Awesome day at Berm Benders
Jesse James Jacabsen takes to the air in 65cc 7-9.
Mora, Minnesota - July 27 By Keith Mckenna
R
ound 7 of the 2014 Berm Benders Civil Series on July 27th turned out to be one of the best days of MX racing so far this year, although it didn’t look like it would be as the sun started peeking over the horizon on race day. Weather radar on the evening prior to the race promised to drop copious amounts of rain on the facility. The crew worked feverishly to prep the track and seal it up before the storm came. Most of the track was sealed to get the water to run off when the winds whipped up and the rain and hail came, leaving the pit area looking like a shallow lake, and putting a damper on the plans of the assembled patrons that arrived earlier in the day to practice. Not deterred, as the sun rose the crew got to work to get the track ready. Racers must have assumed that the racing would be either cancelled or would have been held in quagmire conditions. Turn-out was light and that was too bad. For the racers that did show up, they were treated to amazing conditions. The track was tacky and fast, with multiple lines through the corners. AMA Pro Motocross racer Jake
Loberg didn’t have the opportunity to pull a fast one on anyone, as he was always on the point in the Open-A class. In the back section, he was working hard to pull out a triple jump from two separate jumps, a tabletop with a single after, a long ways off. Never seen anyone attempt it before, and Loberg was getting within a whisker of pulling it off on his way to a dominating performance. Number two finisher Philip Maus from Albany, MN was wheeling pretty good, but neither Maus or KTM mounted Spencer Henrikson could wrestle the point from Loberg. In 50cc pre-mix 7-8 racing, the #73 Cobra of Trent Goodenough made the trip up from Eau Claire Wisconsin to nab the first place gold, with the KTM duo of Tony Nielson from Cedar, MN in second and third place finisher Gunner Kenowski rounding out the podium. In the 65cc 10-11 race, #97 Connor Klemenhagen was determined to set the world on fire, and when the gate dropped he turned his KTM 65 all the way up to 11! About forty feet out off the gate the front wheel started its ascent towards the sun, but Klemenhagen wasn’t about to back off. As the leading edge of the bike was looking to break through the stratosphere, the bike started to list to the port side towards two competitors. Klemenhagen hit the eject button as his whip was completing a tail dragger wheelie, allowing the two racers on his left to just squeak past. After Connor hit the deck, and the dust settled, he picked up his bike, with a look as if to say, what
the heck happened. He sparked up the KTM again and set about chasing down the field which he did, to great effect. Klemenhagen not only ended up going 1-1 in the 65cc class, he backed that up with top honors in the 85cc 9-11 class too! Junior 14-16 speedster Brady Miska put the hurt on his rivals by dominating the class in style on his immaculately prepared Yamaha. In +25A action, the #158 Suzuki ridden by Mark Arends was the meat in a Zebro/ Honda sandwich. Matt Zebro won both motos while brother Tim Zebro would go 3-3 and Arends finished in the silver position both times. The Women’s race was a real rock and roll affair. #77 Mariah Braastad came out on top with a 1-2 finish to the #151 of Anndi Ertel who went 3-1. Kourtney Trautner from Watertown, SD completed the podium ceremony. The 2-strokes were out in force as the 125cc 12+ class would attest to. #461 Justin Evans and #278 Kole Lemke were hooked together like the KTM Express in moto one for a 1-2 finish with Yamaha mounted Garrett Montgomery third. In the second moto, Montgomery and Lemke swapped positions. With intermittent light showers, puffy clouds and blue skies and temps in the low eighties, the day was perfect for racing. The racing was fast and safe and the racing community was in good spirits. Thanks again to all those responsible for the putting on of the race.
First turn race in +25A with #167 Honda mounted Tim Zebro getting the advantage. CYCLE USA, September 2014
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