Article: Fall Brawl
August 25, 2011
August 21st, 2011
Author: Gifford Quast
DCMX was the host to Round 1 of the new 1st Annual Barney’s Fall Brawl, which was a combined event with the penultimate round of the Florida Motocross Series. It was an awesome turnout, and everyone present had a great time, not only racing but enjoying the complimentary lunch which was provided by Barney’s. Those used to the “rapid-fire” approach necessary to get all of the racing in on Saturday nights for the points series events were pleasantly surprised to see the much more laid back atmosphere. The whole idea of the Barney’s Fall Brawl is to bring the fun back to motocross, with some time to socialize for lunch as well as after the races.
As a day race the extended day track was in use (except for the 50cc classes) which meant deep sand and the dreaded sand whoops. You cannot even call yourself a Florida motocrosser unless you have battled (and likely crashed in) the infamous DCMX sand whoop section. After practice, which took place around 8:45 following a riders meeting, the racers took to the track for the first round of motos. Moto one combined the Youth 16-24 and the 125 2-Stroke classes, and there was great racing in both. First moto winner in the 16-24 class, Wilfredo Guzman could not repeat and had to settle for second in moto two. The overall win went to Evan Walker who went 2-1, the podium was complete with Matt Lee who had 3-3 finishes.
Race four featured the 85cc Beginner classes and the Jr Mini 9-13 also on 85cc machines. Marc Gonzales had a great day, and went 1-1 for the overall, he was followed by Perry Warren with a 3-2 and Seth Brown with 2-4 to grab the final spot on the podium. In the Jr Mini class Austin Winslow also dominated the competition by going 1-1, which always ensures an overall victory. Great rides were also put in by Zachary Hart who finished second and Anthony Giglio who battled hard to take home third.
The eighth moto of the day was the only one which did not have more than one class on the track, and it featured the Super Minis. Austin Winslow put in a great ride, again, and won both motos to take home yet another victory. Robbey Ruffner did his best to keep Winslow honest, but was unable to match the pace and had to settle for second. One of the best battles of the day came between Drew Swenson and Jake Bender, in moto one Swenson had edged Bender out to take the win. The second moto saw the two of them battle back and forth all moto long. In the end Bender barely held off the hard charging Swenson to grab the final spot on the podium. It turned out Bender had fractured his left arm in a practice crash at the start of the day, and had gutted out 4 motos with that break.
By far the most crowded gate was moto 12, which had two drops for the 250C and the 250 Beginner classes. In C Cory Huberty beat out 18 other riders to take home both moto victories and the overall (of course). Equally consistent was Daniel Cook, who rode to 2-2 finished for, you guessed it, 2nd overall, while Raymond Johnson went 3-3 to finish, well I’m sure you can figure it out. The Beginners also had very consistent finishes, which is unusual in a beginner class, each finishing both motos with the same results as the overall scores. Patrick Fitzgerald won, Jacob Short came home second and Tanner Olson got third.
KC and the Barney's Team took care of the crowd at the lunch time BBQ.
Before we could get down to eating the awesome BBQ which had been prepared by the Barney’s staff there was one piece of business to contend with at halftime. The first annual Barney’s Fall Brawl was a relay race which pitted riders from Dade City Motocross against riders whose home track is Sunshine Motocross. Round one featured riders from each camp on 65cc, 85cc, 125cc and 250cc machines, with each rider having to complete two laps. When the gate fell on the 65 riders the holeshot went to Trace Edwards, who was followed closely by Joseph Costa from the Sunshine team. The start heads out into the sand section, and by the time the riders had made their way up onto the night track Edwards had amassed a pretty good lead. After two laps Edwards had put the DCMX team in pretty good shape with a sizeable lead. Zach Hart headed out onto the track for DCMX, and after what must have seemed like an eternity Drew Swenson finally got underway. Swenson rode hard for his Sunshine team, and managed to cut the gap about in half by the time the both completed their two laps. Next out were the 125 riders, and right away everyone could tell a battle was brewing. Robbey Ruffner was representing the DCMX team, and when he took off it was obvious that there was some sort of running issue with his 125, DJ McFarlane took off and gave chase and was clearly closing quickly. By the time the riders came around to the sweeper leading onto the front straight (where all of the spectators were gathered under the big oak tree, McFarlane had caught Ruffner. DJ dove inside of Ruffner, and Ruffner tried to push back from the outside, unsuccessfully, and his front tire hit McFarlane’s swingarm and he went down. While McFarlane sped away Ruffner jumped up and flailed his arms, while the DCMX portion of the crowd yelled at him to pick up the bike and go. After a bit of drama Ruffner remounted and got underway, but now way behind. The final Sunshine rider was Cory Huberty, and he got underway with at least a third of a lap lead over DCMX rider RJ Hampshire. Hampshire does not know the meaning of the word quit, and posted a couple of blazingly fast laps, but he came up just short. Round one went to the Sunshine MX crew, and there was talk of Randy Yoho having to wear a Sunshine T-Shirt at the next round.
We all had a lot of fun, a new rivalry was started, and we all got some great racing and food. The second round takes place August 28th at Sunshine Motocross and there are a number of questions to be answered. Will Randy wear a Sunshine T-Shirt? Will DCMX be able to tie up the Fall Brawl while away from home? Will any other rider forget that you have to pick up the bike and go as quickly as possible? There will be four different classes selected for the Brawl at each round, as each team can only use a rider one time, so we should see all new drama. Be sure you are at Sunshine so that we can all learn the answers to all of these questions, and have a great time.
Sunshine wins Round 1 of the Fall Brawl
By admin
