Chilton, WI (7/14/2009) - Round #4 for
the Badger State Quad Championship series would
bring us back to Gravity Park USA in Chilton,
WI. This round would feature some added disciplines
with the morning starting out with ST racing,
then TT, and finally MX under the lights.
In the past years, this event was a two day
event but we wanted to try something different
for this year. That changed appeared to work
for the better with 300+ entries for the day.
While the racing action was intense on the TT
and ST, everyone was waiting for the action
to start on the MX track. The Production C (17
entries), Production A (15 entries), and Pro-Am
Production (15 entries) classes had enough entries
where we had to split the classes and run qualifiers
for each class. The race brought out some new
faces with #199 Sean Taylor coming from Montezuma,
Iowa and also some old faces with #137 Cory
Gauthier getting back into the race action.
We can’t forget about the regulars with
Cody Janssen, Eric Wenzel, DJ Spurling, Joey
Tomazevic and a handful of others on hand competing
for the $600 top prize and very nice payouts
down the line.
In heat #1 of the Pro-Am Production class,
#911 of Steve Runkel would jump to the early
lead followed by Eric Wenzel and Cory Gauthier.
However, Steve Runkel would suffer a flat rear
tire and have to settle for a 5th place for
the moto. Runkel’s flat tire would open
the door for Cory Gauthier to move to the front
of the pack and secure the 1st moto spot followed
by Eric Wenzel, Matt Mullen, and DJ Spurling.
The 2nd heat would see #25 of Cody Janssen and
#199 of Sean Taylor battle out of the gates.
Cody would be able to hold off Sean Taylor to
secure the 1st place finish followed by Sean
Taylor, Dalton Hicks, and Nick Crowell. Heat
#2 ended up being 15 seconds faster then heat
#1 so the main event was set to be exciting.
The main event started out with the riders
making their gate picks and then getting a chance
to recognize their sponsors and who they were
as the announcer walked down the line to introduce
them to the spectators. Tension in the air was
thick as the motors came to life the 2 minute
board was raised. As the gate drop, there would
be some good battles out of the hole but Cody
Janssen would end up with the early lead. Steve
Runkel was close behind though. Behind Runkel
were some more good battles with close racing
between Sean Taylor, Eric Wenzel and Cory Gauthier.
Cody would end up holding of Runkel until the
last lap where Runkel would finally make a pass
on Janssen. However, Janssen would have the
overall for the night secured with his 1, 2
moto finishes. The flat tire and moto finishes
of 5, 1 would give Runkel a 3rd for the overall.
Sean Taylor would hang on to his 3rd place finish
in moto #2, securing a 2nd overall with his
2, 3 finish. Rounding out the rest of the top
5 would be Eric Wenzel and Cory Gauthier.
There was a lot of other great racing action
on the track all night as well. In the Production
A class, Steve Runkel would secure that win
with a 1, 1 finish followed by Janssen, Taylor,
Gauthier and Wenzel. Rich Richtsmeier would
take home the win in the +25 class. Tom Appleton
would best 17 other riders in the Production
C class and Sam Rowe would take the win in Mini
Mod and Junior class.
Full results are available at www.xtrmlive.com
and also www.WATVMX.com
The next round of action was already at Gravity
Park USA in Chilton, WI on July 11th, which
we were not at. However, early feedback indicates
Cody Janssen had an unlucky first moto due to
an engine problem and would give DJ Spurling
and Eric Wenzel the lead in the Pro-am Production
class.
The next big event is going to be this coming
weekend at the facility in Tigerton, WI, which
Digger Doug Gust helped create. The event is
a full weekend of racing with every type of
ATV competition available. The big events are
going to Cross Country Saturday morning, TT
Saturday afternoon, and then MX action Sunday
morning. Complete details available at http://www.glqra.com/UATVfiles/2009tigerton.pdf
and the www.fantasymotor.com
site.
Visit www.WATVMX.com
for more information and upcoming races and
the Badger State Quad Championship series.
