Friday showed for promise as the pits were full and practice went underway as scheduled. Nearly all participants of the weekend spun their first laps on the racetrack and began to familiarize themselves with the fastest portions of the track. Riders could get printouts of where they stand against their competition so they could get a mental edge on the competition. All would be decided as the first gate would drop on Saturday morning.

Saturday would show for some great racing as many classes fought through divisional races to get to their final two motos to be ran on Sunday, all counting towards that final three moto format score. In the divisional races, the top 17 riders from each division were advanced to Sundays final two races, the rest went to a consolation race to be held at the end of the day on Saturday, deciding the last ten riders to fill that huge 44 man gate at ChilliTown. Track conditions were ideal for the little competitors as the track was prepped to perfection both days for optimum traction and line development throughout the hot, dry, windy weekend in mid June.

Highlighting the entire weekend was moto number one of the event; the Supermini 1 (12-15) class is a stepping-stone for a lot of racers moving to the big bike. Leading the way to making that step is the Team Green Kawasaki Rider of Parker Earl. The #26 bike out of Herriman, Utah got decent jumps off the gate both days, but motored around the outside of the wide first turn at CTMX, putting himself inside the top five in all three motos going into the second turn. Easily working his way past the rest of the pack and moving into the top spot, Earl went 1-1-1 on the weekend to sweep the class. Earl also competed in the Supermini 2 (13-16) division, where he also took the #1 spot with 1-1-2 finishes. KTM riders fought it out for the rest of the podium as the #37 of Chase Prince and the #94 of Kimble Jett hooked up in all three motos and ended up with solid moto finishes of 4-2-3 and 2-3-4 respectively for second and third overall.

Also racing at the Youth Regional event are the Women (12+) Amateur and Girls (12-16) classes. Both classes showing some great action across the entire weekend, but showing all the ladies how it’s done was the Rock River Yamaha sponsored rider of Danielle Grigoletti. Out there on the #41 250 2-stroke in the Women (12+) class, the Elwood, Illinois native pulled three holeshots and gapped the entire pack and easily went 1-1-1 on the weekend. Her little sister Gina Grigoletti, rode hard and battled many riders in the field, including the aggressive rider from East Concord, New York of Julia Krzemien, and the determined rider on the supermini of Alyssa Cole. Gina went 3-3-3 to take the second step on the box while the ATV’s and More Kawasaki sponsored rider of Alyssa Cole rounded out the podium in the women’s division with 2-4-4 results. The #98 out of Ashley, Illinois of Cole also swept the girls division with Jada Murphy taking the second spot with a 3-2-2. Sidney Wagner rode consistent all weekend as she went 2-4-3.

Showing a lot of promise in the 51cc (7-8) Limited class was the rider out of Freeport, Illinois, Mikah Carpenter. The #710 Factory Cobra sponsored rider rode solid all weekend as he easily rode to a divisional win on Saturday, advancing himself to Sunday, where he went 1-1-2 for the overall ahead of the #62 of Klark Robbins out of Shamong, New Jersey. Wyatt Bass out of Cleveland, Georgia took a while to get accustomed to the soils at ChilliTown, as he struggled early on, with a 12^th place moto score on Saturday, but working his way forward to 12-5-1, good enough to round out the podium.

In all of the 51cc (4-6) classes, it was the #4 out of Ryder Andruzis. The Charleston, West Virginia on the Minton Cycle Cobra rode in both the Special LTD and Limited classes, where he went 2-1-1 and 5-4-5 for first and third in the respective divisions, punching his ticket to The Ranch. Also in the Special LTD class making a great show was the rider out of Buffalo, Minnesota, Colin Megaw. The little guy charged with all of his friendly foes to a 4-5-4 result, taking third in the class, also earning 3-4-5 tallies taking second in the Shaft Dr LTD division behind the #298 of Ryder Bloomquist. A lot of riders racing in the 51cc (4-6) classes already had their tickets to Loretta’s from earlier regional’s, but still opting to come to ChilliTown to earn that valuable extra experience battling with 43 other riders with the same mindset, victory.

The 65cc (7-11) and 65cc (10-11) Limited classes were pretty much a showing of the #105 of Mark Fineis. The Westfield, Indiana rider took the top spot in both classes he competed in with 1-3-1 and 1-1-1 finishes respectively.   Fineis and the #15 of Thor Powell were the only two riders to get their tickets punched in both classes they competed in, as Powell went 5-6-4 and 6-5-3 to fifth and third overall. In the younger of the 65cc classes, the (7-9) Limited division, it was the Canadian rider of Thomas Munro on the #667 KTM taking the top step of the podium. Showing a lot of promise, and punching his ticket to the ranch, and hoping for better luck, was the #170 of Blake Pressdee. The local Ohio rider charged hard on Saturday to a second place moto finish in his division. Advancing to Sunday, he backed that up with another second when the divisions came together, but things weren’t so fortunate in the third and final moto, where he struggled to move up to seventh, still good enough to earn his ticket with fourth overall.

Having a great weekend was the #45 Team Green Kawasaki of Jayden Clough. The Elko, Minnesota rider raced in every single 85cc class he could sign up for, and was the only rider to stay consistent enough in all three classes to earn tickets to The Ranch with a pair of fourth place finishes in the 85cc (9-12) and Mini Sr 2 (12-14) classes and an overall in the Mini Sr 1 (12-13) class. Also making it to The Ranch in multiple classes in the 85cc divisions were the #55 of Jackson Craig, #16 of Myles Gilmore, #50 of Noah Stevens, and the #98 of Thomas Welch, proving that they could make passes on the track in numerous locations, and stay consistent throughout the weekend. However, no other 85cc rider could match the sheer speed of Wyatt Liebeck. The Woodstock KTM rider only competed in the Mini Sr 2 (12-14) class and was unmatchable in the first two motos, as he gapped the field by over 10 seconds. However, on a borrowed KTM, the Yamaha accustomed rider of Christopher Blackmer out of Muskegon, Michigan, was able to hold off the charges of Liebeck, pulling the holeshot, and picking the right lines at the right times to defend the Wisconsin rider to the third moto win. Liebeck and Blackmer go one and two overall with 1-1-3 and 5-2-1 moto scores each.