PLAIN DEALING, LA

Round four of the MTA Louisiana Cross-Country Series, held at Cypress Creek MX, was very well attended, as this was the first round that didn't fall on a holiday. Full starting lines allowed for some great racing action, and racers were treated to a nice, watered, 1-mile MX track combined with five miles of fast woods trails.

When the XC1 Expert line blasted off, Team Green's Bryan Vaughan (30, above) was left in the dust, kicking his 450, but after one lap he'd made his way up to fourth place. Meanwhile, as usual, Suzuki City's Stephen Reed was out front, and he never looked back. Vaughan was able to make his way into third on lap two, and into second on lap three, and he continued to push to the end. Vaughan laid down his fastest lap time on lap number six.

Another rider who showed his endurance was Honda pilot Jason Harvey, who, after falling back to sixth place due to crashes, put his head down and worked his way back up to third place.

Mississippi's Kyle Henderson, on his KTM, put in the second-fastest lap time behind Reed and was running in the top three overall until he pulled off the course before the last lap.

"I just couldn't get it going this weekend," Henderson confessed. "I felt bad from the start, and then I had a pretty bad crash right before the MX track on my fifth lap. That pretty much did it for me."

Nevertheless, Henderson said he's ready to make another attempt to dethrone Reed at round five.

Reed celebrated his fourth straight overall win by sharing his $200 reward with the lower-level class winners. These racers were very appreciative, and this should help to encourage some of these up-and-coming riders.

Young Yamaha speedster Zach Ingram made his way over to Louisiana to join in the fun and go for the $100 cash in the XC2 Expert Lites class. He had his work cut out for him, though, as Honda of Lafayette's Ryan Breaux led for the first three laps; Breaux was on fire!. Ingram pinned it himself, though, and made his move past Breaux halfway through the race, and then went on to land the class win, the prize money, and a fourth-overall finish. Points leader Jason Reine had an unfortunate crash on his KTM during Saturday practice but toughed it out and landed the final podium spot in third.

The most competitive classes by far were the Women's and Senior classes. John De Lee came out on top in the Senior class, followed by Ron Mooney and David Hall. Shelia Monk, Julie Broussard and Alex Wiggers kept the spectators on their toes with some tight bar-to-bar action and finished first through third, respectively, in the Women's class. Carolyn Reed (wife of Stephen Reed) was battling with Broussard for the number-two spot until she went down hard on the motocross track while trying to make the pass; she dusted herself off and rode in for a fourth-place finish.

Everyone seemed to have a good time at Cypress Creek MX, and they're now looking forward to round five on July 26 at Spring Hill Plantation in Wilson, Louisiana.

Results

P/W BEG: 1. Jessica De Lee (KTM); 2. Ryan Reine (KTM); 3. Cole Fontenot (Yamaha).

P/W: 1. Walker Shows (KTM); 2. Tripp Carter; 3. Steven Merriett Jr. (Yamaha).

KIDS INT: 1. Jeb Huff (KTM); 2. Evan Wiggers (KTM); 3. Grant Broussard (KTM).

KIDS VET: 1. Evan Shows (KTM); 2. Chase Joubert (KTM); 3. Daltyn Kennedy (Kawasaki).

BEG LITES: 1. Reed Bonvillain (KTM); 2. Brett Fontenot (KTM); 3. Guy Daigle (KTM).

BEG: 1. Dannon O'Kelly (KTM); 2. Daniel Cross (Yamaha); 3. Chris Fontenot (KTM).

NOV LITES: 1. Tyler Mandino (Yamaha); 2. Daniel Lee (Yamaha); 3. Paul Pittman (Yamaha).

NOV: 1. Andy Chance (KTM); 2. Chad Colvin (Yamaha); 3. Blair Benoit (KTM).

XC1 EX: 1. Stephen Reed (Suzuki); 2. Bryan Vaughan (Kawasaki); 3. Jason Harvey (Honda).

XC2 EX LITES: 1. Zach Ingram (Yamaha); 2. Ryan Breaux (Honda); 3. Jason Reine (KTM).

WMN: 1. Shelia Monk (KTM); 2. Julie Broussard (KTM); 3. Alex Wiggers (Yamaha).

JR (14-16): 1. Jake Haddox (Yamaha); 2. Russ Wiggers (KTM); 3. Brayton Broussard (KTM).

SR 40+: 1. John De Lee (Honda); 2. Ron Mooney (KTM); 3. David Hall (KTM).