2018 Briarcliff Mideast Area Qualifier Race Report
Monday, May 21, 2018 | 3:35 PM
2018 Briarcliff Mideast Area Qualifier Race Report:
Dinicol and Fauser Dominate
Gates opened Thursday evening for the 2018 Loretta Lynn’s Mideast area qualifier at the always-beautiful Briarcliff Motocross located in Nashport, Ohio. Racers were beginning to fill the parking lot as the sun was shining and the breeze was whistling. The track crew was hard at work turning the dirt around for Friday’s practice. Briarcliff has been hosting Loretta Lynn’s qualifiers for some time now, the clay mixture dirt always ruts up nicely, and the high-speed sections of the track make it a thrill to race on and to spectate. But this track has been known to have a string of bad luck when it comes to the weather for the weekend. As usual, the weather leading up to the weekend was looking perfect and was quickly changing to rain as the weekend drew closer.
Practice got underway at 10:00am Friday morning. The threat for rain wasn’t showing until Saturday, so spirits were high today as the racers took their turns around the perfectly groomed Briarcliff track. The riders were able to choose from eleven different sessions for practice, giving plenty of opportunity to learn the track before the weekends racing. The track crew was able to run through all eleven sessions four times between 10:00 and 5:00 and even took an hour intermission for full track preparation. The sessions dwindled in riders as the day came to an end, the track crew had equipment on the track as soon as possible to get ready for racing.
Saturday morning started out dewy and warm. The sun was shining early, as were the riders who were eager to get the racing started. The conditions were next to perfect for Saturdays racing, the track turned over into cake as the morning practice was set to hit the track at 8:00am sharp. Rain was still in the forecast at this point, so the track crew had to be on their game to finish before the storms hit. So, directly following practice, racers were called to the gate and what better way to kick off the weekend than to load in the Schoolboy 1 (12-17) B/C class for the first gate drop of the day.
Just past 9 am, the wonderful sound of 125cc 2-Strokes echoed through the Ohio valleys as Virginia’s native Orion Gregory took the overall win in convincing fashion going 1-1 over Trevor Maley (2-2) and Chase Yentzer (3-3). Ohio local Brock Wagner had an impressive show with a 4th in moto two after a crash left him with a 14th finish in moto one. Marysville, Ohio’s Chase Mason had an outstanding race in the 125C class going 1-1 over Pittsburgh’s Derek Marasco, who nudged out Ian Kearon with a 2nd place finish in moto two over Kearon’s 3rd place finish.
The 50cc 7-8 Limited class was one of the biggest gate drops of the day. Madden Jones was far from his home in Texas this weekend, taking the overall with a 1-1 over Trenton Burton (3-2) and Hayden Hardcastle (4-4). There was quite the mix-up in the overall finishes as Oscar Joseph (2-10) and Aiden Bailey (16-3) both had a moto that was less than desirable.
Luke Fauser, from Midland, PA, was on fire all weekend long sweeping the 85cc (9-11), 65cc (10-11), and 65cc (7-11) classes with 1st place finishes across the board. Blake Pressdee put in an impressive ride with a 2nd overall in the 65cc (10-11) followed by Jude Smerlick. We can’t leave out Austin Ceresna out of Salem, OH in the 65cc (7-11) who went 4-4 and finished the day 3rd overall. The 85cc (9-11) class was full of crazy racing with riders swapping positions almost every lap. James Harrison put a consistent ride going 2-3 for 2nd overall. Following him was Austin Weinsziehr (3-4), Austin Dinkfelt (6-5), Jude Smerlick (5-7), Preston Masciangelo (13-2), and Reece Wheaton (4-12). Canyon Richards’ second moto win in the younger 65cc (7-9) class gave him the overall win over William Canaguier III.
Colton Yentzer shined this weekend with a pair of wins in the 250C Jr (12-17) class followed by Justin Barnhart (3-2), Caleb Shepard (4-3), and Trevor Paine (2-5). Ian Kearon dominated the stacked 250 C Limited class with pair of wins. Behind him was back and forth racing between Colton Yentzer (4-2), Payton Owens (3-3), and Caleb Shepard (2-4). Ian Kearon was back on Sunday to follow up his win with another 1-1 finish in the stacked 250 C class. Racers swapped positions each moto but Caleb Shepard had an impressive ride for 2nd overall with 2-2 finishes followed by Pierce Foster with a 5-3 finish.
Seventeen different Women and Girls signed up to race on Saturday. In the Women’s 12+ Amateur class, Shayna Mcfarland from North Carolina swapped wins with Ohio local Christy King, just edging her out with an almost photo finish after a bad start left Christy playing catch-up in moto two. Meanwhile, Jessica Wahl took the overall win going 1-1 over Leigha Rotz in the Girls (11-16) class.
The Super Mini 1 (12-15) class had good racing both motos with Bryce Shelly and Gavin Towers swapping moto wins, giving Gavin the overall win. Wyatt Rotz also had the better second moto finish over Joey Arico for 3rd place overall in that class. Gavin Towers and Bryce Shelly would line up again in the Mini Sr. (12-13) class, with Gavin winning over Bryce with a 1-1 finish. The racing was close behind them with Trevor Colip finishing 3rd and Joey Arico earning himself an impressive 4th place finish. On Sunday, Gavin followed up a grand Saturday performance by going 1-1 in the slightly older Mini Sr 2 (12-14) class and 1-1 in the Supermini 2 (13-16) class.
There was quite the shakeup in the 450 B Limited class, the #98 of Gene Christian would take the moto one win, later having a crash that would make him unable to continue racing for the weekend. Crashes were the theme in this competitive class; inconsistent finishes from most of the racers would leave the overall for qualifying positions questionable. William Vanbeveren took the overall win going 3-1, following him was Ryan Velasquez with a 5-2 finish for 2nd overall. Jack Rogers would push his way through a bad start in moto two for 3rd overall with a 2-5 finish. Impressive rides from Cameron Minton (11-3) and Conner Burger (10-4) who got caught up in a first turn crash in moto one. Jack Rogers and J.R. Fox both had moto wins in the 250B Limited class, with Rogers edging Fox out for the win. Max Szabo, from Connecticut, took 3rd overall with a respectable 5-3 finish.
The 250 A class turnout was disappointing with having only four entries on Saturday. The racing was pretty dull, as each rider would finish in the same position each moto. The Australian native Andrew Dinicol moved to the States a handful of years ago to prove himself against some of the best riders in the world. He would do that this weekend by leaving the rest of the 250 A riders early into the race and effortlessly took his #514 Husqvarna FC250 to the checkered flag each moto in front of Landon Armbruster, Kiefer Banter, and Alex Strunk.
As the wind started to pick up and clouds filled the sky, racing was wrapped up by 3:00pm. This gave the racers and workers enough time to settle down before the rain finally hit. It started from a drizzle to a torrential downpour that thankfully only lasted about 20 minutes. The sun quickly found it’s way back out from behind the clouds, and although there were still pop-up showers in the forecast, everyone felt that Sunday would still be perfect.
Perfect, it was, as one last overnight rain shower provided the Ohio soil with enough water to give the track crew a superb canvas to work on. The better half of the morning sky was covered with a dense fog, but that didn’t stop things from getting started on time, because believe it or not- there was still a chance for more rain! So much so, that the crew opted not to take an intermission in between Sunday’s motos. The rain stayed just west of us all morning, keeping the track moist and rutty, but no intermission meant the riders will have to ride on a rough track.
They kicked off Sunday with the Senior 40+ and Masters 50+ loading into the gate on separate drops. Laughs filled the staging area as these vet riders were just happy to be racing in these hopeful conditions. Jeffrey Pape took the overall win in the Senior 40+ with a 1-1 finish over Richard Silvers. Pape also took the overall in Senior 45+, where Ralph Bentley would beat Richard Silvers with a better finish in the second moto. Mike Hogan would get his shine in the Masters 50+ with 1-1 scores as well. Ohio’s own Michael Williard came out of the woodwork this weekend to compete in the Vet 30+ Sportsman class where he proved he still had skills on a motorcycle, sweeping the class 1-1 above Shaun Kuchler (2-3) and James Singer (4-2).
After the poor attendance in the 250 A class the previous day, riders were shocked to see fifteen people signed up for the Open Pro Sport class on Sunday. Andrew Dinicol surprised everyone with an outstanding ride against Logan, Ohio’s Levi Kilbarger, who grabbed the holeshot and held off Andrew in the beginning laps. A first moto crash for Brock Papi left him scrambling his way through the pack of very fast riders earning a 3rd overall with 4-2 finishes. Nobody had anything for Dinicol this weekend, and I think it’s safe to say we will be hearing a lot about this guy in the years to come.
The 250 B class had a huge gate of talented riders, but Brookeville, Ohio’s Jack Rogers took the overall with back-to-back wins followed by Orion Gregory (2-2), and Blair Nauta (4-4). Rogers would later line up for the Schoolboy 2 (12-17) B/C class and sweep that with 1-1 finishes convincingly. Finishing behind him was Blair Nauta with 2-2 finishes, and Tres Campbell with 3-3 finishes.
Rece Campbell went 1-1 in the College (18-24) Sportsman class, proving he had the speed to finish ahead of Ezra Hastings (3-2), Landon Armbruster (2-3), and Gavin Chinn (5-4). A first turn mishap in moto two would leave Richie Kolcun (4-8) fighting back for a qualifying 6th place position.
Caleb Shepard charged to the 450 C win with 2-1 moto scores, beating the scores of Colton Yentzer (1-3), Colton Elick (5-2), Pierce Foster (4-4), and Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (3-5).
William Vanbeveren had a flawless Sunday with 1-1 scores in the 450 B class, finishing ahead of Ryan Velasquez (2-2), Adam Herb (6-3), Zach Peters (5-4), and Griffin Maxwell (7-7). Camron Farmer (3-14) would find himself in 8th place overall after an impressive first moto and
Orion Gregory came back Sunday to take the overall in the 125 (12-17) B/C class going 1-1 over Chase Yentzer who finished with a score of 2-2. The racing was close in this class as Jacob Glenn (3-5) edged out Trevor Maley (7-3) and Colton Gorby (6-4) for 3rd overall.
Joey Arico came out swinging Sunday for the 85cc (9-12) class where he dominated the huge gate of riders. Qualifying positions were being swapped amongst the whole class, Arico was the only one to find consistency. The results were as followed:
- Joey Arico (1-1)
- Taylor Beckwith (4-2)
- Preston Masciangelo (3-5)
- James Harrison (5-4)
- Noah Geyer (2-7)
- Austin Dinkfelt (7-3)
Sunday’s racing finished just after 1:00pm, which absolutely has to be a record for a race day completed at Briarcliff MX. The owner Jeremy directed his crew flawlessly, doing everything imaginable to work around mother nature. The Briarcliff team has dealt with the worst of conditions in the past and has always prevailed, but it was a blessing to have the rain curse lifted. Hats off to the track crew, who hit every mark perfectly, providing us with a beautiful weekend at the racetrack.
Eric Doty (On the Road Photography)
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Media website: http://www.ontheroadmxmedia.com
Christy King
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