By Francis Ortiz
Moapa Valley Progress
The weather forecast predicted rain over the weekend, but that didn’t interfere with the off-road racers out in the mountains on Ute Road.
The Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN) held it’s second round of the season, hosted by the Jackrabbits MC Club. Members of the Jackrabbits started to arrive on Wednesday night to start marking the races four different loops, check stations, start/finish lines and the scoring booth.
Friday evening the racers started arriving to sign up and set up camping spots for the weekend. The rain came in early Saturday morning and soaked down the whole race track. There was a slight break in the rain about 6:00 a.m., but when it came time for the 50cc to start getting ready for the big race, the rain came down hard and heavy. These little riders were muddy and soaked all the way through.
Then the rain stopped and the clouds started to break up to let the sun shine through. The slight breeze helped to dry the area up to make for a dust free race day.
In the 50cc Amateur and Novice class there were no local riders.
In the 65cc Expert class, 1st place Braeden St. John. 65cc Amateur class. 65cc Novice class; 2nd place Travis Falls and 4th place Kyle Bensen.. 85cc Amateur; 2nd place Cade Neilson. 85cc Novice class; 9th place Alexis Schraft. Junior Women class; 2nd place Cantrail Juggert. Quad Amateur class; 1st place Billy Pulsipher, 2nd place Brodey Blackwell, 3rd place Cailon Causey, and DNF Alexander Ortiz. Quad Novice class; 1st place James Ortiz.
Expert Class 65cc contender, Braeden St. John had open heart surgery on January 6, 2011 to correct a rare heart condition. Braeden came through the surgery just fine and is doing very well now. Braeden had visited his doctor on Thursday and was given the all clear to race again.
“The only question that Braeden had for the doctor before the surgery was “How long before I can race again?” said Kristy St. John, Braeden’s mom. “The surgeon said a minimum of 6 weeks. It is very nice to see Braeden up and able to do what he loves to do, race his bike.”
First place Quad Amateur; Billy Pulsipher stated; “I had a great time. It was rough and a little windy.”
Second place Quad Amateur; Brodey Blackwell was catching up with Billy when he lost his shifter half way through the first lap. When Brodey reached the pit area; Alexander Ortiz was already at the pits with a broken shock. Alexander gave Brodey his shifter, so that Brodey could finish the race.
Cailon Causey was please with his third place Quad Amateur finish. “I just wanted to come in ahead of James Ortiz!” Causey said. Cailon did finish ahead of James. Cailon was 3rd place over all and James was 4th place over all and 1st place Quad novice.
Sunday morning the race track was covered by low clouds and a little drizzle. But by the time the race was supposed to begin, the rain came to a stop and the sun was shining.
There was a total of 141 bikes signed up to race the two loop race with each loop being 45 miles for a total of 90 miles. The race started at 10:00 a.m. sharp with a total run time of six plus hours.
Jason St. John raced in 35+ Expert class. “It was a whole new track out there this year,” he said. “Loop one wasn’t so bad, but loop two was rougher and a little more strenuous. Over all I had a great time and an awesome ride!”
In the Open Expert class; 6th place Orey Woods. 35+ Expert class; 1st place Jason St. John, 3rd place Casey Robison. 40+ Expert class; 5th place Eric Neilson. Women Expert class; DNF Breanna St. John. Open Novice class; 4th place Tryston Woods. 40+ Novice class; Stacy Woods.
All of these placements are preliminary results; in about three days final results will be available at www.mranracing.com.
