race, Sandy’s response was “Race was fun, felt impressed with having Johler behind me and keeping him behind me, but I was also worried at the same time. I felt like I could of caught up to Austin but he was in his own race. My goal for the next race is to do better and maybe even win. My favorite part about races is being able to ride a lot more”. 

Don't forget Megacross on Memorial day weekend on Saturday night. Great River Shootout series event as well. Racing is alive and well in the District and the State!  Stadium Mx has proved to be some of the most weekly racing around and the riders are showing how well it works for them.  We will be hitting some races soon and will post up where as we get time to go!  See Ya there!