Article : Round 16
November 3, 2011
Dade City Motocross – 2011 Points Championship Series
September 17th, 2011 – Round 16
Author: Gifford Quast
The DCMX points championship season may be the longest of any organized sport in the world, and as we begin to see a subtle indication that fall may one day appear, the racing really begins to heat up. Round 16 took place at the storied facility on an all new track design, and the racers were ready for a change. The track had a lot of long straights and quite a few jumps right out of the corners, horsepower would be a definite advantage here.
Practice got underway promptly at 3pm, as usual, and the final two sessions are used as timed qualifying for the Vortex Lites and the realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup classes. The Lites were the first to take to the new layout, and RJ Hampshire, on a borrowed YZ250 2-Stroke, wasted no time and set the fast lap on his first time around the track. Jared Jackson, who was Just over half a second behind Hampshire, qualified number two, followed by the ever consistent Austin Diperna in third. Points leader, Pup Whatley, was able to set the fourth fastest lap and he was followed by the ever improving Cory Huberty in fifth. Huberty recently made the switch to a YZ250 2-Stroke, and in practice he looked as though he had made some serious improvement on it since the last round. Infrequent DCMX Lites rider Cody Chisholm was unable to qualify any better than the 7th spot, almost three seconds off the pace. Visiting riders usually have a tough time beating the incumbents at DCMX, could Chisholm break this curse?
The end of the AMA Nationals usually means that some of the Florida riders who spent the season on the tour will show up at DCMX to try to get some extra spending money, however, the local boys are not likely to share very well. Ricky Renner, after a full season in the 250 class, was on hand again to set the fast lap of the session. Defending champ, and subsequently the #1 plate holder, was Mike Picone in second, and points leader and 2008 champion Tyler Livesay was third fastest. With multi time winner Troy Adams, former AMA National winner Matt Goerke and 2009 Sponsor’s Cup Champion Michael Clarke also on hand we were prepared for some exciting racing.
For the first time in quite a while the Lites class had so many entries that anyone who wanted to race the main would have to qualify. Heat number one featured top qualifier Hampshire, Diperna, Huberty, Chisholm and a host of others. Although the 4-Strokes outnumber the premixers by a fair margin, the 2-Strokes usually find the first turn before their valved counterparts. Huberty pulled the holeshot, showing that he is indeed adapting quickly, while Hampshire came around the first turn just behind, apparently requiring no time to adapt to his borrowed two-smoker. In third Chisholm was followed closely by Ryan Jessip, and Diperna, in spite of a poor jump somehow came out in fifth. On the second lap Hampshire took the lead from Huberty, but Jessip also pushed his way past Chisholm to take over the third spot. Once out front Hampshire began to pull away from Huberty, while Huberty gapped the rest of the field. While the leaders had settled in out front Chisholm was pushing hard to get back the third spot from Jessip. With a couple of laps to go Chisholm dove inside of Jessip, and in what appeared to be slow motion the two came together with Chisholm going down. Chisholm would take a long time to get going, which would require him to race the LCQ in order to make the main. Hampshire won the heat with Huberty in second and Jessip grabbed third.
The second heat featured Jackson, Whatley and DJ MacFarlane. When the gate dropped Jackson showed that 4-Strokes can get to the first turn quickly as well, as he was alone out front at the stripe. Behind Jackson was Scott Westbrook (also 2-Stroke mounted), Whatley, Jack Sigismondi and CK Douglas. Jackson pulled away from the field right away, ensuring that the spectators would have to look further back to see some tight racing, and on lap two Whatley took second from Westbrook. While this was going on Nicholas Guessford was blitzing his way up through the pack, putting in some great laps in traffic. As we neared the end Whatley went down, giving up second and allowing Westbrook back by. When the checkers waved Jackson had taken the win, Westbrook second and Guessford had put in a great ride to come home third. Whatley’s mishap vanquished him back to the sixth position and a rather poor gate pick for the main event.
Sponsor’s Cup moto one gave us a chance to see Renner out front for the first time in quite a while. A few years back Renner had a huge points lead, which evaporated when he broke his wrist at a Gold Cup round. Close behind Renner off the start were Picone and Livesay, with Ian Millett in fourth and Goerke in fifth. Renner began to pull away from Picone, who also put a bit of distance between himself and Livesay. Goerke moved into fourth on lap two, getting past Millett. The top four spots would remain the same from this point on, and the only racing to watch was taking place further back. After a poor start Hampshire, still riding the borrowed 250 2-Stroke, was coming through the pack. Adams ended up fifth with Hampshire getting past Millet with just a lap to go to take over the sixth position.
The LCQ for the Lites class came after moto 18, and was the final race leading into the brief halftime intermission. Only the top two riders would make the cut for the main event, and right from the start Chisholm had sewn up the top spot. This left only one final qualifying spot left for five riders to fight over. On the opening lap Sean Johnson had made a move to take over the second spot from Joseph Gonzalez, but Gonzalez dove into the turn leading onto the front straight hard and hammered Johnson. Johnson picked up the bike, clearly upset and chased after the pack. While Chisholm cruised around way out front Gonzalez also pulled a gap on the third place rider, Dakota Gearheart. Further back Johnson, riding like a man possessed was moving up through the field. Everyone watched to see if there Johnson would have enough time, and as the white flag waved Johnson had taken over third and was pretty close to Gonzalez. Gonzalez did not triple the big jump at the end of the front straight, and when Johnson (who had jumped it every lap) got into the throttle we could tell the slight gap would be erased. Unfortunately, Johnson came up short, and went down handing the final qualifying spot to Gonzalez. Johnson put in a great come-back ride, and came up just short of his goal, but fortunately he was unhurt and will be back for the penultimate round of the Vortex Lites class next month.
As the gate fell for the Vortex Lites main event the 2-Stroke boys did a great job of putting all of their power down, grabbing 4 of the top 5 spots across the stripe. Hampshire repeated his Heat race start by edging out KX250 mounted Guessford, Jackson (the lone 4-Stroke) , Huberty and Diperna. On the third lap Jackson moved past Guessford to take over second, and Chisholm got by Diperna to take over the fifth spot. On lap five, Jackson, who was pushing hard to catch Hampshire who was out front came up short on the big triple at the end of the front straightaway. Jackson went down hard in a scary crash and there were medical flags down the front straight for the remainder of the moto. After jackson’s crash Huberty retook the second spot, with Whatley having worked his way past both Chisholm and Guessford to take over third. A bit farther back Diperna had some bad luck, as his chain derailed and he coasted to a stop, losing his hard fought seventh spot. MacFarlane, Noe and Gonzalez joined Diperna and Jackson with DNF’s, far more than in any other round so far this year. Hampshire was the class of the field, having a perfect night and taking home the victory. Huberty had his best finish of the year with an excellent second place and Whatley continues to hold the points lead with consistent finishes as he rounded off the podium. Chisholm could not break the visitor’s curse and rode to a fourth followed in fifth by Guessford, who showed he has the speed to run with the leaders.
The Sponsor’s Cup class came fairly late in the program, running moto 14. Livesay, who is getting faster all the time on his 2012 KX450F, grabbed the holeshot ahead of Kyle Keylon, Clarke, Goerke and Millett. Adams, Renner and Hampshire were all on the ground for the start, and each would try to work his way forward from the rear of the pack. Hampshire pulled off after the first turn pileup with a broken silencer, ending his otherwise awesome night. Picone, with a midpack start, wasted no time and made a move past Millet on the first lap to move into the fifth spot. On lap eight Goerke got around Clarke to take over the third position, and from that point on there would be no changes up front. Renner had the most impressive run up through the pack, getting all the way back up to the sixth spot. Livesay took the win with Keylon in second, and Goerke completing the podium with his third. Due to the chaos three riders scored the same, but as always the final moto score counts more. Overall results were as follows: 1st – Livesay (3-1), 2nd – Goerke (4-3), 3rd – Picone (2-5), 4th – Renner (1-6), and 5th – Clarke (8-4).
Chaos and pandemonium were the words of the night, with a number of riders getting off hard, but as the season winds down the intensity gets cranked up. The points battles in both classes are far from over, although Whatley has a comfortable lead in the Lites class. With only two rounds remaining and a 70 point gap on second place Jackson (who is questionable for the next round at this point), Whatley is in the drivers seat. But remember, his points lead is less than one round, and other riders are within striking distance.
Livesay is on another roll in the Sponsor’s Cup class, having won the last three rounds, but Picone is only 40 points back. This has become a two man race, with five rounds remaining, so plan to see some great battles ‘till the end. Be sure to attend each of the last five rounds, you will not want to miss any of the exciting action.
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