| November 28, 2015
Joey Crown ran away from the 450 B Division 2 class. Photos: Ricky Renner
What a day, we wrapped up the first set of motos for motocross with some great racing. With some classes having as many as three divisions, there are a lot of riders looking good to grab some championships at the 2015 Thor Winter Olympics at Gatorback Cycle Park, November 27.
I can’t say enough about Matthew Leblanc. The kid has been extremely impressive. He is now 12 of 12 on moto wins. Can anyone stop him? The 85 (9-11) Limited moto had three divisions. Nicholas Romano, who also has had a great week, gave Leblanc a good run in division three. Romano would close the gap every time Leblanc tried to sneak away. But, at the finish, it was still Leblanc that was able to hold on for the win.
Matthew Lablanc is so far 12 for 12 in moto wins.
Division two saw Crockett Myers get his first win of the week. Patrick Murphy placed himself in title contention with a second and Gavin Towers landed a third in moto one.
Division one had Kawasaki rider Jett Reynolds throw down some good laps on his way to a moto one win. Reynolds will be hungry for a championship after missing the podium in both classes in supercross. Gage Linville, back on the moto scene, posted his best moto of the week with a second followed by Brock Lassiter in third.
Chase Sexton got his first moto win of the week. It came in the 450 Pro moto, he grabbed the holeshot and dropped the hammer. Sexton rode a perfect race, led every lap, and had the fastest lap time, it doesn’t get better than that.
Chase Sexton finally nabbed his first moto win in the 450 Pro class.
Austin Forkner had an impressive ride to come from around eighth on the first lap to finish up second. Egan Mastin held off a hard charging Lorenzo Locurcio to finish third. Dylan Merriam was running second late in the moto but a crash would drop him back to eighth. It will be interesting to see if Sexton can gain some momentum off this win heading into the final motos.
The 450 C class saw two divisions of good racing up front. Lockey Kennedy was under heavy pressure from Perry Warren in division 1. The two riders were never more than a second apart, until a crash on the fourth lap handed Warren the lead. Kennedy was able to hold on for second in the moto and still has a shot at the championship.
Lockey Kennedy was leading the 450 C Division 1 moto before crashing and finishing second.
Jacob Bender also had a good ride coming from eighth to third. Division two had Florida’s Zachary Robinson grab the holeshot, but Rece Campbell quickly moved into the lead. Campbell slowly stretched his lead out and take the moto win. Robinson would hold off a hard charging Tanner McMullin for second.
Challen Tennant is another rider that has been on fire this week. He topped the first division of the 450 B class with a nice lead over Gavin Wilkins and third-place finisher Jayce Pennington. Joey Crown has stepped up big on the motocross track. He checked out in division two with a 20-second lead! Nathan Hall had a solid ride in the number two spot. Garrett Marchbanks overcame a bad start, he was 16th on lap one and worked his way back to finish third to stay in the title hunt,
Schoolboy 1 caught everyone’s attention agao. Those crisp, smoky, two-strokes are music to the people’s ears. Marcus Phelps was out front early in division one, but Luke Neese was on rails and came from fourth to take the lead on lap three. Neese would take the moto-one win, Phelps would get the nod on the second-place spot in a close finish with Palmer Neely.
Jett Reynolds is hoping to get on the MX podium.
Division two was a great race for half the moto, Brock Papi holeshot and would lead the entire race. Parker Mashburn was looking for a way around, but would end up on the ground trying to make the pass. Papi would win the moto by 15 seconds over Colton Eigenmann. Mashburn would end up in ninth. Jesse Flock would finish third and kept his championship hopes alive.
Saturday the stage is set to start crowning champions.
By Ricky Renner