Images: Brian Wilcox and Brent Stallo

Giving accurate race reports and including everyone worthy of being included is challenging. Before main events begin there are 36 classes, including 67 divisions. Seeing that at least the top 10 in each class are fast enough to deserve some sort of recognition, that makes up 360 riders to cover. Even if you only covered the top 5 you would still have to cover 180 guy and girls. While we haven't exactly drawn up the master plan on how to deal with this yet, by choosing to do two race reports, both an amateur and a youth, we will be able to give more accurate coverage of all those deserving. Included in the Amateur race report will be all big bikes and Women's 99cc & up and the Youth report will include all mini bikes.

On the amateur side of the coin thing got interesting right from the start. The first moto of the day was the Women's 99cc & Up and it was a barn burner. I know the term barn burner is a bit over used, but I can't really seem to think of another metaphor at the moment, so this will just have to do. Anyways, back to the point. Sara Price grabbed to holeshot with Tarah Gieger and Jessica Patterson in tow. Sara was the young gun in this one and was expected to drop a spot or two to the more experienced Gieger and Patterson. But as you can probably tell by the tone here, she didn't. Patterson went down early and never returned and while Gieger made the pass on Price on lap two, Sara managed to move back around and take the checkered.

Next up were two divisions of 125 Pro Stock. With 20 riders on each gate, the top 12 were guaranteed spots in the main on Wednesday. It seems to me that with 20 riders on each gate they could have put both divisions together, but who am I to talk. Nevertheless, there were plenty of riders on both gates ready to take the place of those who recently turned pro. A superb ride from James Ragsdale in the first division gave him the win over Darryn Durham, Mike Picone, Ben Lamay and William Duffy. Ragsdale definitely set the pace in this one and looks to have a legitimate shot at the overall. In division two is was MTF's Steven "Scuba Steve" Clarke taking the win. This is usually the part where someone makes some cheesy English reference, "Jolly ol Steve finished his tee at noon and then proceeded to give those yanks a thrashing," but I'll chose to refrain from that this time. Taylor Futrell looked to have the race in the bag until Clarke put a clean but aggressive pass on him with four turns to go in the race. Futrell went down in the next corner and was unable to restart his bike in time to finish the race, leaving Clarke all smiles. Behind Clarke was another MTF rider, Vince Friese, KTM's new hot shoe Michael Hall, and Xtreme Team Green's PJ Larsen.

The intermediates were next up to the line. With four divisions taking place here, only the top six saved themselves from entering into a consi later on in the week. In division one Terren Odell, Travis Baker, Randy Dibartolo, Christian Craig, Blake Baggett and Kyle Peters were the ones lucky enough to make it through the gauntlet unscathed. While division two saw Tommy Weeck, Dean Wilson, Sean Lipanovich, Zeb Smith, James Justice and Cody Lackore get to the main. Division three main goers included Jason Langford, Josh Thomas, Lowell Spangler, Josh Talmadge, Cody Robbins, and Luke Vonlinger. And last but certainly not least, division four opened the door for Gavin Faith, Tyler Sjoberg, Cole Martinez, Lucas Crespi, Justin Starling and Devin Reed.

In the 25+ class it was all Kevin Walker. Clint Shealy gave him a run for his money early, but was unable to match the super old man speed of Skywalker. Keith Johnson, James Evans and Jon Boruff also put in noteworthy rides rounding out the tip five, respectively. Mike Craig also chose to race this week. We haven't seen Craig lace up the boots since Vegas two years ago and it was good to see the #100 cut some laps. He ended up 4th overall in his first heat.

Well folks, that's it for our first Amateur race report of the week. These will continuously get better as we figure out more efficient ways of doing it. Also, be sure and check out the gallery of images at the bottom. of the page.