Turner Triumphs
Round 5 June 25
By R. Otterness
Koby Turner motored to multiple victories to be the only triple-class winner as the FXR Super Series completed the fifth round of the season. Turner smoked the competition in all six motos for a perfect day. Other riders managed to snag overalls in two classes, as Jaxon Arends did in 85cc 9-11 and 9-12, Luka Marble did in Girls Jr., and Girls Sr., Wyatt McGrath did in Schoolboy 2 and Open B, Nick Oeltjen did in 25+B, and 30+ B and last but oldest, Wayne Welzien accomplished in 60+ and 65+.
The day featured a number of weather themes as Ma Nature paraded out a cool morning, transitioning to a partly cloudly and warmer trend but then bringing in light rain during the beginning of the second set of motos. The track became quite challenging to navigate for some time but did recover noticeably for the later motos of the day. Entries totaled 425 for the day, as the weather forecast may have scared off some of the less faithful. (Just sayin’…)
Mason Lewison led the first moto pack through turn one as the 125 2-stroke class was released upon the track. Gavin Pettit had the pace, though, and took control of the race shortly thereafter and started to leave the pursuit behind. Carson Crosser and Bryce Rauner moved in to pressure Lewison heavily by the end of lap two, and Rauner got by to take control of second on the next circuit. Crosser also displaced Lewison after a bit, and the top four places were set for the flag. James Orres was a bit behind to fill out the top five. Lewison was raring to go next moto and pulled another holeshot, although Pettit was right alongside him as they exited turn one. Pettit took control out front, looking strong, while Crosser also got by Lewison as they concluded lap one. Pettit continued out front and built up a decent lead of about 12 seconds or so, while Crosser had a moment somewhere on the track and dropped back a few positions. Lewison regained second, with Montana Edward moving up for third. Pettit looked like a sure winner as he made the jump to the top of Collarbone Hill and descended with a nice lead to the bottom, but he caught one of the ruts wrong as he hit the ensuing right-hand turn toward the finish line, dumping his bike to the ground. He hurriedly picked up his bike and kicked it over, luckily regaining fire in the engine just a second or two before Lewison could get there, and he took the win by a couple of bike lengths. Edwards maintained for third, with Crosser in fourth over Orres.
Koby Turner started strong in the first moto of the 14-24 C class, with Stan Smith and Tayden Ludescher providing him pursuit. Turner was too strong and started to build a nice lead, while Smith had to give way to Ludescher in a lap or so. Smith kept it close for a while but dropped back some seconds at about the halfway point with some bobble. At the checkered, Turner had a solid 12-second lead for the win over Ludescher, who had about seven seconds over Smith. Ian Radintz came on strong over the last few laps to take fourth over Jerome Storlie.
Smith pulled the holeshot in Moto Two but, late in the lap, went down in a rut on the south side of the track, and he recovered buried in the pack. Ludescher inherited the lead with Radintz and Spencer Wallace behind at the end of the lap. But Turner was fourth, and the next two laps took over out front to go on for the eventual win. Radintz battled with Ludescher and snagged second on the last lap.
Gavind Pettit had a DNF first moto but came through traffic to take fourth this time out, while fifth went to Spencer Hein.
The 65cc 7-11 class featured a holeshot by Tate Fridgen in moto one, only to have Landon Gottas jump out front in short order. But Gottas went down briefly and dropped back a number of positions on the next lap while Fridgen regained the lead. Braxton Johnson and Eli Gohr moved in to challenge him, and after the battle, the order at the flag consisted of Johnson first across the line, with Fridgen and Gohr battling on for second and third. Fourth went to a recovered Gottas and fifth to Noah Gillis.
Gottas got out front early to lead the way to the flag in Moto Two. Johnson tailed him across the line to take a 1-2 overall win. Fridgen was next to the flag, with Gillis taking fourth and Reed Crotty fifth. Gohr threw it away big time on the finish line jump and had a DNF in this moto.
The results are here:
http://www.resultsmx.com/springcreek/index.asp?sp=&s=23&e=416
