Racing ramps up! @ Megacross (M5)

Photos by 451 Photography  Story by Kenzie

Check out the intensity in the stare of this little guy. Dad is of course giving advise and he is listening intently.  Or? Is he thinking dad, I will need those goggles? 

One thing that never changes when doing out door activities is the fact that weather will always play a factor, to hot, to cold, to wet etc.  This night was no different. Only thing was the track was in great condition but weather was on the way. Radar can be your friend or it can really be a pain.  Tonight was the later.  Many waited to see are we going inside or staying outside.  The powers to be will do anything they can to stay outside this time of year as it's what is supposed to happen and with the correct track prep and process it got done tonight.  With that it also provided some excellent track conditions and some really competitive racing.

Daron Harvey(11) and Jaxon Donnelly(116) ​never fail to put on such a great race in the 50cc 4-8 class. These two once again were pushing each other through the whole race, constantly right up on each other and making passes against one another. Harvey started off this race in first with Donnelly close behind him trying to find the right time to make that pass. As the two were going over the finish line jump in the second lap Donnelly made a clean pass and put himself in first place, but Harvey didn’t let that slow him down at all. Harvey quickly looked for any open opportunities to pass Donnelly back, and he made sure to do so in their third lap around. As the race was coming to an end, we had Harvey in first and Donnelly staying in a close second, the two came around the corner about to finish the race when Donnelly made a clean pass and won the 50cc 4-8 class leaving Harvey with a second place for this night. The track changes through the night and during the heats the inside high lines are not wore in, it's happened a couple times now where later in the evening when the lines change riders who seek those out can do well with that knowledge.

Every once in a while Conner Burger will drop by and as he is usually pounding laps on a motocross track it's not often we see him here  at Megacross. But when he does come out he sets the pace.  Tonight was no different and the last time he was here at the 23 Challenge race last fall he was one of the faster riders that night as well.  Well tonight he pulled off a solid 1-1 win heat & main in the 250A class.  Gavin Sienkiewicz(402) kept him honest for a bit but Burger pulled away in the 7 lap motos. In the Open A class his start wasn't as good and actually fell in the same place last year.  Got up put in another charge and went down again in the tower corner.   Conner made sure to keep a good spirit even though he thought he broke his thumb, he cheered on all the rest of the riders as they came around to finish and then he made his way back on the track to put in a finish. Last report he tore some ligiments hope his healed up for his next pro race.

We finally got to see Garrett Ward (31) back on his bike and racing after not riding for about 10 weeks due to surgery. He actually didn’t look too bad out there considering the time he took off, he went right back to racing 250 A and Open A. In 250 A he stayed right up with everyone, he actually kept third the entire race out of nine A guys. Not that i am biased in that opinion at all!!!!

From the second the 125cc class left the gate to the very last lap, these guys made it interesting. Both Austin Beatty and Ethan Hammel came hot into the corners before the finish line jump with Beatty barely in front of Hammel, Hammel decided to take the inside hump while Beatty took the outside around the berm which led Hammel to quickly pass Beatty and take the lead. Hammel was able to keep that lead until something happened which led him to drop down to fifth place. They got together in one of the back corners and this put Wesley Johnson up front and in the lead. Now with Beatty back up and running hard the race is on.  Wesley is pushing as hard as we have ever seen on the big bikes, he gets out of control on the middle jump and slams the ground hard letting Austin the class by.  He scared us all a bit but he got up and said "i was riding a little too hard". Austin won, Drake Stranland 2nd and Gavin Hejda filled the last spot on the podium. Ethan Hammel got back to 4th after leading much of the main event.

In Open A Rj Mackenzie and Kyle White started off basically right on top of each other for the first two laps with Mackenzie in first and White in second. On the third lap around something happened to White and Mackenzie which brought those two to drop down to fifth and sixth place and put Gavin Sienkiewicz (402) in first place. With Sienkiewicz in first, Nick Wallace in second, and Garrett Ward in third, these three were all pretty close together and kept us wondering who was going to make the next pass or even if there was going to be another pass. Sienkiewicz ended up holding onto first and winning the race with Wallace in second right behind him and Ward finishing in third keeping right up with Wallace all throughout the race. Talking to the promoter (wardy) after the event he was talking about how some need to settle down just a little bit and make less contact.  "Starting to see some things we don't want to see as the ridership gets more aggressive and less tolerant.  Racing at Megacross is to be fun and get in some great racing, demo derbies are run here at the fairground twice a year, we don't do that here.  He stated that when riders start that kind of thing they don't use their talent to make clean passes but rather lose patience and start parking others.  We hope this doesn't continue."

Racing returns with d17 stadium bonus points race on June 25th.  Then Megacross takes 4 weeks off, this is the time we get everything set for the last 5 events of the season. There is much going on around here this summer more then I have ever seen before.  Going to be some big changes.  Hope everyone is having a great summer of racing and riding, local racing seems to be on the increase with all the fuel prices like they.  Check out this photo of 85cc 9-13 on the back jumps before you go!  We are seeing more new riders then we have in a long time, and even second and third generation riders as well.

Below Ethan gets some advice from dad before his moto.  Wasn't that long ago Nathan was lined up on that line!

Next racing event is at Fox Valley Off Road!  It will be the WFO/FVOR points event which means Free T-shirt weekend!  URC points are posted and FVOR points will be soon!  Megacross will be doing it's free t-shirt night in the second half of the season.