Perfect Evening out at Megacross Mendota, Illinois - August 17 By Josh Rud, more photos at www.ShiftOnePhotography.com
M
egacross was back in action August the 17th, kicking off round seven of nine, bringing the end of the season closer as the summer cruises right by. A lot of schools are back in session and it has been a great summer for racing without a doubt. Megacross was in full swing tonight with some great racing. The new back section of the track was tweaked a bit more as well some extra lighting thrown in to make sure everyone could get around without any issues. Kicking off the night was 1424 with thirteen riders blasting off the line. Coming out in front was Jacob Wever followed by Damon Thomas and Brian Krohn. Around the first light pole everything shook up as Krohn grabbed second and Damon Tatar moved into third with Wever still out in the lead. Coming right back through the whoops was Thomas as he cruised by to settle back into third as Wever and Krohn started to pull away through the tabletops. The battle for third was all over the place with Tatar grabbing it back on the next lap only to have Mark Marincic push his way in after a bad start. Things got interesting coming up to the white flag when Krohn squared off the bowl turn and got up in
front of Wever to take over the lead after being close the entire race. Unfortunately right before the checkered flag jump Krohn went down giving Wever the win as Marincic also moved up for second. 85cc kept the action moving as Patrick Murphy took the holeshot with Jonah Geistler and Garrett Ward right behind him. Charging through the whoops everyone was still bunched up, and Geistler took the lead. Coming around on the second lap Ward finally found his line to take over second going around the hairpin on the inside with Geistler still within reach. Thor Rick was charging hard and on the final lap made his was around Murphy to take third. They crossed the finish line with Geistler in first followed by Ward and Rick bringing a great race to a close. The Open B class was small tonight, but that didn’t stop them from having a great battle. The gate dropped with Jesse Keith taking the holeshot followed by Talan Hansen and #35 Patrick Murphy and Jonah Kelsy Rogers. Heading into Geistler battle in the 85cc class the whoops Rogers got around mission and got by Keith in the Hansen settling into second. whoops to take over the lead Crossing the line for the second with Thomas also on a charge lap Hansen got back into second now battling with Keith. Down taking the inside line before the the straight Thomas pegged his tabletop with Damon Thomas Kawasaki, beating Keith in the following right behind him movdrag race to the corner to take ing into third past Rogers. On over second. Crossing the the third lap Hansen was on a
#118 Ryder Beth chased by 50Sr riders, including eventual winner #92 Ewan Kirsch
checkers Hansen held out for first after a great race. Open A riders were out in full force tonight to keep things interesting. Coming off the line Maxx Malatia shot out front for an early lead with Brent Duffe out of Iowa and Malachi Messenger also getting great starts. They moved into the whoops with Kyle White shooting hard around the outside, pushing into second while Duffe was still holding on for third. Charing around for a couple laps Tom Hofmaster finally made his way into the action, getting around Duffe for third, fighting off Messenger on the way by. Toward the end of the race White was pushing hard with his teammate Malatia, but wasn’t able to get by. Malatia won followed by White and Hofmaster. In 50cc 4-8 there was some good racing with everyone coming off the line ready to battle. The gates dropped with Nicholas CYCLE USA, September 2013 47