Premier Expert class wins, adding
more glory to the Turner Racing
Team. The Turner victories ended
in Open Expert competition, where
Declan Bender earned his first
career Winter Throwdown win on
Friday. Justin Jones finished the
weekend as the final winner in the
event's Open Expert finale.
While Porter may have been
crowned King to start the event, a
young prince in Cruise Texter set
a new event record with seven
wins in eight tries, sweeping the
50cc Air-Cooled, 50cc Chain
and Mini Open classes. Texter's
perfection was taken away after
Boston Werbelo bested Cruise
during Saturday's 65cc main
event. Robby "Bobby" McLendon
was the second-winningest rider
on the weekend, sweeping 30+
competitions and splitting 40+
honors with Adam Beldyga. The
three wins by McLendon allowed
him to fend off Cruise Texter and
remain second on the Winter
Throwdown all-time wins list at
13. Greg Boyle and Rick Kent split
50+ wins, while Marcus Ricketts
and Ted Freeman earned 60+
victories on the weekend.
A Dillon Durelle disqualifica
-
tion led to Brody Hanson being
declared Friday's
450 Amateur
winner before Ryder Bitz-Hay
earned his third career Throw-
down victory in Friday's Open
Amateur main event.
Durelle
rebounded on Saturday with a
vengeance, holding off pressure
from Braxton Ragan and Brody
Hanson to win the 450 Amateur
main, then checked out for a
comfortable Open Amateur win
by more than 2.5 seconds.
Brianna McHugh would sweep
the event's Women's class, which
featured female competitors
from 10 states and several riders
from England. "It's awesome to
see all these girls from overseas
come over, and I'm happy that
Cory decided to add a Women's
class," said McHugh following
the first year of the Women's
class at Winter Throwdown. Ad
-
ditional double feature winner
on
the weekend, Brystin Perry-
man, bested rivals during Friday's
Open
Novice and 250 Amateur
Main Events. Perryman conceded
victories on Saturday to Camlin
Durelle in Open Novice and Jack-
son Settle in 250 Amateur.
The Hooligan class
saw Shawn
Raggio take the win on Friday,
but a crash at the start of Satur-
day's feature race would prevent
a weekend sweep and
see Josh
Young score the victory.
The Randy Texter Memorial
Amateur Dash for Cash added
some funds to the pocket of race
winner Jackson Sangals, and the
event's Mission Challenge Expert
Dash for Cash was claimed by
Trevor Brunner.
By Scotty Tayler
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 21, 2026 P45
(Left) Cruise Texter (26) picked
up seven wins over the weekend.
An event record. (Right) Brianna
McHugh swept the debut of the
Women's class.
