Race Report

Holeshot Motocross Park

Ponca Qualifier June 4, 2006

Light winds, low humidity and a blazing sun awaited motocross racers as the last Ponca Qualifier played out in south Louisiana. Practice was delayed after several riders crashed on newly redesigned jumps and track owner Ricky Andre took the time to re-face them at a safer angle. The plan paid dividends with a decrease in crashes and great racing. Among the exciting racing was the tussle between Champion Cycle teammates Jon-murry Barr and Kirby Dodd in the 85 Open class.

Although Barr went unchallenged in the 65 (6-9), (10-11), 65 Open and 85 (7-11) classes on his VFM/Champion Cycle KTM, he met opposition in the 85 Open. Barr raised the bar high with a quick lead over Ky Thames, Kirby Dodd, Josh Lidikay and Bruce Bender. Dodd moved up into second by the end of the first lap with Barr keeping his distance. Bender tussled with Lidikay over fourth for a lap and finally prevailed and settled in behind Thames in third. Dodd could not get closer than three seconds to Barr who won the first moto.

The second moto of the 85 Open quickly got interesting as Barr, Dodd and Thames emerged as frontrunners. Then it evolved into a two man race between Barr and Dodd. Dodd made up time tripling into the whoops, studying Barr’s lines until Barr slipped in a turn. This allowed Dodd to slip by and use his modified bike’s power to his advantage on the long straights. Barr never could make up for his mistake and Dodd went on to break Barr’s undefeated streak at five.

Kirby Dodd had his KTM lit up in the 85 (12-15) as Matt Bellon and Ky Thames tried to keep up. Dodd won with a little elbow room followed by Thames who had a lot of elbow room in front of Justin Pittman and Matt Bellon. Bruce Bender had been zipping through the pack only to crash back into fifth.

Thames got his KTM out in front of Dodd’s early in the second moto and started a two-wheeled fight that lasted a whole moto. It ended when Dodd had to pull off with mechanical problems, leaving Thames the victory. The two Yamahas of Bender and Pittman rounded out the podium.

Cody Cornell continues to make noise as he gets used to his YZ250f and jumped out on the 125/250 Novice class. But Dane Dumesnil applied instant pressure and found a faster line through the whoops to grab the lead. Steven Wagley quietly moved his KX250f through the field into contention. By mid-race Wagley was within sight of Dumesnil’s CRF250 and 250 novice leader Chris Pursell on the ground. Dumesnil washed out of an off-camber turn on the last lap, handing the win to Wagley. Dumesnil re-mounted in time to keep Cornell in third.

Wagley led Dumesnil and Pursell early in the second moto of the combined 125/250 Novice class, chased by Cornell and Justin Pittman. Dumesnil made another mistake allowing Wagley to cruise to victory with Pittman second, Cornell third and Dumesnil getting fourth by a centimeter at the finish line.

With many of the fastest riders competing at the Loretta regional in Texas, the Open Money gated with the 125 Intermediate and Senior classes. Hattiesburg, Ms. Rider Zach Lawler crushed all challengers on his Pro-Flo Kawasaki thumper, leaving Broc Andre to deal with the intermediate and senior riders from third spot. Between them was a game John Moeller on his Honda. Back in the fourth spot was Garrit Moeller and the rest of the amateurs. Lawler disappeared and won by a cool 25 seconds. John Moeller showed Andre to the finish line

John Moeller remembered his fast lines as he took the Schoolboys to class. Justin Pittman, Steven Wagley, Dane Dumesnil and Trenton Suire fell into line as they marched obediently. But you know how boys can be and soon Dumesnil was trying to cut in on Wagley. Before the teacher could turn his head, the boys had switched positions behind him: Wagley, Pittman, Dumesnil and Suire. By the time they reached the cafeteria, it was the same order, but with a gap between Wagley and Pittman, who had Dumesnil and Suire bunched up on his back shoulder.

In math class (second moto), John Moeller took the first third of the first lap to move into second place behind Wagley. Cornell, Suire and Pittman were on the roll behind him. John studied hard to get to the top of the class, but Wagley held a five point lead and by the end of class Wagley had achieved the top grade by a large margin, with Suire, Pittman John Moeller and Dumesnil rounding out the class.

Blaze Berry blazed a trail for the 50 (4-6) class on his Cobra. Zeb Huff followed closely as they broke away from the field. Berry stopped to pick… I mean, washed out in the off-camber turn, allowing Huff to take the lead for good, and punctuated his win with a brief no hander on finish line jump face, then held his left fist up triumphantly all the way back through the pits. Berry finished second, followed by Ahston Castjohn and Ray Mitchell.

Castjohn crashed on the start of the second moto and when his parents tried to lead him back to the pits, he refused, saying, "I don’t want to quit." He got back into the race and finished. Meanwhile Huff and Berry were caught behind a lapper for a half lap, until Berry peeked out from behind the lapper a split second before his competitor to win the second moto by a split second.

Scott McElroy led Gage Hutchinson and T-Don Lerille in the 65 (6-9) class. Forrest Smith and Jordan Giambelluca gave respectable performances behind Barr in the 85 (7-11) class. Lerille rode his "Rajun’ Cajun Broadcasting" Polini to the double moto victories in the 50 Open class, then won the second moto of the 65 (6-9) class on his Suzuki by passing Cooper Wilson.

Dylan Cook was able to lead the chase of Barr in the 65 Open class, followed by Lerille, Hutchinson and McElroy. Hutchinson crashed hard on the approach to the 96 foot tabletop, suffering a bruised side and a loss of a lap while Barr won again by a large margin.

Wesley Banks led early in the 50 (7-8) class but was crowded by Blake Lagarde and T-Don Lerille. By the end of the first lap Lagarde tried an inside pass - but got sideways, his KTM going out of control, clipping the front wheel of Banks and they slid out leaving Lerille in the lead.

Zach Lawler split holeshots with Ronnie Stigler in the Open money/Int class. Lawler winning first, with Stigler, Garrit Moeller, Alex Singley, Chris Pursell, John Moeller and Steven Wagley in tow. Lawler smoothly went on to victory, with Moeller and Pursell wildly trying to keep up. Pursell had his CR450F wide open through the whoops, especially on the last lap when he moved up alongside Garrit for a near photo-finish, but Moeller hung on to take second behind Lawler. John Moeller and Steven Wagley rounded out the top finishers.

Stigler’s second moto holeshot lasted only one turn before Lawler shot into the lead. Garrit Moeller raced in the third spot with Broc Andre moving up into fourth on the first lap. Lawler checked out early, while Andre worked his Holeshot Yamaha into second.

Lawler had this to say after his race:

Roy: "Were you tired?"

Zach: "No, that wasn’t but about 5 laps, I think."

Roy: "What are you riding?"

Zach: "It’s my new Pro-Flo Kawasaki from Laurel, Ms."

Roy: "Where you from?"

Zach: "Hattiesburg."

Roy: "It looked like you didn’t quite get the holeshot that time."

Zach: "Ronnie Stigler… he pulled me. But he wore down pretty good. It was a fun race.

Other notes:

Ricky had a new fence, water tower, covered grandstand and other improvements and will have a new pit bike track finished soon.

Results:

50 OIL: 1. Ray Mitchell (Cob); 2. Kelbie Brown (Yam); 3. Kendal Royer (Hon); 4. Joseph Gonsoulin (Hon).

50 (4-6): 1. Zeb Huff (KTM); 2. Blaze Berry (Cob); 3. Ray Mitchell (Cob); 4. Ashton Castjohn (KTM); 5. Jake Cooper (KTM).

50 (7-8): 1. T-don Lerille (Pol); 2. Blake Lagarde (KTM); 3. Trevor Dunn (KTM); 4. Cannon Shirah (KTM); 5. Wesley Banks (KTM).

50 OPEN: 1. T-don Lerille (Pol); 2. Wesley Banks (KTM); 3. Trevor Dunn (KTM); 4. Cannon Shirah (KTM); 5. Ashton Castjohn (KTM).

65 BEG: 1. Blake Lagarde (KTM); 2. Wesley Banks (KTM); 3. Landon Robinson (Kaw); 4. Mason Royer (KTM); 5. Damion Fontenot (Kaw).

65 (6-9): 1. Scott McElroy (KTM); 2. T-don Lerille (Suz); 3. Gage Hutchinson (KTM); 4. Cooper Wilson (KTM); 5. Cannon Shirah (KTM).

65 (10-11): 1. Jon-murry Barr (KTM); 2. Tanner Kelly (Kaw).

65 OPEN: 1. Jon-murry Barr (KTM); 2. Dillon Cook (KTM); 3. T-don Lerille (Suz); 4. Scott McElroy (KTM); 5. Justin Braud (Kaw).

85 BEG: 1. Justin Braud (Kaw); 2. Drew Sandifer (Hon); 3. Dustin Brown (Kaw); 4. Landon Robinson (Hon); 5. Noah Pitre (Hon).

85 (7-11): 1. Jon-murry Barr (KTM); 2. Jordan Giambelluca (Suz); 3. Forrest Smith (Yam); 4. Dillon Cook (KTM); 5. Spencer Humphrey (Kaw).

85 (12-15): 1. Ky Thames (KTM); 2. Justin Pittman (Yam); 3. Bruce Bender (Yam); 4. Matt Bellon (Hon); 5. Kirby Dodd (KTM).

85 OPEN: 1. Kirby Dodd (KTM); 2. Jon-murry Barr (KTM); 3. Ky Thames (KTM); 4. Bruce Bender (Yam); 5. Josh Lidikay (Hon).

SCLBY: 1. Stephen Wagley (Kaw); 2. John Moeller (Hon); 3. Justin Pittman (Yam); 4. Trenton Suire (Yam); 5. Dane Dumesnil (Hon).

125 BEG: 1. Julian Broussard (Kaw); 2. Jonathan Clark (Kaw); 3. Steven Berniard (Hon); 4. Garret Freeman (Suz); 5. Scott Marks (Suz).

125 NOV: 1. Steven Wagley (Kaw); 2. Cody Cornell (Yam); 3. Dane Dumesnil (Hon); 4. Jody Tangelo (Yam); 5. Justin Pittman (Yam).

125 INT: 1. Garrit Moeller (Yam); 2. Trenton Suire (Yam); 3. Jared Eggleton (Yam); 4. John Moeller (Hon).

250 NOV: 1. Chris Pursell (Hon); 2. Thomas Taylor (Yam).

NOV/INT OPEN: 1. Garrit Moeller (Yam); 2. Chris Pursell (Hon); 3. Stephen Wagley (Kaw); 4. John Moeller (Hon); 5. Eric Huckabee (Yam).

HOB: Mark Fabacher (Yam).

WOM: 1. Leslie Poche (Hon); 2. Nyree Simmons (Kaw).

SEN+30: 1. Kris Durr (Yam); 2. Bruce Bordelon (KTM); 3. Sean Humphrey (Kaw); 4. Michael Shippey (Hon); 5. Duel Judice (Hon).

SEN+40: John Elston (Yam).

OPEN MON: 1. Zach Lawler (Kaw); 2. Broc Andre (Yam); 3. John Giambelluca (Yam).