By Brad Dixon
The races went really good at the Gopher Dunes Pro National! There was about 50 450 pro`s that showed up to try and qualify. There were 2 timed practices and I qualified 34th so I made it into the main event. I finished 27th in moto1 and moto2 and finished 27th overall.
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| Vienna Hare Scrambles |
By Jeff Pillon
Vienna was in my option the best course of the year so far it had a lot of hills and the trails seems to flow, it was a bit short and got rough near the end of the race but it was a great course. Although Vienna was a great course it was not meant to be for some Ramblers as even though we tried our best we could not get Payton Gagnier bike to fire just min’s before the race he never did get it started at least not in time to race & Frank Cantin just was not feeling 100% but he still rode a great race placing 4th in the expert class toughing it out for the entire 2.5 hours. Myself (Jeff Pillon) I got off to a late start as I was busy pushing Payton’s bike to bump start it I did not realize the time and missed the Pro start and did not get to the line until after the expert class had left , this seemed to give me the drive to push hard, I felt like I put some of the best laps in that I have put in all season I manage to pass the entire expert class on the 1st lap and worked my way into 6th place and 5 more points by the end of the race. On one hill I was trying to pass a couple riders and well may have been a bit of the course ( these are commonly referred to at the Erie Ramblers as Macker’s lines ) but I could still see the arrows and nearly took out some spectators as they were not expecting me to come barrelling thru there it was kind of fun watch them scramble to not get hit I heard one of them scream and I am not sure if it was a girl. There was a steep downhill and just after that there was a mud hole on the 1st few laps it did not seem that deep but I hit it hard on the 4th lap and nearly went over the bars and almost broke my wrist as it seem to get allot deeper suddenly. Blain Amlin also rode and was running with the top riders in the Nov A class until one of the steep hills on the course gave him some trouble costing him valuable time, hills are tough for local Essex County riders as well we just do not have any to practice on but he manage to get going again and finished 12th. Jeff Golden was there and I did not get a chance to touch base with him as I raced to the line but it looked like he had had fun, Dennis Imeson’s was unable to race do to a bent rotor but will be back at it soon. I am working on getting some photo’s from this race and will send them when I get some. I did find a website with helmet cam vid of each race Vienna is not yet posted but should be up soon.
By Jeff Pillon
Well it was back to racing this past weekend and this was one tough race as the course at the Ant Hill Classic was 23km long and took over an hour to complete 1 lap as the course was tight everywhere, Frank Cantin had a great race and loved the tight track, he said he felt like he was charging the entire ride leading the expert class for the 1st hour or so and after 3 long laps finishing in a much deserved 2nd place. Yansee also riding the expert class pulled off early in the race as he did care for how tight the course was, I have to admit that I also found the course to tight for my liking and it seemed like Frank was the only one that liked it that tight but we know Frank is well a bit odd but don’t tell him I said that.
Myself Jeff Pillon I felt great off the start and rode in 3rd place chasing 2nd place for much of the 1st lap but the tight stuff seemed to get the best of me and I made a few mistakes and went back to 6th place by the end of the race but all in all it was a good race my KTM xc250 worked great and I had some fresh new tires from STS Powersports that hooked up great so I am looking forward to another great race this weekend in Vienna.
Bill and Blain Amlin both rode the Nov A class this was Bill’s 1st race back after breaking a rib or 2 at the 2nd race in Barrie and Blain was riding with a broken toe from the TVR race at the club a couple weeks ago, we did not wait around after the race and have not actually been able to find out yet what place they finished but the good news is they both finished the race and there was not further injuries.
Many of the other Essex County suspects were out there battling the Ant Hills, I did not get a chance to talk to Dennis Imeson after the race but with a 4th place finish he must had a great ride below are some of their results.
Results: Dennis Imeson (Hus) – Vet 4th
Ron Golden (Kaw) – Super Vet 9th
Jeff Golden (KTM) – Super Vet 12th
The rest of our crew didn’t fare so well; broken bike / retired after one lap / etc.
Click On Slideshow For Full Sized Images
By Jeff Pillon
Erie Ramblers were well represented at RED BUD! By our very own Brad Dixon #464
RED BUD!!! I heard that allot Friday night and all day Saturday day as people walk around the pits and camping area all day and all night yelling it as loud as possible.
The action on the track started early Saturday morning and Brad was in the 1st heat out, the qualifying is based on fastest lap times I do not have any lap times but I can tell you that Brad looked to be keeping pace with the majority of the racers out there. There was some racers that were definitely a step above everyone else out there leaving only a few positions for the main event open for the other pro’s. Brad finished somewhere about 90th out of over 125 pro’s that were trying to qualify when you consider the level of talent in the AMA pro ranks that’s assume. Brad says that it was a great feeling to be riding in front of 25000 fans and mentioned a run in with J-law, in the 1st heat J-law pushed Brad out of his way, would have been great if Brad could of taken J-law out that would be a great story. The main event was action packed with Josh Grant taken the overall and Chad Reed losing out on 2nd place to Ivan Tedesco by a half a tire length and in the 250F class Ryan Dungey won in style the 1st moto but crashed hard the 2nd moto to finish 8th and end up with a 5th overall leaving the door open for Jake Weimer to take the overall ,the best part of the day had to be the 2-stroke invitational with Ricky Carmichael – Jeff Stanton – Jeff Emig – Todd DeHoop – Kelly Smith -Josh Woods – Josh Lichtle – Kenny Keylon – Matt Crown – Victor Sheldon – Ryan Valade – Matt Maximoff – Jay Wagner, racing in between moto 1 & 2 of the main event, not hard to guess that Ricky clean that up in great form and sound very pumped to be out there, it was cool to see the GOAT out there on a 2-stroke.
Red Bud Video Recap Here http://www.racerxonline.com/article/monster-energy-redbud-recap-video.aspx