Mid-Summer Fest at Sunset Walnut, Illinois - July 12 By Josh Rud, More photos at www.ShiftOnePhoto.com
J
uly twelfth kicked off the Mid-Summer MX Fest out at Sunset Ridge MX for a great day of racing! With D17 Bonus points, a huge A class purse thanks in part to Southeast Sales, dealer bucks in other classes and more, the park was packed with riders ready to get racing. The weather cancelled about every race in June which had riders itching to ride. The heat was a big issue this weekend with some major humidity making things a little uncomfortable out there, but everyone adjusted, and put on a great show! The thirty-two rider Open C class hit the track with Jimmy Epifanio taking the win in the first moto followed by Brock Shelton and Michigan’s Raymond Thrasher filling out the top three. The second moto came out in the middle of the afternoon heat. The number five of Derek Brueggert got out front for an early lead with Thrasher and Epifanio following close as the pack spread out over the first jumps. Thrasher moved into the lead coming down Mount Walnut with Epifanio putting the pressure on. Coming into the rollers
Zack Tatar won both Schoolboy motos.
26
CYCLE USA, August 2015
Travis Sewell swept both motos of the Open A class.
Brueggert went down moving Epifanio into second and Colorado’s James Quinn on his Yamaha into third. Epifanio was riding hard to make up for getting pinched in the start and finally made his pass on the back of the track to take over the lead. Then Thrasher had the unfortunate luck and went down, dropping a couple positions. Quinn up to second and Joey Fechter into third on his Kawasaki. As the laps wore down the pack started to spread out considerably with Epifanio eventually taking the win and overall for the day. Second overall went to Quinn crossing in second after a fourth place finish in moto one. With Brock Shelton not making it out for moto two and Thrasher’s bad luck(3-7), Matthew Speers took third overall with a sixth and a fourth for the day. The big race of the day was the A class, running ten laps on the long, and very well prepped track. In Open A’s first moto Indiana’s Travis Sewell took the win on his
Woodstock backed KTM followed by Southeast Sales rider Kody Kamm and Ozzy Barbaree out of Arkansas. The second moto got under way with Sewell grabbing the holeshot and just checking out on everyone. Wisconsin’s Ross Martin made a rare appearance, and was in second, flying under the radar today on a Kawasaki with no name on his back, I almost didn’t know who it was. Right behind him was his fellow Snocross racer Kody Kamm out of Wisconsin as well. Coming through the rollers Kamm leaned it back to get by Martin and take over second as Sewell was out front on his KTM, putting quite a few seconds between himself and the rest of the pack. Around the half way mark things were spreading out as Branden Scharer out of California was putting the pressure on Martin. He was able to get around him coming through the sweeper on the way to the finish line. Things were pretty calm the rest of the race as Sewell put it across the line taking the overall going 1-1. Kody Kamm took second overall with two second place finishes and Ross Martin grabbed third overall (4-4). Things were also exciting today in Schoolboy. In the first moto Zach Tatar took the win followed by Ben Ibianskas and Chase Boykin. The second moto got underway late in the day as they came off