Megatraxs Woods X heats up the chilly weekend!

Woods X  2024 

Story by Kenzie   Photos by 451 Photography 

Results

1-20-2024   

One thing about winter time is that it can be brutally cold or wet or the next week it's in the 60's.  Being inside makes the temps and weather a non issue but does make it a little hard on the trip to get here.  This weekend was mainly a new version of the last few years of our woods type event with new for this year a full on practice night on Friday with a "woods" school on Saturday morning.  This worked extremely well with Tanner Whipple, Matt Mcdonald, Ryan Moss and Garrett Ward doing the training process for the riders.  Fast forward to 4pm and the riders are practiced up and ready to put their abilities to the test.  Travis Ward the course layout co-ordinator assemble a challenging but friendly course for all.  Riders from 5 states and Canada came and rode the "woods x" event this year.   A class wasn't as big as normal but did have some great racing! Lights out was pretty cool to watch as well during intermission there is video out there but taking photos in the dark is a little difficult!

As the A class takes off the line, they all race around the corner trying to pull that hole shot to take the lead. Garrett Ward (31) pulled the hole shot to take the lead this time, as Jayson Crawford (8) is right on his tail hanging in second. With a small gap behind him, Ayden White (88) was out in third but had Tanner Whipple (29) just inches behind him and Matt McDonald (45) following them closely. A little bit further back from these guys was Travis Ward (51) out in sixth, racing around with Anthony Biagi (107) in seventh. By the end of their first lap, Crawford had taken the lead from Ward but Ward made sure to stay right with him, keeping him nice and close. Whipple decides to switch it up a bit in the second lap as he made a pass on White while out in the back room right before they headed back out to the main part of the track. As the race continues, Crawford is out there putting some time on Ward while Whipple is also putting distance on White at the same time, bringing himself closer to Ward. As they all head into the back room during their third lap, McDonald is within reaching distance to White. The two are going over obstacles and as White goes over one of the logs he falls which leads McDonald to take his place and leave White in fifth. White didn’t seem to like that very much, he got right up on McDonald’s tail waiting to see if he could make a pass to take his spot back. At this point Crawford has put a small gap on Ward while Ward still has a small gap on Whipple. The guys were down to their final lap, Crawford was still keeping the lead, Ward in second with a tad more distance on Whipple, and as White came around it seemed he took his spot back from McDonald to put himself back up in fourth. Checkered flag comes out and Crawford takes the win, Ward comes in second, and Whipple in third!

Jaylee Bredekamp (609) takes the lead in the Womens class with Avery Steen (348), Jaiden Minnaert (35), and Morgan Wheelwright (23) all following closely behind. Quickly into the first lap, Minnaert dropped down a couple places while Wheelwright moved up to third and Amanda Taylor (451) took Minnaert’s place. As their first lap went on, Wheelwright was out there making passes and took the lead! As she took the lead, she still had Steen following in second close behind. Before the lap was up Minnaert got back around Taylor, but not for long, in the second lap around both, Taylor and Taylor Longstreth (405) made their way around her but the three were all running close together now. As Wheelwright is still in the lead she’s pulling away from Steen, just in the beginning of the third lap, Steen goes down which gives Wheelwright an even bigger lead. Steen gets up in time to keep in second while Bredekamp is still holding onto third place. Both Taylor and Longstreth pulled away slightly from Minnaert but by the end of the lap, Minnaert came around ahead of both Longstreth and Taylor again. As the race came to an end Wheelwright got the win, Steen came in second, Bredekamp in third, and Minnaert finished with a fourth.

Easten Daniels (56) pulls the hole shot in the 50cc class, a few places back Wyatt Peiffer (71) has Bryson Mejia (27) right on his tail for the first part of their first lap until Mejia got stuck on an obstacle for a quick second before they head into the back room. Part way through the first lap Jaxson Donnelly (116) took the lead putting Daniels in second, and Tank Laws (28) hanging out in third, following closely behind Daniels. As soon as Donnelly takes the lead he quickly starts putting distance on the rest of the class while Daniels is still trying to hold off Laws to stay in second. Peiffer out in fifth with Mejia still hanging on him in sixth. There’s only about one lap left and these guys are keeping close with each other, anything can happen at this point. Donnelly out there still keeping the lead to come out with a win while Laws came around to finish in second. Daniels came around in third but was back further like he might have fell somewhere back on the track. Peiffer held off Mejia long enough to finish in fifth leaving Mejia for a sixth.

As the 30+B/C class takes off the line, Andrew Peiffer (671) comes around the corner to pull the hole shot and take the lead! Brandon Mejia (227) follows Peiffer around in second as he’s got Collin Phares (89) hanging on him in third. Out behind these guys, Brandon Bredekamp (924) and Kevin Perkins (508) are racing close together putting on their own battle. As Peiffer is still staying in the lead he’s riding very smooth and putting more and more distance on the rest of the class as time goes by. Phares and Mejia are still battling for second as they race around the track on their second lap, the two get to the back section of the track and Phares makes the pass around Mejia to switch their positions right around! Back behind these two, Perkins comes out of the back room ahead of Bredekamp now, bringing himself up to fourth and instantly started heading for Mejia. As Bredekamp didn’t have Phares right up on him anymore, Bill DeCicco (779) made his way up to Bredekamp’s back tire. Next lap around, Perkins came around right up with both Phares and Mejia making the race even more intense! DeCicco knew the race was coming down to the final laps as he made the pass around Bredekamp. The 30+ B/C guys definitely kept it interesting and made sure to put on a good race! Peiffer came out with a win, Phares came in second, Mejia in third, Perkins in fourth, and DeCicco in fifth!

The 85/SM all take off the line, Cooper Duff (203)and Gage Line (444) fight for that hole shot, going around the first couple corners and obstacles right next to each other. Lane takes the lead but Duff keeps with him. Ethan Escatel  (451) takes third with Wyatt Sandy (701) close behind. Lane and Duff head into the section of logs, still in the beginning of their first lap, Lane on left side Duff on right side as they go over the first log together. They head to the second log and Lane comes over to the right side and blocks Duff to stay in the lead. The two come out from the back room and Duff has taken the lead now, Lane down to second place now, while Escatel is keeping third as Sandy still stays close but now Sandy has Max Soti (56) following closely. Duff navigates his way through the track and seems to be doing well as he starts pulling away, meanwhile Escatel is creeping up on Lane. As Escatel catches up to Lane, he leaves Sandy, Soti, and now Avery Steen (348) to have their own close race. Headed into starting the third lap Lane is making his way over the railroad ties, which seems to slow him down a tad as Escatel gets right up to Lane’s back tire. Escatel couldn’t find his way around Lane yet, but Steen made the pass on Soti to move herself up a placement and get behind Sandy. Very beginning of the last lap and Escatel makes the pass to take the second! The two rubbin against each other as Escatel is trying to hold onto that placement and Lane is trying to get it back. Escatel goes into the back room staying ahead still, he holds it as they come out of the back room. The two are in the back part of the track and Escatel kills his bike and Lane takes that spot back. At this point the race is coming to an end, Duff held the lead to come out with a win, Lane finished in second, Escatel with third, and Sandy with a fourth.

Devon Moore (75) came all the way out from Canada and lined up with the B class, as they took off the line Moore took off to grab that hole shot and take off with the lead. He quickly started putting distance on the rest of the class to make sure he stayed in the lead. Zach Duff (43) was hanging out in second with Jack Allgeyer (16) in third and Troy Lawrence (287) hanging right on him. A couple spots behind these guys, Wyatt Holdgrader (212) and Cooper Duff (203) were racing around with each other. About third lap in, as Allgeyer and Lawrence went into the back room Allgeyer was keeping the lead, but as they came out of the back room, Lawrence got around Allgeyer to take third place and switch their places around. Allgeyer didn’t back off of Lawrence at all, he made sure to stay right with him. C. Duff is still trying to find a way around Holdgrader but on their last lap around, Duff must have fell because he wasn’t up on Holdgrader anymore. Allgeyer found his way back around Lawrence and even had Christoph Steen (159) in between them now. As the race was coming to an end, the time for making more passes was over. Moore came out with a win, Z. Duff in second, Allgeyer finished in third and Steen in fourth. 

This winter has been a mixed bag of great weather, bad weather and it was the first time we set this event up in this way.  Looks like it was a winner and so many had a great time.  Seeing how the riders came from so many different areas, and it kicked off the URC Series for 2024.  THis event is one that we all enjoy and it's ran once a year.  See ya next time!