Snow was the word at the Sidi Indian Bluff Cross-country Winter National, held at the Royal ATV Trails near Millerstown, Kentucky, on December 12. A cold front and storm turned round three of the Parts Unlimited Off-road Motorcycle and ATV Winter Nationals into a seasonably white wonderland that tested the small but hard-core field of competitors, making consistency just as important as outright speed. When the checkered flag flew, privateer Dillon Phelps proved to have both characteristics, winning not only Lite A but the overall followed by Open A’s Kyleer Vance and Nathan Thornhill.
The conditions probably caused many to rethink attending due to snow and ice on the roads, but the trails themselves proved to very rideable, with a few treacherous mud holes and rocks to keep you on your toes. With Barry Heath Racing’s Michael Williams the sole Pro to brave the elements, he started on the same line as all A riders and when the green flag flew, he was left on the line kicking his new Rekluse/Pro Logic/Fox-backed KX250F while all the A’s jetted away, Phelps leading the pack, Vance and Thornhill close behind.
Somewhat overlooked before the race by all except good friend Alan Westerfield, Phelps stayed out front aboard his Pro Action KTM/Cycra/Mom and Dad-sponsored 200 XC for two laps before Williams reeled him in – turning the fastest lap of the race on lap two to earn the $100 fast lap bonus.
But he didn’t run away with it from there.
“I stayed in the lead for a couple laps,” Williams said. “I guess [with] about two laps to go, I went down into a [mud] hole–it didn’t look bad–and I was stuck there for the rest of the race. The whole race [before then] I’d been taking the same line, just remembering it and everything. I came around this lap and it looked a little different because it had water standing in it, but both sides had water standing in it so I didn’t think anything of it and went through it and I was just buried.” (In fact, it took several spectators and a four-wheel-drive ATV with a tow strap to extricate him.)
Phelps had problems of his own to deal with, even after he’d helped Williams get his bike out of a mud hole earlier and lost position. “My transponder fell off [from underneath my visor] and was dangling in front of me so I stopped and put it in my glove,” he recalled. “That’s where Michael passed me [the first time]. We rode together for a while. Then he got stuck in a mud hole; I stopped and helped him, and while we were trying to get his bike out, the third-place [guy on] the Husqvarna, he came around us.
“We took off–I got in front of Michael–and I caught the Husqvarna. We swapped [positions] again–he passed me back in the pits–then I passed him [not far afterwards in the woods when] he got a little squirrelly in the rocks.
“Once I got around him that last time, I kind of tried not to make any more mistakes because I think that’s where all the passes were made [today].” Phelps earned a $100 bonus for being the top-finishing A rider.
“I made a few mistakes here and there,” Vance admitted. “I think all three of us [up front] started making mistakes–getting stuck in mud holes and going down; I went down a couple times. It was a slick race. I guess it was kind of luck of the draw today.”
The former collegiate baseball player ended up about 35 seconds behind Phelps at the finish for the class win and second overall aboard his Hall’s Cycles/Pirelli/Moose-sponsored Husky WR250, less than a week before graduating college.
Thornhill, who attended the GNCC awards banquet in West Virginia the night before and traveled all night to race, credited riding a different bike with his second Open A, third overall, finish. “I rode a KTM 250 XC instead of a 450, and I’m more used to it so I did better.
“I got a great start and was right there with the lead pack. The second lap, I wrecked a couple times and they broke away from me. I just tried to keep my position [after that] and not let anybody pass me, and I broke away from the people behind me so I pretty much rode by myself all day,” the Hard Core Racing/Maxxis/Thornhill Automotive rider said. He was the final racer to complete five laps.
Last year’s overall series points leader Harvey Whitaker took the 40-49 A victory as well as fourth overall aboard his Husaberg FE 450, about 17 seconds ahead of Lite A runner-up and ISDE racer Duell Murphy on his KX250F. Honda-mounted David McWilliams was second 40-49 A and sixth overall followed by Adam Elliott (who earned $100 for being the first B rider as well as winning Open B), Lite B winner Shannon Woods, Open B Dylan Campbell and Lite B Colin Brasher.
