Round 9 Article
June 16, 2011
Dade City Motocross – 2011 Points Championship Series
June 4th, 2011 – Round 9
On the eve of the second annual 12 hours of Dade City Charity event Round 9 of the 2011 DCMX Championship Series took place, with the usual large turnout of riders and spectators. With the whole list of full classes, capped off by the realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup everyone in attendance was ready for a full night of racing.
The premier class, featuring the top riders, is the Sponsor’s Cup, and their practice also serves as qualifying for gate pick in the first moto. After starting out with a big bang Journeyman pro racer Troy Adams has had a dry spell, but this week he put in the fastest qualifying time. Second fastest in practice, Tyler Livesay, has been on a roll having won the last 4 rounds with dominating performances from start to finish. Third fastest time went to Kory Keylon, who has struggled a bit lately, but with summer vacation from school about to begin expects Kory to pick up the pace as he has more time to ride and train. Rounding out the top five were Mike Picone in the fourth qualifying position followed by the older Keylon brother, Kyle in fifth.
Early in the program the Schoolboy and Plus 25 classes took to the track to do battle, with both classes leaving on the same gate scoring would be a little confusing. When the gate fell it was a fight for the holeshot between Jared Jackson and Quinton Bigalow, with Jackson pulling ahead. Cody Chisholm got a bad start , and was fourth in the schoolboy class off the start, with the speed Jackson has shown lately and riders from another class mixed in Chisholm had his work cut out for him. Meanwhile Bigalow was out front in the Plus 25 class, with former pro Augie Lieber giving chase. By lap two Chisholm had worked his way into the second position in Schoolboy and was pushing hard to close the large gap between himself and leader Jackson. Lieber made the pass on Bigalow to secure the Plus 25 win on lap five. By the white flag lap Chisholm had closed to right on Jackson’s rear fender, and was trying to find a way around to the lead. Jackson rode well to hold off the charging Chisholm and take the win, Chisholm came home second followed by Kevin Steele in third.
As spectators lined the fences for the realmotocross.com Sponsor’s Cup many were wondering what the white circle in the infield section of the track was all about. Apparently there had been an altercation between many of the Sponsor’s Cup racers at another race just the night before and it had culminated in a large-scale brawl. During the riders meeting Randy Yoho had told the riders that if there was any fighting it would have to take place within the circle, any fighting outside of the circle would lead to expulsion for all riders involved.
The first moto of the Sponsor’s Cup began with a holeshot by Adams, his first time out front in quite some time. Adams was followed closely by #1 plate holder Mike Picone and DCMX newcomer Evgeny Mikhaylor in third. Livesay, who has been killing the starts lately had a mediocre jump out of the gate and came past the stripe in fourth with Kory Keylon in fifth. Adams had a problem early on running off the track, which turned out to be a front brake failure, and dropped back to fourth on the second lap. Livesay had quickly made his way into the second spot, right on the rear fender of Picone who had assumed the lead after Adams’ issue. Livesay had an awesome line in the tight right hand corner in the center of the track after a small double, and he made a brilliant pass to take over the lead on lap three. Picone appeared to have been caught off guard, and tried to regroup to stay with Livesay. Although Picone closed in on Livesay, and Tyler made a number of mistakes on the final lap he was able to hold on for the victory. Picone came home a very close second with Kory Keylon taking the final spot on the podium.
The second moto of Schoolboy combined with the Plus 25 class began with another Jackson holeshot, but this time Chisholm was right on him. Bigalow was once again able to get the start over Lieber to lead the Plus 25 class. Chisholm wasted no time in getting around Jackson, taking over the lead on the second lap, while behind them Wilkes was putting in a good performance in the third spot. Chisholm was pulling away from the pack, and when Jackson had an issue on lap four it sealed the victory for him and allowed Wilkes to take over second. Lap five saw Lieber make a pass on Bigalow, and he would hold on for a second moto win of the night, giving him the overall victory with Bigalow taking home a second. In the schoolboy class Chisholm, preparing for the LL Regional Qualifier, won the overall, Jackson pulled off a second with 1-4 scores and Wilkes rounded off the podium with a 4-2.
Livesay had come from behind to win the first moto, showing that he is the rider to beat at this point in the season. Tyler has been on a roll, but the longer you keep winning the sooner something is likely to happen to end your streak. As the gate fell for the second moto Kory Keylon got a great jump and led the field across the holeshot line, with Adams close behind. In third, older brother Kyle Keylon had his hands full with Livesay in fourth. Livesay made quick work of Keylon, using the same inside line that had given him the lead in the first moto. Up front, on the fourth lap Adams moved past the younger Keylon to take the lead, and the following lap Livesay took over second moving Kory back to third. Just as it looked like we would have a good battle on our hands for the lead Adams signaled that he had a problem and Livesay took the lead. As Adams came around he pulled off the track and into the infield circle, as he laid his bike down in the circle he began to attempt to get it to fight with him, apparently upset with its performance. It was to no avail, as the bike refused to fight back. Adams remounted and rode slowly around the track, waving to the fans, his race over due to a flat tire. Out front Livesay, once again, held the lead to the finish, taking the overall with 1-1 scores. Picone went 2-2 for second and Kory Keylon finished off the podium with equally consistent 3-3 scores.
Livesay continues to dominate, and can do no worse than being tied for the points lead after the drop portion of the series takes place. Adams, who started off with a bang, is struggling, with his speed and now with mechanical issues. Picone is doing his best to keep pace with Livesay, and seems to be just shy of taking another win. With Kory Keylon preparing for Loretta Lynn’s we should expect his pace to increase with each and every week from this point forward. As always it will be exciting right to the end.
Author: Gifford Quast
By admin
