Spring Creek Hosts North Central Regional
Millville, Minnesota – June 9-10
By Rolfe Otterness
Spring Creek Motocross Park was the scene for the North Central Amateur Regional Qualifier over this early June weekend. The competition was fierce in all classes with riders from many surrounding states giving it their best shot to make it to the big show in Tennessee. All classes had a lot of entries with a good number of them having enough to require two divisions in the first set of motos from which the top riders went on to motos two and three while others had to run in last chance qualifiers for a chance to fill out the starting lineup.
Motos one and two were held on Saturday with moto three scheduled for Sunday. However a nasty thunderstorm cell made it appearance about halfway through Sunday’s event and the remainder of the motos were canceled as lightning made it unsafe to continue, plus there was a surplus of water running through the midfield of the track.
Looking for standout riders in the various divisions you would be able to pick out a few that seemed to have an edge over the weekend. Local ace Sam Wise showed strongly in the A classes, Carter Halpain of Texas stood tall in the B classes and Missouri’s Kole Medwid dominated in the C classes. Plus Jimmy Povolny cruised to masterful wins in +25 and +40.
The Open Pro Sport class was the first to rip into the track on Saturday morning. Sam Wise surged into the early lead with pursuit provided for the most part by Nathan Hall in the early part of the moto but by Joe Perron as the moto was winding down to a conclusion. Wise triumphed in the end with a solid lead over Perron while Hall maintained a close third. Jamison Duclos held fifth over Channing Hunt. Kevin Moranz took an early turn out front in moto two with Wise and Richard Jackson close behind. Wise slipped by into the lead about halfway into the race and went on for the checkered. Moranz held on for second over Jackson with Blake Hansen and Nick Jackson rounding out the top five. Wise led early in moto three with Carter Gordon and Felix Lopez running closely behind him. Lopez managed to displace Gordon by lap three with Hansen challenging and displacing Gordon soon after. As the flag waved the moto to a conclusion Wise held about a two second lead for the win with Lopez holding off the assault by Hansen to grasp second. Gordon, Moranz and Richard Jackson were back a distance battling for fourth and finished in a gaggle but in that order.
The 250B class had enough entries to require two divisions for moto one. Local rider Josh Boaz won the first division and the second went to Georgia’s Blake Ashley. Lance Kobusch, from Missouri, pulled into an early lead in the second (combined) moto and despite pressure from Texan Zane Merrett early in the moto went on for a solid win, pulling out about a 10 second gap by the end. Another Texan, Carter Halpain took third with Boaz and Parker Mashburn finishing 4-5. Devin Stang led early in the third moto with Kobusch and Merrett ready to pounce. On lap two Kobusch pulled ahead and began to build a gap over a battle between Stang and Merrett. Merret finally made a pass stick on the last lap then pulled away a bit while Stang found Boaz and Halpain were eager to take his place in third. The checkered waved Kobusch in with about a five second lead over Merrett who had about the same gap back to the Stang/Boaz/Halpain battle.
Another class with two divisions for moto one was 450C. Kole Medwid won one of the divisions which would set him up as one of the favorites going into moto two while the other division win was snapped up by Missouri’s Matthew Kretzler. Medwid had tremendous starting technique and pulled the holeshot in moto two to lead the way around turn one. Matt Hannah settled into second but slowly lost ground to Medwid as the moto wound down, finishing about 8 seconds back. Colton Durand was third with Mason Benson and Aaron Boatman scoring the remaining two spots in the top five. Medwid led every lap of the third moto with Hunter Mashburn pulling off another second place to match his first moto score. Hannah pulled off third with fourth going to Kretzler and fifth to Benson.
Good luck to all the riders at Loretta’s.
