Round 6 Mx
June 1, 2011
Dade City Motocross – 2011 Points Championship Series
May 14th , 2011 – Round 7
Author: Gifford Quast
If you live in Florida or even the Southeastern US, Dade city is the place to race. DCMX has been putting on motocross races since 1979, and no matter what class you race it will be highly competitive. From the girls class which always has 15-20 entries, the Pee Wees which produce national champions year after year, to the Sponsor’s Cup and Lites classes: if you want competition there is no place like DCMX.
Practice was delayed slightly by a brief afternoon shower, but nothing out of the ordinary in Florida during summer. Once underway the DCMX crew ran through the sessions with the usual regimented precision. Round 7 featured not only the realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup, but also round four of the Vortex Lites class. As usual, the premier classes would have their practice session double as timed qualifying for the first moto/heat race gate picks.
RJ Hampshire took top qualifiying time in the Vortex Lites class
In the Lites class RJ Hampshire, on a new Honda, laid down the fastest lap time, over 1.2 seconds faster than his closest competitor Bodie Colangelo. Round three winner, Jared Jackson put in the third fastest lap with Scott Westbrook in fourth and DJ MacFarland rounding out the top five. In Sponsor’s Cup class Troy Adams was the fastest man on the property followed by Kyle Keylon, Tyler Livesay, defending champion Mike Picone and Kory Keylon rounding out the top five.
Vortex Lites is run in a Supercross format, with heat races, a last chance qualifier and a main event in the second set of motos. The first heat featured #1 qualifier RJ Hampshire and he did not disappoint. Hampshire grabbed the holeshot and never looked back, dominating the strong field with a huge lead. Evan Walker had a great start, running the first couple of laps in second before succumbing to pressure from Jackson. Walker would finish strong, with a third behind Jackson and ahead of an ever improving Tyler Meyer. Cory Huberty rounded out the top five after coming through the pack from a poor start. Heat number two showed us what happens when you get the power to the ground on a good old 250 2-stroke, with Austin Diperna pulling the holeshot just ahead of Scott Westbrook. Mason Price started third with Colangelo and CK Douglas close behind. Diperna ran a great race, holding off Colangelo who made a late race charge and finished second. Westbrook came home third with Price in fourth and Kyle Jacob fifth. Sponsor’s Cup moto one began when Livesay ripped off yet another holeshot just ahead of Adams, for a number of rounds these two have battled bar-to-bar for the holeshot. In third was Picone followed by DCMX newcomer David Buller and Kory Keylon. Early on Kyle Keylon was on a mission, charging from 7th to 5th on the first lap. Buller made a mistake on lap 4 and dropped from the top five, while Michael Clarke was moving forward after a midpack start. The leaders held their respective positions throughout the moto, with Livesay taking the win followed by Adams and Picone in third. Kyle Keylon took home 4th
Tyler Livesay took Moto 1 in the Sponsors Cup Class
and Clarke was 5th across the finish line. Points leader, Kory Keylon, appeared to struggle and uncharacteristically faded back to 9th. For the second year in a row there has been quite a bit of attrition in the Vortex Lites class, due to injuries and other issues so there was no need for a LCQ, as each rider present qualified directly from the heats.Main event time for the Vortex Lites class always draws everyone to the fences, and when the gate fell Westbrook, again, showed the power of his 2-stroke. After leading the first two laps Westbrook succumbed to the pressure and dropped to the third position, with Hampshire taking the lead and Jackson moving into second. In the heat race Hampshire had dominated, could Jackson step it up and run the pace in the main? Walker was in fourth with Diperna in fifth, Jack Sigismondi sixth and Colangelo in seventh. Out front Hampshire showed that he would not be denied, riding flawlessly and pulling away from the rest of the
RJ Hampshire took his first Main Event win in the lites class.
field. Jackson, although unable to keep pace with Hampshire, rode well to finish second and take over the points lead from the absent Whatley. Finishing off the podium was Westbrook followed by Walker and Colangelo. Moto two of the realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup class gave us a flashback to last season, as Picone pulled the holeshot. Just like last year, once Picone got out front he was able to pull a gap on his competitors and ride his own race. Close behind Picone was Clarke, with Adams and Livesay right behind. On lap two Clarke gave way to Adams and a lap later Livesay also got past. Livesay was pushing hard to get to Adams, who was also on the gas trying to reel in Picone. Kyle Keylon had a 9th place start, and had his work cut out for him, but he put his head down and charged the entire moto, and was rewarded with a fourth place finish. In fifth was perennial contender Ian Millett, and after falling while running second Adams came home third. Picone stayed out front and led from wire-to-wire, but Livesay took home the overall with his 1-2 finish.
Tyler Livesay took his third Sponsors Cup win in a row
The Vortex Lites points have tightened up dramatically, with Jackson in the lead followed by Whatley, Colangelo, Westbrook and Hampshire all within 100 points. Can Hampshire repeat his dominating performance? Will Jackson return to the top step of the podium? Will Whatley be back for the next round? We will have to wait until next month to find out.
Much like the Lites class, the Sponsor’s Cup class points have tightened up, with round 7 giving us a new points leader in Livesay. Remember that after round 11 the points are re tabulated and only the best 5 finishes count, so it is really anyone’s championship at this point.
By Tyler
