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March 29, 2024 5:09 am
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Locals Participate In Off-Road Weekend

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Cowboy Kenny Bartram takes to the air during Mesquite Off-Road weekend held at the Eureka Resort in Mesquite.

The Mesquite Off-road Weekend attracted thousands of people to Mesquite last weekend for a 3 day event hosted by the Eureka Resort. For the second year the Eureka transformed the clay hills just behind the casino into a challenging race track where spectators gathered to watch motorcycles, ATV’s and side by side’s screaming through a series of races and stunt shows.

Riders came from all over the western United States to compete.

Featured professional freestyle motorcycle rider “Cowboy” Kenny Bartram from Oklahoma put on an exciting show on Friday and Saturday nights. The Beyond Pro Show consisted of a freestyle and enduro cross styles combined into one race. With freestyle racers that had never competed in enduro cross and enduro cross racers that had never jumped freestyle before, the show promised some real excitement. Bartram continues to hold the title as the winner of the Beyond Pro Show for 2013 and 2014.

“The course was actually a lot tougher this year,” Bartram said. “We had more ramps out there and it was a different format this year. We had to hit one EnduroCross lane and one freestyle ramp every lap so it was kind of difficult remembering everything. It was back and forth with the EnduroCross guys and it was a blast!”

Braeden St. John, Caiden Neilson, and William Sheldon are just a few of Moapa Valley residents that competed in the enduro cross race on Saturday at the Mesquite Off-road Weekend. PHOTO BY STEPHANIE BUNKER/Moapa Valley Progress.

Although the Beyond Pro Show was a highlight, there were also exciting races held on Saturday for all ages and levels of racers. Five Moapa Valley residents competed in the enduro races, most of them making the top charts of the race results.

Braeden St. John came in 1st place in the Youth class. He said that the best strategy for winning the enduro cross was to keep it slow and steady.

“The tires were the hardest and coming out of the water they got really wet and slick,” he said.

But by avoiding crashes in the tires and maintaining a constant pace St. John pulled off a win earning him a trophy.

Caiden Neilson also came in 1st place in the Novice class with Orey Woods placing in 5th in the same class.

“The course was fun,” Neilson said. “I have done some enduro cross riding out in the desert so I had some experience with it.”

He said he never thought he was going to win. But it felt amazing, he said.

Woods usually races in the Expert class in the MRAN Series which is a 100 mile desert race. He had never actually competed before in enduro cross; so he signed up for the Novice class on Saturday. Woods was hanging in there right behind Neilson; that is, until he did a front flip in the section with the tractor tires.

Even so, Woods said he had a good time in the race.

“I just watched last year and I wanted to do it for fun,” he said. “I’ll sign up for it again for as long as they hold the event.”

William Sheldon raced in the Amateur class and took 4th place. He also just watched the race last year and said it looked like so much fun so he had to try it this year.

“It was hard and there was all this gnarly stuff but it was so worth it,” Sheldon said.

The big tractor tires were tough but he found the fastest line through them and was able to make it through every time.

In his 2nd race Sheldon got a late start and was in last place because it took 3 kicks to start his bike. Then he tipped the bike over. But by keeping a constant pace, and getting through the tires every time, Sheldon was able to come from behind and finish the race in 3rd place.

Although Josh Frederick didn’t finish his race due to the tight rod in his vehicle breaking it was still a feat for him to be in the race after his paralyzing injury last year. For what it’s worth Frederick was in 2nd place before he broke down.

“It was a challenge to get through the obstacles clean and not break the car, which I obviously did,” Frederick said.

Frederick is planning on entering the race again next year to do better than he did this year.

The Off-Road Weekend was also the stage for the grand opening of a new attraction at the Eureka. Awesome Adventures, an Overton-based tour company, opened its new Adventure Park that was full of wild fun. There was an extreme zipline, archery ranges, remote control car courses, paintball contests, obstacle courses, and side-by-side track racing.

The best news about the Awesome Adventure park is that it isn’t leaving after the Off-Road Weekend is over. The park is there to stay throughout the year, open on weekends!

Sunday there was even more redneck fun with the Mud Bogs races organized by Overton resident Larry Skaggs.

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