Photography: John Parkinson

We knew we were in for an epic day of racing when the quote of the day was awarded to new track owner Alan McWilliams. When approached in the tower early Saturday morning from DMXS personality and event announcer Kevin Kelly about how good the track looked Alan simply said, “We know dirt.” We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves.

Despite record rainfall over the last three days the crew at Lake Whitney dropped the gate on a perfect track this morning. Fly Racing’s Rodney Reynolds was actually quoted as saying that the track was better Saturday than it was during practice…before all the rain.  Thirteen motos blasted from the concrete start at Whitney Saturday afternoon and after a week filled with doubt and hesitation, we finally have a pulse on our first set of national champions from the 2009 Thor Spring Classic.

40+ A/B:

Mike Treadwell shot out front early in the first moto of the day and checked out easily. Trampas Parker made an early pass on Earl May for the number two spot, but was unable to match the speed of leader Treadwell.

40+ C/D:

Rod Reynolds of Fly racing took to an early lead in the 40+ C/D class after Tim Waid went down trying to make an outside move in the sweeper. On lap two, Reynolds looked to have the title in the bag. John Davidson, however, pulled on Reynolds towards the end of the race with a lap time almost five seconds faster. Davidson would eventually pass Reynolds only to be passed back seconds later. The two would go on to swap positions at least two more times before all was said and done. Just two turns past the white flag Reynolds would make a costly mistake and allow Davidson to pull to a comfortable lead on his way to the 40 C/D title.

Women 14 +:

Shelbie Brittain and Alexah Pearson were the heavy favorites heading into the main event of the Women 14+ class. Pearson found her way into the fourth spot early with Brittain only one spot behind in fifth. Brandy Payne would be the rider to pull the holeshot but after an 11th in moto one would have no shot at the title. Brittain looked to be the fastest, but experienced a brutal get off while challenging for the lead. Pearson would then go on to take over the lead and earn her spot atop the coveted Lake Whitney podium. Hats off to Brianna Mahon for a hard fought second in the final moto to earn a third overall and to Shelbie Brittain for mounting a charge to finish out the moto in third for a second overall.

450 B Mod:

The two Cinderella stories of Preston Tilford and Tyler Bereman were the topic of conversation heading into the 450 B Mod main, but it was Gannon Audette who would find his way around the first corner in the lead. However, both Bereman and Tilford were in tow and with only a third in the first moto, Audette’s title hopes quickly went out the window. Bereman kept Tilford in his sights throughout the first lap, but Tifolrd would end up stalling the bike around the big sweeper on lap two, thus losing all hope of taking home a title. Bereman would take home the title with a 1-2, Audette would wind up in the number two spot with a 3-1, and Tilford would fight his way through the disappointment to finish off the podium with a 1-3.

65 (10-11) Mod:

Brandon Gourley, Kade Walker and Tommy Maxey earned themselves the top three gate picks heading into the 65 10-11 Mod main, respectively, but it was Braxton Prieto who would round the first corner in the lead. Prieto’s 14th in moto one, however, would not lend itself to a title shot. Prieto would eventually go down and hand the race win to Walker. Props to South Carolina’s Taylor Barnett for putting in a solid second place finish in the moto. His 15th in moto one would only be good enough to land him in the eighth spot overall, but he was able to show his speed in this one and keep pace with the fastest 10-11 riders in the country. He, along with Chase Bell, James Gardiner, and Luke Purther put on one of the best battles of the day and Barnett was able to ride away with the number two spot. Top three overall honors in this one went to Kade Walker, James Gardiner and Brandon Gourley, respectively.

51 (4-6) Stock:

Everything was going according to plan for little Stilez Robertson. He checked out to a huge lead in the first moto of the 51cc 4-6 class and he pulled a massive holeshot in moto two. That’s when the bad luck set in. Rounding the third corner, while in the lead, Robertson’s bike stalled along with what many assumed were his hopes of a title. However, Stilez would remount and clip off three laps that were consistenly between 15 and 20 seconds faster than anyone on the track. He was able to move his way around everyone with the exception of moto winner Harrison Delano, but due to Delano’s fourth in moto one, Stilez would ride away with the gold. A shout out goes to Adam Lowery for a great ride in this one, as well. Lowery stayed consistent in his assault on the 4-6 class with two third place finishes for third overall.

Supermini (12-15):

With three divisions of the Supermini 12-15 class coming together for Saturday’s main event, unless you walked out with a win in your division earlier this week, title hopes weren’t looking too good. Adam Cianciarulo, Zach Bell and Darrel White were the fortunate souls lining the gate with division wins, but AC would be the one to take off to an early lead. Chris Allderege would keep AC honest for most of the moto, but would eventually be forced to focus on the pressure of Jeremy Martin, Matt Bisceglia and Zach Bell. Bell would move his way past Bisceglia after setting the fastest lap time and would eventually do the same to Martin and Allderege for second overall. Bell may have set the fast lap, but it was Cianciarulo who would take the top spot on the podium. The top three overall finishers in the Supermini 12-15 class went to Cianciarulo, Bell and Alldredge, in that order.

450 A:

Taylor Futrell and Dean Wilson got off the gate in the one and two spots in the 450 A class, and with both riders carrying in a second and a first, respectively, the battle for the title got underway early. Kyle Regal wasn’t to be counted out of this one either, as he quickly took over the number three spot off the gate after putting in a solid third in moto one. Despite the two top dogs getting our front early the battle for the title would quickly become a one man show. Wilson would make a move on lap one that Futrell would be unable to recover from and would stretch his lead with lap times a whopping two seconds faster than any of his competitors. Regal began putting pressure on Futrell on lap two and after a moto long battle would eventually make the pass stick with one lap to go, solidifying himself as runner up to Dean Wilson.

85 (9-11) Mod:

The Kawasaki Team Green pair of Mark Worth and Blake Green carried division wins into the 85 9-11 Mod main, but it was fifth place finisher Alexander Frye who would take to the early lead. An early crash by Frye, however, would give the lead to Tristan Miller followed by Blake Green and Mark Worth. With Miller only earning a sixth in moto one, the fight for second between Green and Worth proved to be the race to watch for the championship. Worth would make it easy on Green after relinquishing his top three spot and dropping back to sixth by the end of lap two. Despite having the title locked up Green continued to go to work on Miller until he eventually made the pass. He would then go down on top of the hill. With his title in jeopardy, Green would remount and grind out a fourth. Not exactly the moto he hoped for, but it was good enough for the title. Top three honors went to Blake Green, Mark Worth and Tristan Miller.

250B Stock:

It was Eli Tomac who would pull the holeshot in the 250 B Stock class, but he would quickly be passed by Yamaha’s Landon Currier and Honda’s Lance Vincent. Currier’s first division finish of second was good enough to put him atop the podium and Vincent knew it. Currier, however, would throw down early lap times equal to those of the top five in the pro class and would check out early. The best battle in this one proved to be between Red Bull Honda rider/rapper Brandon Mays and Factory Connection hotshoe Eli Tomac. Tomac brought into the moto a second and Mays a third, so this one was for the final spot on the podium. The two would switch spots numerous times on the final two laps. In the end it was Landon Currier taking the title, Vincent would earn the number two spot and Brandon Mays would find the energy to fend off the hard charge of Tomac for the final spot of the podium.

Vet 35+:

Ryan Hughes has set the fast lap in the Vet 35+ class all week and he was able to do it once again in the main event on Saturday. However, a crash on the first lap after a massive holeshot left Keith Johnson and Mike Treadwell in the one and two spots. Hughes would drop back to fourth but would make quick work of Florida’s Earl May and quickly lay his focus on Treadwell and Johnson. He would work past Treadwell by the mid way point, but had his work cut out if he wanted to reel in Johnson. He was setting lap times three seconds faster, but time was quickly running out. Two laps remained and six second separated the one and two spots. Hughes looked sketchy at times and ended up going down with a lapper just when things were starting to get interesting. The title would go to Johnson, the number two spot to Hughes and the final spot on the podium would be awarded to the hard working Mike Treadwell.  

85 (12-13):

Adam Cianciarulo shot out to an early lead in the 85 12-13 main event, but after an eighth in moto one, would have little hope at the title. Chris Alldredge, however, had great hope of winning a title and when he found himself in second with no one in sight, he settled in. After Alldredge locked up the title, the battle to keep an eye on was between Terrance Yarbrough and Brandan Leith. Both riders were carrying third place divisional scores into the main and with everyone else out of podium contention, the battle for fifth between these two quickly became important. Leith held the spot early but would eventually give way to the pressure put on by Yarbrough and be forced to settle for the number three spot overall.

Schoolboy 2 (14-16)

Gannon Audette, Max Anstie and Nick Paluzzi were the ones to watch out for in the Schoolboy 2 14-16 class. While all three heavy hitters made their way to the gate with a solid shot at a title, it was Anstie who would serve as the class dominator. Anstie checked out from the start in this one and would skate to an early and might we add easy title. Meanwhile, Audette would spend the moto trading spots with LCQ winner Eli Tomac in a battle for little more than bragging rights. Tomac rode extremely well, but had no shot at putting himself on the podium given his unlucky first moto. Once the checkered waved it was Anstie taking the title with a 1-1, followed by Audette in second with a 1-2 and Paluzzi in third with a 1-4.

51 (7-8)

The final moto of the day set off just minutes before dark. Jordan Bailey, Tristan Lewis and Logan Leitzel were the ones to watch out for in this one, but after trouble struck for both Bailey and Lewis, Leitzel would find himself cruising to an easy championship with 3-1 moto scores. The number two spot went to New Mexico’s hottest up and comer Brandon Smith with 6-2 moto scores and third would be awarded to local boy Carter Halpain with 5-4 moto scores.