All Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series Round #1 - River Run Cross Country Jacksonville, Texas August 30th, 2009

By: David Culpepper

ATVCCS Heads To River Run Cross Country For First Round
All Terrain Vehicle Cross Country Series - Round 1 - River Run

Jacksonville, TX (9/25/2009) - The perfect amount of rain changed the conditions from hot and dusty, to pleasant and dust free. The main track was 6.7 miles long and was 90% in the woods. The soft terrain made for some sandy ruts and plenty of roots. The Pee Wee track was 1.4 miles long and was just about as good as you can have it for young upcoming racers. This course was laid out on pretty flat terrain, but lots of woods and a nice winding trail along the Neches River. The Discovery Channel was at the race this weekend and they interviewed several riders and shot lots of video of the races. The word is that they will be airing this race footage in approximately 8 weeks.

The Pee Wee Modified class had Gage Smith and Claire Howell racing tire to tire for most of the race. Gage started off leading the race and a few laps into the race Claire made the pass for the lead. The lead was short lived as a tree jumped out in front of her and opened the door for Gage to make the pass. Claire managed to get her machine going again but the bent front wheel kept her from being a threat for the remainder of the race. There was only one Pee Wee 7 rider and that was James King. Even though he riding alone he still made several laps and took the checkered flag style.

#13 Tori Oliver took the overall in the C Program and won the Lady's Race	#85 Keristie Miller would battle with Cindy Underwood for the 2nd position

The Pee Wee 10 class had five riders and the action was very good from start to finish. On the start Allison Howell blasted out to the early lead followed by Adam Miller, Nick Birmingham, Cameron Trimble, and Savannah Howell. On the second lap Adam made the pass to take the lead from Allison. On the third lap Allison went wide in a turn and both Nick and Cameron got by. With only one more lap to go Adam had a comfortable lead but Nick and Cameron were still tire to tire and had gapped Allison and Savannah. No changes would take place on the final lap and they took the checkered flag in the same order.

Tori Oliver Overalled the C Program and won the lady’s race by a large margin. The race was on for second place though. Keristie Miller and Cindy Underwood raced each other for the entire hour and only 2 seconds separated the riders at the finish line. Keristie would get the nod this time and Cindy will have to wait until the next race.

Dennis Wilson took the Masters Class and second Overall in the C Program. Sonny Amos was hot on Dennis’s trail until a sudden evasive maneuver left Sonny flying over the bars and into a pine tree upside down. For moment Sonny wasn’t sure if he’d be able to return to the race but he shook it off and remounted. Sonny charged hard and caught up to Bill LeSueur and manage to make a pass near the end of the first lap. On the second lap Sonny was feeling the effects of the crash and had slowed the pace down enough that Bill caught and passed him to retake second position. Dennis won, Bill took second and Sonny held on for third.

#145 Sonny Amos faced a tough crash in the C Program, but still took 3rd

Justin Humphrey took the win in the B Intermediate class and the Overall in the B Program. In fact Justin turned the fastest lap of the weekend on his first lap with a 19:54 lap time. Not far behind was Cody Lange who was also turning is some blistering laps. As the track deteriorated so did the racers lap times. On their fourth and final lap both riders were 2 minutes slower than they were on their first lap. Finishing third in the B Int class was Steven Graham and fourth was Heather Best. Jason Hunter had problems on the first lap and was unable to complete his first lap.