Ozarks Cross Country Racing Series Round #7 - Holts Summit, MO June 6th, 2009

by Shellie Robertson

ATV Racing Holeshot

Aaaahhhhh. Life on the farm. Gentle breeze blowing across the field on a nice warm day. Kicking back with your friends. Drinking a cold one. Driving the tractor around. Baling some hay…. WAIT A MINUTE BOYS…. There is a race going on. Get that hay out of here. Move those bales!!!

The laid back, easy farm attitude was evident the moment you drove up to the bridge crossing the creek to the Werdehausen property. Riders had to choose their lines closely before even mounting their four wheelers deciding whether to take a chance and drive their rigs across the 5-ton bridge or take the alternative creek crossing. The Werdehausen’s hosted Round 7 of the Ozark Cross Country ATV series on June 6th, 2009. This site was originally scheduled for the Round 6 (May 2nd) venue, but was changed at the last minute due to a down pour in the Holts Summit area, leaving the track in an unsafe racing condition.

KTM ATV Ripping over some water	Track conditions were much improved over the previous scheduled weekend.

The riders woke up to perfect racing conditions. Partly cloudy skies with the sun poking through. The nice breeze coming in would lead to dust across the field in the afternoon, greatly affecting the riders’ visibility gunning it down pit row. The 5-½ mile track may be small in size compared to previous race venues, but it packed a punch presenting riders with extreme off camber sections, steep hill climbs, single lines through the trees, and several ditch crossings making this track a technical challenge: pushing the riders to give it their all. But of course, worth every penny in entry fees and the sore/achy muscles for days to come.

The Future of our sport after a good day of racing.

Kerri Roberts took the hole shot in the a.m. Women’s race, only to get stuck on a tree during a hill climb in the first lap allowing Hannah Payne to take the lead. Roberts managed to take Payne in the field section and win her 7th straight win for the season, followed by Hannah Payne and Shellie Robertson.

National TT rider Randy Riden decided to trade in his TT bike and give cross country a try. It looked like Riden was doomed from the beginning getting a bad start, falling off his quad twice, and to cap it all off…his chain fell off. But none of this detoured Riden from blasting past the competitors and showing his skills on the course. Riden took first in the Pee Wee Pro class. We sure hope he sticks around for the remainder of the season and continues to give us a performance. Coming in second was Brian Wolfe and Crystal Diebolt in third.

Twelve Pro Riders lined up for a chance to grace the stage on this virgin terrain. It was a tight battle into the first turn, but Missouri’s Carson Coffman once again grabbed the hole shot aboard his Dirtworks/Moose Racing sponsored Honda 450R. Coffman was in control of the lead after the first lap with Josh Roberts in a close second. Starting into the second lap, Roberts took quite a tumble at the big creek crossing resulting in him endoeing off his Dirtworks KTM along with his seat and battery. Roberts was consequently out of the race allowing Josh Eaton to move into the second position on his Dirtworks/Rekluse sponsored Honda 450R. Kyle Martin was gaining positions, from almost last off the starting line; only to dive off his Dirtworks/Fly Racing sponsored Honda 450R in the same spot Roberts plummeted. Shaking off the fall, Martin got back on his quad and slowly started making his way back up again. Coffman was still in the lead after two laps until Burrows came out of no-where half way through the third lap on his

Pro ATV Podium led by Michael Burrows

Dirtworks/Fox sponsored Honda 450R and passed four Pro riders on a slick uphill climb putting him in the first place spot. It was smooth sailing for Burrows after gaining the lead. As they came through the checkered flag after this 6-lap race, it was Michael Burrows, Kyle Martin, Josh Eaton, DJ Shrum and Todd Senger rounding out the top five positions on the podium.

The talk of the day was the battle between Ron Bloodworth and Justin Rains in the Pro Am class. These two put on quit a show for the spectators, racing neck to neck till the checked flag. Bloodworth blasted off the line and got the holeshot thinking he secured his lead position, only to get stuck on the second lap allowing Rains to close in the gap. It was a fight till the end with Bloodworth crossing the scoring lane and Rains a mere second behind after the one hour thirty minutes and thousands of trees later.

Tucker Wyatt has been proving a name for himself in the A class. Wyatt was only a youth rider until recently when he turned 16 in December and was finally able to move up to the A class. He has been giving the other riders (including his dad) a run for the money and came in second on the Holts Summit course behind Nick Mucherman in the lead.

Round 8 will take the OXC to Duane Johnson’s property in Trenton, MO on September 5th, 2009. Go to oxcracing.com for complete details and to join our discussion forum.

www.oxcracing.com

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