Young Guns battle @ Megacross!

M-3    4-27-24  

Story by Kenzie   photos by 451 Photography

Results  

2024 has some real familiarity to it as spring time has the farmers scrambling to find just dry enough conditions to plant their seeds and in our sport the 'seeds'' are the kids who have been churning up the dirt and making us all sit and wonder just how fast will they become.  So many have been around since they were little tikes and the new crop of riders are rockin to the point where we sit and just watch in amazement.  We started a new plan this season by stepping out into the pits and talking to the riders a bit to see how they are doing, getting some quotes and also finding out that some of the biggest kids are over the age of 40 and even 50.  Seems that will never change.  Schoolboy class has some "rippers'' in it and well on red gas gas some local kids rocked............

The Schoolboy class put on another great race once again! Grant Robinson (426) took off with the lead as he had Gunnar Heikkila (630) right on his tail. As soon as these guys came off the gate we knew it was going to be a good one. It didn’t take long before Heikkila tried to make a pass to take the lead, as the two were coming to the end of their first lap, Heikkila tried taking the inside humps of the corners to make the pass but Robinson wasn’t gonna give it up that easy, he made sure to stick the corners and stay in the lead! Next lap around and the two are going into every corner tire to tire, things are heating up more and more by the second. As soon as they hit that straight away Robinson uses it to his advantage and puts that little bit of a gap on Heikkila. Once they get off that straight away though Heikkila gets right back on Robinson immediately. Robinson still in the lead on their fourth lap around out of the five, they head down the straight away again and get into that next section when Heikkila makes the pass to steal the lead! Heikkila doesn’t give Robinson a chance to try and steal the lead back he makes sure to put distance on Robinson and take the win. After the race Heikkila said “I didn’t have a plan or any thoughts, I just ride my bike”.

In the 50cc 4-8 race, Weston Sullivan (2) and Bryson Mejia (27) had a close race. As Sullivan came off the start in second, Mejia came out right behind him in third. Sullivan was out there trying to take every line he could to stay just ahead of Mejia while Mejia was trying to find a way to get around him. As we watch the intense race between the two, Mejia almost makes a pass around Sullivan as they go around the corner before the dragons back, but Sullivan makes sure to hit the throttle coming out of the corner to stay ahead. Mejia continues to chase Sullivan around the track but just couldn’t quite get around Sullivan. Checkered flag was out and Sullivan came around to finish in second while Mejia stayed in that third place spot.

One of the best battles of the night was between Burton Lavens (763) and Chad Johnson (623). Lavens takes off the gate and pulls the holeshot to take the lead as Johnson comes right after him in second. Lavens said he “felt like I was on a dark spaceship, I got the hole shot but my fig newton 100% goggles were terrible to see out of”. By the third lap around, Johnson had taken the lead, but of course Lavens stayed right with him to keep the battle going to keep the intense race going. Johnson said “it was too much pressure, we went back and forth every lap”. Once Johnson took the lead

 Lavens was taking every line that Johnson was taking. Johnson held the lead all the way to the checkered to take the win and Lavens came out with a second place! Talking to Johnson after his race he said “I just made sure to stay up and glad I survived!” Lavens said “I always love battling with Chad and we had an overall good race”. The two had a good talk and had many laughs after their race was over.

As the 85 Sr class took off the start, Brackyn Massie (735) pulled the hole shot to take the lead with Jax Ellul (66) out behind him in second. The two started the race close together but as time quickly went by, Ellul was inching closer and closer to Massie and giving him a run for his money. Massie was out there taking the insides to try and gain some distance on Ellul but Ellul was not backing off, he was staying right with Massie, hoping to find a way around him. As the two come around for their last lap still just inches from each other, Ellul gets up right next to Massie going around corner after straight away, he stays up next to him going through that whole section but unfortunately for Ellul, Massie makes sure to grab ahold of the lead before Ellul can take it and takes the win with Ellul taking second!

Kayden Moore (95) starts off his race in the 85 Jr class out in fourth with Crew Ramsey (920) out in fifth not too far behind Moore. Pretty quickly Ramsey starts working his way on reeling Moore in and bringing them closer together. By their third lap in the two are tire to tire with each other as they go into the corner after the front straight away. One thing Ramsey was trying to do was “hold onto the gas longer and longer while going down straight away” to keep his speed up and hopefully get around Moore. As Ramsey was working on doing this, he was able to get right up next to Moore as they came to the end of the straight away and head into the corner after and Ramsey is just about to make the pass Moore cuts directly in front of Ramsey to block him going into the rollers to stay ahead of Ramsey. With it being the last lap, Ramsey is all out of chances on making that pass so Moore finishes with a fourth and Ramsey in fifth! The two put on a great race and we got a little interview from Ramsey after the race was over. Ramsey said, “track was good, I like the soft dirt. My plan was to try to take insides to try and pass but got stuck behind Moore. I feel like I still did well tonight. For the next race I’m going to try to get better places and go for first place.” 

Jaxon Cruse (39) was out there in the 85 Jr class and did pretty well, finishing with a third place so grabbed him for a quick little interview on his thoughts of the night. Cruse said, “I feel like I did good but wish I could of done better. My thoughts while being out there were to go faster and try to take insides as much as I can. I’m going to try and win the Megacross series but if I keep on getting thirds that’s not gonna happen. I want to thank my family and all my sponsors for helping me out tonight.” His next goal is to give it more gas and stay with the faster kids!

The Megacross crew battled the elements and have been all spring, this night saw a complete scrape of the starting line and many other places to make sure the riders had the best track possible so racing could be the focus.  Tracks like this have in past history turned out to be some very good and tacky conditions.  It showed as the riders we going really fast and side by side all night long.  Next event is coming soon, I will be at Galesburg M/C race next weekend to cover that event and try to hit some others as well as I learn how to make this stuff come alive online.  Of course I will be at Megacross on the 11th of May for round 3!  See you all then!

One other note.  Check out ALL Amanda's photos on her 451 face book page link at the top doing this story, the photos she is doing are amazing!