Article: Round 12 Mx
July 21, 2011
Dade City Motocross – 2011 Points Championship Series
July 16th, 2011 – Round 12
Author: Gifford Quast
The Points Championship Season at DCMX is arguably the longest season of any sport in the world, with 21 rounds taking place from February through November. Round 12, which is right in the middle of the season, ends up right smack dab in the middle of summer where heat, humidity and unpredictable storms can make for very difficult conditions. A torrential downpour on Friday left the track very wet and soft on Saturday morning, which always leads to a more challenging track for Saturday night racing.
With the Vortex Lites, realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup and all of the other classes racing practice would give us an indication of what kind of shape the track was in. As each class took to the circuit it was apparent that the dirt was very soft and loose. By the time the Qualifying session took place for the Vortex lites the entire racing surface was pretty rutted up. Jared Jackson, who sits second in points, layed down the fastest lap, with Kevin Steele second and Austin Diperna third. The surprise of the session was that points leader, Pup Whatley, was almost 1.3 seconds off the pace, had he lost some of his soft dirt riding skills while training on the hardpack in Southern California? Rounding out the top five was the ever-improving Cory Huberty.
The realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup riders took to the track right after the Lites riders to see who could post fast lap time and get the number one gate pick. Top honors went to defending champion Mike Picone, who was followed by Tyler Livesay and Ian Millett as third Qualifier. Troy Adams was not on hand after winning the last round, and would be giving up some serious points by not attending.
Early in the program the 65cc 5-8 and 65cc 9-11 classes took to the track, with the older 65 riders going on the first gate drop. The first moto holeshot went to Darby Harrison, Ethan Woods was close behind while Seth Brown was third followed by Trace Edwards in fourth. Harrison and Woods pulled away from the pack and had a good battle going until Harrison made a small mistake allowing Woods into the lead. Woods then took control, taking home the first moto victory. Harrison took home second with Brown third and Edwards fourth. The second gate drop had Logan Stephens take the start and lead the entire way to the checkers, Stephens was followed by Bryce Raub in second and Dylan Varn in third. Logan Doyle came home fourth and Christopher Thompson rounded out the top five.
Heat races for the Lites class were up next, with Heat number one including top qualifier Jackson. When the gate fell Jackson got the power to the ground, barely beating Austin Diperna to the stripe. A first turn melee put a bunch of the contenders at the back, and they would have to try to fight their way towards the front. The two leaders pulled a gap on third place rider Rich Wilkes, and Diperna put some serious pressure on Jackson. A couple of laps in Diperna made a few mistakes which allowed Jackson to pull away out front. Wilkes was riding strong and holding his own in third, even closing in a bit on Diperna as the laps wore down. Further back a battle was brewing between Ryan Jessip and Cory Huberty, both of which had been involved in the first turn mishap. On the final lap Jessip closed in on Huberty down the back straight, and made an aggressive move to get past headed back adjacent to the back straight. Huberty stayed right with Jessip and drove it hard into the inside in the tight left hander two turns from the finish, neither rider gave an inch and Huberty came out of the corner ahead while Jessip was on the ground. It would be interesting to see what would happen in the main event between these two. Jackson came home first, Diperna second and Wilkes third.
The second heat race included points leader Whatley and #2 qualifier Steele, with the holeshot going to Whatley. Behind the leader there was pandemonium in the first turn, as numerous riders got together and a number of them completely missed the second turn. Both the second and third place riders would be penalized for cutting the track, moving Steele and Richie Noe to the back of the finishing order. Whatley must have quickly relearned his sand riding skills, as he checked out on the field and came home with the heat win. CK Douglas, who has been noticeably absent from the front of the field so far this year, finished second after the penalties were applied and Kyle Jacob came home third.
The first Sponsor’s Cup moto began with a Picone holeshot and a first turn crash with Ian Millett and Tyler Livesay. Both Livesay and Millet were unhurt, but only Livesay was able to continue, with Millett retiring from the moto with a broken radiator. Out front Picone made the race boring, and led the entire way. Wilfredo Guzman rode extremely well to come home second, showing good progress in his recovery from the broken femur he suffered at the Daytona Amateur SX. Ryan Jessip put in a good ride and finished third.
After an intermission to groom the track racing began once again, and moto 5 was the second moto for the 65 riders. The first gate fell for the 9-11 year old riders and Edwards took the start and led the entire moto to take the win and a strong second overall for the night. Brown held the second spot until lap three when Woods got around him. On lap four Brown went down and Harrison took over the third spot. Second overall went to Edwards with Harrison third and Brown taking home the fourth spot.
The 5-8 class holeshot went to Raub followed by Doyle and first moto winner Stephens. By lap two Stephens had made his way into the second spot and was trying to close the gap to the leader. On the final lap Stephens found his way past Raub to take the moto and the overall with his 1-1 scores. Second went to Raub, third; Varn, fourth; Doyle and fifth went to Thompson.
Vortex Lites main event time draws all the spectators to the fences, and round 12 was no exception. When the gate fell the surprise holeshot winner was Kevin Steele, although Steele had been fast all night he had never before led a main event. Douglas was close behind in second and Jackson was right there in third. Points leader, Pup Whatley, was way back in about twelfth after the dust had cleared from the first two turns, and had some serious work to do. Wilkes also had another great start, and was in fourth followed closely by Diperna in fifth. On lap three Jackson made his way past Douglas, although only briefly, as Douglas fought back and retook the second spot. At the same time Diperna had gotten around Wilkes to take over the fourth position. On lap five Jackson went down, and took forever to get going again which allowed a whole slew of riders to pick up a spot. As the laps wore on the top three, Steele, Douglas and Diperna settled into their respective positions. Jessip was charging in fourth, closing the gap on Diperna, but he would run out of time and finish fourth followed by Wilkes with his best finish yet in fifth. Steele took home his first victory, and Douglas also got his first podium of the year with his second place finish, and Diperna has been the most consistent lately with his third place. The points have really tightened up with the misfortunes of both Whatley and Jackson. Whatley still holds the lead with 440 points while Jackson is second with 390 and Diperna has made a big move into third with 370 points.
Moto 2 of the Sponsor’s Cup class began with a holeshot by Jerry Kopoian, in the past Kopoian has been unbeatable when he gets the lead, but could he get back to the winner’s circle after a couple year absence. Guzman was second behind Kopoian and charging to get to the front and Picone had an early problem and was trying to come from the back of the pack. Livesay, again was on the ground in the first turn, and would have to fight the entire moto just to try to salvage any points. On lap four Guzman went down leaving Kopoian out front all by himself, this also allowed Picone to take over the second spot. As the laps wore down Kopoian put in perfect laps and held the lead all the way to the checkers. Picone recovered nicely to finish second and take home the overall while newcomer Alvaro Cardenas came home third in moto two. Kopoian finshed second overall and Jessip rounded out the podium in third. Picone moved into second in the points just 10 behind points leader Livesay who has 550 points. Missing the round moved Adams back to third, but he is still well within striking distance. As the summer heats so does the racing action, with no time to rest up for the next round racers must be ready for round 13 next weekend.
By Tyler
