After a brutal day of high winds and blowing sand and dust, riders of the 41st World Mini Grand Prix were treated to much better weather conditions at the Mesquite Motocross Track in Nevada on Thursday, April 12, for the second day of racing. Under clears skies and with far less wind, the first round of 54 motos was completed, and there was enough time left in the day to tap into the second round of motos and, as a result, a few class champions were crowned. But there is still plenty of racing ahead.
Andrew Pierce of Huffman, Texas, sewed things up in the 150 Four-Stroke Thru-16 class. He earned the class championship by winning both motos in the all-Honda class.
Andrew Pierce wrapped up the all-Honda 150 championship.
Carlen Gardner took runner-up honors with a 2-3, while Cole Lewis finished third overall with a 3-4.
And in the 50cc Pee Wee Stock Thru-6 class, Bakersfield’s Ryder Di Francesco, on the number-199 Travis Pastrana-looking Cobra, completed the sweep with a 1-1 to capture the class championship over Nevada’s Nathan Von Miller (4-2) and Washington’s Evan Slosser (4-2). Both Von Miller and Slosser were Cobra mounted.
Ryder De Francesco went 1-1 in the Pee Wee Stock Thru-6 class to take home the number-one trophy.
The Pro and Intermediate Modified-class racers finally got their chance to do battle and it was pretty much a Dillan Epstein and Matt Bisceglia show. Both Epstein and Bisceglia were unbeatable in their respective classes.
After winning both 250 and 450 Stock Pro classes on Wednesday, Kawasaki’s Dillan Epstein showed everybody who was boss again in both Modified motos, winning handedly. Epstein got out front early in both classes and rode off to victory ahead of fellow Kawasaki rider Austin Burns and Suzuki-mounted Brandon Scharer in the 450 class, and Kawasaki pilots Blake Savage and Jacob Baumert in the 250 class.
Biscelglia had his number-176 Honda out in front all day long, too, running away with 450 Modified Intermediate-class win ahead of Alyas Wardius. Biscelglia also won the first division of 250 Modified Pros.
Matt Bisceglia dominated the Intermediate action.
Kawasaki rider David King was the winner of division two of the 250 Modifieds.
The Supermini Thru-16 class finally got down to business and it was a shootout between Justin Hoeft, on the two-stroke Yamaha YZ85, and Andrew Pierce, on the four-stroke Honda CRF150R. The two riders pulled away from the rest of the packed while locked in an exciting battle to the finish. Hoeft held on to take the narrow win over Pierce, while Derek Kelley rode his Suzuki home in third.
In the 250/450 College Stock 18-25 Non-Pro class, Honda rider Tyler Enticknap ran away with the win. The rider from Lompoc got out in front early and never looked back, taking the win ahead of Noah McConahy of Washington and Brian Burns of California. RJ Wageman, the son of former Pro motocrossers Russ Wageman, finished fourth.
Georgia’s Gage Linville opened up a big lead and held on to win the first moto of the 65cc Jr. Cycle Modified (6-8) class, while Dylan Kelley, from Corona, California, worked his way up to finish second ahead of Jett Reynolds and Tyler Nicholson.
