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eMOTOCROSS e NMA World Mini Grand Prix Loca l favori te Richard Sa xton (65) led Randy Moody (401) , Trevo r Mea gher (45) and Dana Wiggins (135) at the start of the first 125c c Stock Pro moto . Reynard on top of the world By Donn Maeda LAS VEGAS, NV, APR. 19ยท21, i th age com es ex pe r ien ce.. . o r so they say. T h irteen -yea r-o ld Robb ie Reynard proved the age -old saying false by ca pturing the wins in the 80cc Stock and Modified (12-13 year -old) classes , a nd then goi ng on to bea t his elde rs in the Supermini (12-18) class a t the 20th An n ua l World Mini Grand P r ix , he ld at the new Las Vegas Mo tocro ss Park. The Kawasaki Team Green/ PJ II Bell lFo xlTsub aki/ l nnovation Sports/ Scott/NGKlRenthallDunlop-backed rider from Moore, Oklahoma, topped a ta lent-laden field which incl uded 80cc Stock a nd Modi fie d ( 14- 16) class wi nners J eff Dement a nd Craig Decker. Other big wi nners in clu ded Ch erry Valley , Cal ifornia 's ' P hil Lawrence, who ' captured ti tles in the 125cc Mod ifi ed , 250cc Stock and 250 cc Modified Pro classes. Ryan Huffman , fro m Roseburg, O regon, won four out of six mote s to win the 125cc Stock, 250cc Stock and 250cc Modi fied Intermediate classes. In the past, the World Min i Grand Pr ix has been looked upon as one of the premier minicycle a nd a ma teur events, a nd has tra di tio na lly drawn large crowds from around the globe. The event, which originated in 1972, was first run in Valenci a, Cal ifornia at Indian Dunes Cycle Park, a nd has si nce been held at three di ffere n t locations. Race sites included Escape Country in Trabuco Canyon, California , Sa ddleba ck P a r k i n O range, W 16 California, a nd for the past few years has been he ld at Las Vegas Int ern atio nal Racewa y just outside of the " city ' that never sleeps," Las Vegas, Nevada. T his year, the race was moved to the Las Vegas Mot ocross Park, a nd an all new track greeted nearl y 1100 entrants fro m 22 sta tes and Ca nada. Although the new location was hoped 10 be th e best ever, ma ny riders were d isa-ppointed wi th both the track and the way that the race progra m was run. Li ngerin g dust and rocks faced the ride rs when practice began la te on Fri da y. Racing didn't begin until shortly af ter 3:00 p.rn., and only the first 10 of 43 motes scheduled to be run were co mpleted. On Saturday, on ly the remainder of the mo tos whic h sho u ld have been run the previous day were comp leted , fo rcin g Sunday 's second mo tos a nd runoffs to be shortened consi derably. Three-lap amateur and five-lap pro motos were run on the concl udi ng da y, compared to the six a nd IQ la p motos ru n the prev ious days . Wh ile a tradit ional two-mo to format was foll ow ed in many of the cla sses, some of the classe s th at had a n excessive n um ber of entrants incor porated a runoff race. Each div isio n competed in two motos, and the top overall finishers from each division adva nced into one runoff rnoto . Wh ile each runoff had two or three rid ers enteri ng th e race with perfect sco res, ther e would be o n ly o ne winner at th e conclusion of the race. Reynard got th e ball ro ll ing by easi ly winning bo th rnotos in d ivision o ne of the 80cc (12-13) Stock class . Trailing Reynard across th e lin e in the first moto were G reg Year sey and Robbie Skaggs, bu t the pos it ions were reversed in the second mot o. Reynard, Skaggs, Year sle y, a n d th e n ext 12 r id e rs ad vanced 10 the runoff mo to, Division two was won by J ason Part ridge, who scored the win in the first moto, but crashed back to th ird in the second. Paul Ito fini shed fourt h in the opening moto, but sto rmed bac k to win the second rnoto in convinci ng fashio n and tra nsfer into the run-off wi th second-p lace points. Ch a rl ey Bogard fin ished third. Reynard was u nt ou chab le in th e final ru noff moto, as he acquired th e . lead after a ba tt le. with early leader Skaggs and went o n uncha lle nged. Skaggs and Par tridge argued over the ru nner-u p spot. Skaggs prevail ed, and scor ed seco nd overall beh ind Reynard. Pa rt rid ge finis hed in th ird place, besting Years ley for th ird overall. "Skaggs was hard to pass," said Reynard. "But o ther than th at I d idn' t have a ny problems winning. I' m not used to riding on such big roc ks, tho ugh!" Reyna rd co nti nued h is win ning strea k in the 80cc (12-13) Modified class , as he ra n away from the competi tion in the first d ivision. Cory Bau der finished a di stant second in the first mo to, but cou ld o nly muster a n eig h t h i n th e seco n d r ace. J a so n Matthews transferred in to th e runoff moto with a second place scor e, barely edgi ng ou t Charley Boga rd. Division two saw Ska gg s o ut fro nt in bo th rno tos, wh ile Par tidge a nd Yearsley argued over second place. Skaggs cru ised to bo th moto wins, while Yearsley topped Partridge for second place. Reyna rd blasted o ut of the ga te in the runoff moto, with Skaggs and Yearsley in hot pursuit. Althou gh Sk a g gs ma n aged to stay close to Reynard in the ea rly part of the rnot o , Reyna rd crossed the fin ish line with a co m manding lead. Skag gs fought off Yearsley a nd Par tridge to earn second ,overa ll. " I felt really good," said Reynard. " I wa nted to get o ut front early, especially since th e fin al was o nly fo ur laps. There's no t much time to catch ' up if you make a m istak e." J eff Dem ent rod e his R&D /J T USAI Dunlop -backed Suzu ki to bo th rn oto wins in d ivision one of the Super Mini class . Followin g Dem ent across the line in the first mot o were T erry Parsons a nd Mike Metzger , Skaggs recovered fro m a fir st moto fourth to secure second in the second rno to, whi le Metzger again crossed the finish line in third p lace. Reynard p icked up where he left off in the second div ision, as he won bo th rnotos to en ter the ru noff rnot o wi th a pe rfect score , Decker led most of th e first rno to , but crashed o n the last la p a nd allo wed Reynard 10 snea k past. Decker rem ounted in tim e to fin ish second, a hea d of G reg Rand. Reynard won the second moto with a comfortab le margin over Dav id Pingree, who fough t off a lat e rn oto ch arge by Decker, Decker suffered a poor start a nd worked into third by the moto's end. Decker grabbed th e hol eshot in th e Supermi ni runoff, but Reyna rd turned up the wick a nd charged into the lead. Skaggs was next to cha llenge Decker , but to no avail. Reynard co nti n ued to lead , a nd successfu lly fended off all challe nges mad e by Decker. At the finish it was Reynard, Decker, Skaggs a nd Pingree. Missing from compe titio n in the mot o was divisio n one