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Western Four-Stroke Motocross Nationals
Round I: SpEEdworld MX Park
PHOTO BY CHRIS NEWMAN
Hughes' Big Surprise Wins!
By
DON SCHNEIDER
SURPRISE, AZ, MAR. 12-13
D yan
Hughes post.ed six straight moto wins and took home
l'$1600 rrom round one or the Western Four-Stroke MX
Nationals, presented by VP Racing Fuels. This was the largest
Four-Stroke Nationals opener in 10 years, with I 12 Pros and 980
Amateurs in attendance!
The 2S0F Pro qualifiers had 52 entries. The top lOin the
series were seeded into main motos. Missing in action was
National number one, Shane Bess, who was nursing a shoulder
hurt during arenacross action; he was planning to attend round
two in Queen Creek, Arizona's ET Motopark, April 2-].
Qualifier number one was all Dusty Klatt. Steve Mertens
netted second. Daryl Ecklund was third, rollowed by Tony
Sherman and Joel Barnowski. Kody Schantzen crossed the line in
sixth, with Zoe Wray, Vincent Rhodes, Brandon Schlensig and
Aaron Hill rounding out the top 10.
Hughes won the second qualifier, with Chris Blose finishing
runner-up. Third was Daton Beavers, rollowed by Juss laansoo
from Estonia, Scandinavia. Leighton lillie grabbed the filth spot,
and Jesse Casillas, Lars Burnside, Jack Carpenter, Travis Smith
and Brian Hulsey was 10th.
Hughes led moto one, with Blose shOWing him a wheel early
on. Mertens was close behind. Casillas, who started outside the
top 10, was matching Hughes' lap times; by the hallway signal on
lap six, Casillas had worked past National number three, Pat
McMullen, as well as Klatt, lillie, Ecklund and Justin Keeney. At
the checkers, it was Hughes, Casillas and Mertens, over Klatt,
Tim Weigand and Keeney.
Moto two saw the top three finish in similar fashion, as
Hughes, Casillas and Mertens prevailed. Laansoo bettered his
eighth~place finish in mota one with a strong fourth place.
followed by Klatt, Ecklund. Lillie, ShelTT1an, Blose and Carpenter.
favorite, fell after running into Blosser's rear
fender, but he quickly got restarted, and he was
on the move.
The front pack was now Holman, Flores,
Kinslow and Armstrong. Kinslow moved into
second. Armstrong passed Kinslow on a double
and then cut under before the S turns.
Armstrong overshot a jump but still tried to cut
under Holman at a turn, but he hit the breaking
bumps, and that flung him wide, narrowly
missing Kinslow. Mike Greene moved into
second. Kinslow caught back up into third.
Holman still led. Foster, in fourth, had every
intention of winning the overall, having recently
put in many hours of practice. Greene moved
into first, followed by a hard-charging Foster
just before the racers approached the
grandstands. Carl Powell had previously rallen
there, but he was back up and running. Foster
leaned back and cracked the throttle through
the whoops, passing Greene at the ramp of the
finish-line jump.
Holman slowly faded, urging riders to pass
him with a wave of his hand held low. Then, at a
slow speed, he fell, motionless. Riders stopped
to protect him. The trackside EMTs and
paramedics tried to revive him. A helicopter
was flown in. The ambulance was to drive him
to the helicopter a half-mile away, but the
ambulance would not start. There was a
command yell, heard by all, to "Push it." The
club members and friends, some with full gear,
62
The Premier Pro class reatured 62 entries. Again, the top 10
in the series were pre-seeded. National number-one rider Mike
Corder, aboard his KTM USA mount, watched as Klatt edged out
Ecklund and Beavers. Fourth went to Weigand, with Wray,
Laansoo, Sherman, Carpenter, Rhodes and Robb Floth rounding
outthe top 10.
Hughes prevailed in qualifier two, over Casillas and Bobby
Bonds. Kris Keefer and Carter Gurnee had a great battle and
rounded out the top fIVe. Finishing in sixth through 10th were
Justin Myers, brothers of Vincent and Daniel Blair, Nick FOister,
and Ryan Orr.
In the main event, mota one saw some huge ups and downs.
Corder, who ran inside the top 10, had to pull orr arter his
motor mounts came undone. Bonds, who had been running in
the top five, returned to the pits with some mechanical
problems. Daniel Blair had mechanical problems while running
inside the top 10 as well.
The top rour riders finished in exactly the same order in both
motos. Hughes' perfect I-I tally IeIt the rest or the pack scrambling
for podium finishes. Casillas' 2-2 tally and Weigand's ]-] finishes
filled out the podium. laansoo captured a 4-4 score ror rourth, and
rounding out the top fIVe was Ecklund with a 6-S tally.
CN
SPfEDWORLD MX PARK
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
RESULTS: MARCH 12, 2005
(ROUND 1)
250F PRO: I. Ryan Hughes; 2. Jesse Casillas; 3. Steve Mertens; 1. Dusty Klatt;
5. Juss Laansoo; 6. Daryl Ecklund; 7. leighton lillie; 8. Chris Blose; 9. Tony
Shennan; 10. Jack Carpenter; II. Tim Weigand; 12. Justin Keeney; 13. be Wray;
I"'. Brandon Morgan: 15. Aaron Hal; 16. Kody Schantzen: 17. Daton Bea~; 18.
Brad Alarid: 19. Matt Karlsen; 20. Travis Smith: 21. Pat McMullen: 22. Shane Smith:
23. Ryan Wilson; 24. Ryan Orr; 25. Jason Labonte: 26. Mike Brillinger; 17. Ryan
Corum; 28. Tyler Voss; 29. Brian Hulsey; 30. Nick McConahy; 3 I. Jeff Klino; 32.
Joel Bamowski; 33. David Moskat; H. Brian Morgan; 35. lars Burnskle.: 36. Tyson
Burmeister: 37. Justin Herrmann; 3B. Brandon Schlensig; 39. lYler Johnson; 10.
Rym Campbell. PREM PRO: I. Rym Hughes; 2.)""" c..mas; 3. Tom W.,;gand; 4.
Joss L.aansoo: 5. Daryl Ecklund; 6. leighton Ullie; 7. be Wray: 8. Carter Gurnee: 9.
Kris Keefer; 10. Vincent Blair; II. Tony Sherman: 12. Jack Carpenter; 13. Daton
Beavers; I"'. Mike Corder; 15. Matt Karlsen; 16. Josh Cavanaugh; 17. Ryan Orr; 18.
Beau Baron; 19. Brandon Morgan; 20. Shane Smith; 21. Nick Foister; 22. Robb
forcibly moved the ambulance to the helicopter.
However, it was too late.
Jim left us doing what he loved to do most:
racing motorcycles with his buddies. He got his
last big holes hot - into heaven.
Godspeed, Jimbo; you will be missed.
RESULTS
KIDS SUP: I. Chandler Ouimette; 2. Brett Pierce; 3.
Art Flores Jr. SUP: I. Jason Parsons; 2. Joey Martins; 3.
Jonathan Sprague. NOV: I. Jaime Myers; 2. Jeff Dowell; 3.
Ryan Hughes attacks the whoops on the last lap
of the second 2501 Pro mota before taking the
win at the Western Four-Stroke Matocross
Nationals opener in Surprise, Arizona.
Flath; 23. Cameron Weaver: 24. Vincent Rhodes; 25. Tyler Johnson: 26. Ryan
McPhilips: 27. Brad Motherway; 28. Robert Skinner; 29. Kyle Kubitschuk; 3D. Jeff
Wahon; 3 I. Trenton Straub; 32. Travis Smith: B. Anthony Cerruti: H. Matt
Mebane; 35. Ryan Corum: 36. Derek Vusovich; 37. Bobby Bonds; 38. Daniel Blair;
39. Dusty Klatt; ~O. Justin Myers: -41. Kody Schantzen.
Larry Craig. 30+ BEG: I. Ryan Rantzew; 2. Steve Lusa; 3.
Rick Haines. 30+ INT: I. Paul Kuehnel: 2. Eric Warringtoo:
3. Kevin Charter. 30+ EX: I. Mike Glem: 2. Mark Stuen; 3.
Scott McCollough. 38+ BEG: I. Mike Parziale; 2. Darrin
Snoddy; 3. Steve Mizl