Halloween Race at Holeshot MX in Loranger, LA on October 28, 2006

Story & Photos by Roy Jenkins

Loranger, LA – October 28, 2006

What do you get when you mix scary costumes, noisy motorcycles, a dunking booth, a moist race track, a haunted hayride, talented teenagers, apples floating in a tub, families lounging around campfires and a finish line? A Halloween motocross race of course, Louisiana style. But it was a Montana boy who recently moved back home who stole the show. Thirteen year-old Nate Martin won victories in the Schoolboy, 85 Open and 85 (12-15) classes on his Champion Cycle/Donnie O’s Suzuki.

He was first out of the gate in the big 85 Open class, with Forrest Smith and Jordan Giambelluca third. No one was able to upset this order through the first moto.

In the second moto of the 85 Open Martin shot off the gate out front again with Smith and Giambelluca third. The track was a little rougher, but Martin kept his speed, the little Suzuki popping up into the air as flew into the braking bumps. Chad Gutierrez and Dustin Fooshee rounded out the top five. Giambelluca found a line around Smith’s Honda and made it Suzuki: 1 – 2. Martin took the victory with six seconds to spare over Giambelluca, Smith, and Gutierrez.

Forrest Smith, who has been on fire since getting his new CRF-150, was the only rider that showed signs of challenging Martin’s Suzuki in the 85 class. But Martin found his lines and motored away to victory in the combined 85 (7-11)/(12-15) class. Chad Gutierrez and Jordan Giambelluca filled the third and fourth slots.

Jordan Giambelluca was the yellow blur early in the second moto and tried to run from Martin and company. Gutierrez held second until the back straight when Martin slipped by to go after the Gambler. Smith had to recover from a poor start. Same four frontrunners as the first moto, but in a different order. This morphed into two tight races: the race for first with the two Suzuki’s and the race for third with the KTM and Honda. The Gambler held three seconds over Martin on the last lap, while Gutierrez was a only a couple bike lengths ahead of Smith. Giambelluca held on to win over Martin and Smith was able to move past Gutierrez into third.

Gage Hutchinson got first in the 65 (6-9) class, with Cameron Breland trying to run him down. Chad Bush got the jump on Devante Martin in the (10-11) class behind the Hutch/Cam duel. Breland studied Hutch’s lines all moto until the last lap when he moved up close for a strike. Breland stole the lead on the last turn to win the moto for the MS riders. Cannon Shirah scored third to give Champion Cycle KTMs the next to spots. Chad Bush came by a little while later to win the older class, with Jay Michon right on his tail, another 6-9 class KTM rider.

Hutchinson repeated his holeshot in the second moto of the 65 (6-9) class, but he threw it away when he went down in the back corner of the track leaving the lead to Breland and Shirah. They finished that way, with Michon, Bush, and Boudreaux. Bush winning the (10-11) class.

Hutchinson, Breland and Shirah renewed their little race party in the 65 Open class. Hutch tried to capitalize on an early lead, but Breland started to sneak up on him on lap three. By their last trip through the sweeper, Breland was tailgating, looking for an opening. Breland passed on the last lap. Hutch tried to re-pass on the turn entering the infield, but got bogged down in the soft chunks of dirt and lost traction, spinning out but staying up. But Breland got away with the win. Jay Michon had been holding off Cannon Shirah for the third spot. These two went right down to the wire, with Michon holding off his Champion Cycle KTM teammate by one bike length.

Hutchinson and Breland had their close race for the lead in the second moto. Cam Breland took a turn throwing away a race by going down leaving Hutch the easy victor, with Jay Michon and Cannon Shirah following to give Champion Cycles the whole podium.

Cody Cornell scored the first of four holeshots on the night riding his Yamaha, with Roy Barrios, Jr. tagging along in second in the 125 Novice class. Ryan Allen led Joseph Brasseaux and Jeffery Harper, rounding out the top five spots. Soon Allen moved his KTM up into the lead, with Cornell, Brasseaux and Curtis Doiron. The order changed again by the last lap with Doiron first on his Kawasaki, Barrios second on his Honda, Cornell third and Brasseaux fourth.

In the second moto of the 125 Novice it was Cornell, Rideout and Doiron. Then like magic Curtis Doiron jumped into the lead on his Kawasaki, with Ryan Allen behind him. Then those two went bar to bar, wheelying down the back straight – the Kawasaki and KTM. Doiron had the advantage heading into the last turn and pulled the win over Allen, Cornell, Rideout, Brasseaux and Harper.

The lone Senior +40 rider beat the younger senior riders in the combined Senior/Hobby race. Stuart McAvoy had his new Red Thumper cooking with gas. Only John Giambelluca could match his speed, but never pass until late in the second moto when Stuart started to pull off when he thought he saw the checkered flag and John came by. Stephen Perschall had moved up into the top three and ran the speed until he crashed in the whoop section.

Did you see? Johnny Fuller’s grandson, Dylan Domangue in his second race? Johnny rode behind him on a pit bike, while Domangue negotiated the track with training wheels.

Curtis Doiron hung with the back runners of the money class when the Novice and Intermediate Open class gated with the experts.

Stuart won the pumpkin race, but, without a shirt? in the cold?

Ricky's Mom trying to give him a bath in the dunking booth?

Nate Martin come wobbling in after winning the second moto of the Schoolboy class with 11 broken spokes?

The Money class have trouble staying on the track?

The Pattison’s trailer and truck? It was stolen later that night from the corner of Williams and Veterans Hwy while they were inside eating. Keep your eyes open for a trailer (with Pattison Racing on the sides, if still visible), F250 crew cab, light brown with bob wire trim, Denli 4 wheeler 90cc black & white, 250 Kaw with #244, Suzuki RM85 #23 with red hubs, and a little teacup Chihuahua named Buddy. Call (504) 296-2270 if you see any of this stolen gear.

Final Results:

50 OIL: 1. Ray Mitchell (Cob); 2. Sara Gros (Hon); 3. Dayton Shirah (KTM); 4. Memphis Bordelon (KTM); 5. Dakota Harwell (Hon).

50 (4-6): 1. Ray Mitchell (Cob); 2. Caleb Passman (KTM); 3. Dayton Shirah (KTM); 4. Duel Judice (KTM); 5. Colin Pelican (Yam).

50 (7-8): 1. Blake Lagarde (KTM); 2. Steven Gros (KTM).

50 OPEN: 1. Ryan Martin (LEM); 2. Garrett Giglio (Cob); 3. Duel Judice (KTM).

65 BEG: 1. Donny Saucier (Kaw); 2. Chase Hinton (Kaw); 3. Trey Smith (Kaw).

65 (6-9): 1. Cameron Breland (KTM); 2. Cannon Shirah (KTM); 3. Jay Michon (KT); 4. Gage Hutchinson (KTM); 5. Ryan Boudreaux (KTM).

65 (10-11): 1. Chad Bush (KTM); 2. Devante Martin (Kaw).

65 OPEN: 1. Gage Hutchinson (KTM); 2. Jay Michon (KTM); 3. Cannon Shirah (KTM); 4. Cameron Breland (KTM); 5. Ryan Boudreaux (KTM).

85 BEG: 1. Justin Braud (Kaw); 2. Gasper Giglio (Hon); 3. Chuck Layerle (KTM); 4. Hut Allen (Yam); 5. Zachary Sloan (Kaw).

85 (7-11): 1. Jordan Giambelluca (Suz); 2. Forrest Smith (Hon); 3. Forrest Town (Yam); 4. Hayden Bordelon (Hon); 5. Kip Guidry (Hon).

85 (12-15): 1. Nate Martin (Suz); 2. Chad Gutierrez (KTM); 3. Brandon Pickell (Yam); 4. Caleb Cook (KTM).

85 OPEN: 1. Nate Martin (Suz); 2. Jordan Giambelluca (Suz); 3. Forrest Smith (Hon); 4. Chad Gutierrez (KTM); 5. Dustin Fooshee (Hon).

SCLBY: 1. Nate Martin (Suz); 2. Cody Cornell (Yam); 3. Roy Barrios (Hon); 4. Scott Sardella (Hon); 5. Dustin Fooshee (Hon).

125 BEG: 1. Jules Sider (Yam); 2. Ryan Alexander (Kaw); 3. Jake Bickford (Hon); 4. Andy Allen (Yam); 5. Lance Dyle (Suz).

250 BEG: 1. Andrew Delatorre (KTM); 2. Brand Dishon (Suz); 3. Daren Rodriguez (Hon).

OPEN BEG: 1. Andrew Delatorre (KTM); 2. Jake Bickford (Hon); 3. Justin Dantin (Yam); 4. Richard Lawson (Kaw); 5. Shawn Hrubes (KTM).

125 NOV: 1. Curtis Doiron (Kaw); 2. Cody Cornell (Yam); 3. Joseph Brasseaux (Hon); 4. Roy Barrios (Hon); 5. Jeffery Harper (Yam).

NOV/INT OPEN: 1. Curtis Doiron (Kaw); 2. Joseph Brasseaux (Hon); 3. Jeffery Harper (Yam); 4. Zach Rideout (Yam); 5. Roy Barrios (Hon).

OPEN MON: 1. Dustin Manuel (Suz); 2. Jason Manuel (Suz); 3. Chase Melancon (KTM); 4. Ronnie Stigler (KTM).

SEN+30: 1. John Giambelluca (Yam); 2. Ryan Whitfield (Kaw); 3. Gabe Aitken (Yam); 4. Danny Pattison (Hon); 5. Quin Hebert (KTM).

SEN+40: 1. Stuart McAvoy (Hon).

HOBBY: 1. Glenn Tatum (KTM); 2. Bobby Carter (KTM); 3. Sean Humphrey (Kaw); 4. Telmo Scherer (Hon); 5. Darrel Hrubes (KTM).

WOM: 1. Alexandra Cerise (Yam); 2. Haley Warm (Yam).