Riders Romp at Spring Creek Millville, Minnesota - July 13-15 By Rolfe Otterness
T
he popular Donny Schmit Amateur race at Spring Creek Park drew the biggest crowd in years with about 750 entries on Friday’s show and another good crew hanging in there for Sunday’s Pro Track Challenge. Many out-of-state riders were on hand to get a taste of one of the top tracks in the country, making for some very competitive classes. The Donny Schmit day (Friday) started with the track in prime condition, but later in the morning the skies let loose with some fairly significant precipitation, creating havoc on the track and necessitating some creative rerouting so it was navigable. Some of the steeper hills were bypassed as they would be impossible for most of the competitors. The rain did back off enough so that the racing could continue but it was messy for the remainder of the day. Sunday’s Pro Track Challenge was designed to let the amateur riders taste the course, much as the pros tackled it on Saturday. All the course was used, but a few of the jumps were tamed down a bit so that a reasonable sampling of riders could make them. The track was in excellent condition compared to Friday’s mud run. These two races counted as rounds seven and eight of the Spring Creek Super Series. The standout amateur rider of the weekend, purely speedwise, would be Jesse Wentland, who took control in 14-24A and Open A on his KTM. Zach Williams was pretty close with Wentland though, and did manage a moto win over him in 14-24A. Other strong riders were the ever competitive Gage Fisher
Tearoff sales were up on Friday after the rains.
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CYCLE USA, August 2012
Jesse Wentland was flying in the A classes.
in the Mini classes, Cole Marsolek on even smaller minis, Snocross rider Tucker Hibbert, returning from injury and Nolan Heppner, master of the C classes. Donny Schmit Day: Wentland pulled the holeshot in the first Open A moto, which was run in dry conditions. Zach Williams slotted into second but Wentland put a good gap on him early. Tucker Hibbert, back in action after recovering from his late-season snocross injuries, looked solid as he maintained his third place position to the checkered. Jake Baumert from Kentucky, took fourth over local rider Jamie Ledin. Wentland grabbed the lead early in moto two with Williams close behind but Williams bobbled a bit early on and dropped back to fifth. A battle over second erupted with Ledin, Lucas Lowe and Williams all in the mix. Wentland kept the throttle twisted hard and built his lead over the pack as he took the checkered. Next across were Ledin under pressure from Lowe and Williams back a bit in fourth. The 85 12-15 Mini class featured a good start by Alex Ingalls, but
it wasn’t long before local boy Ben Adamson and Texan Alec Mellick dropped him into third. Adamson dealt with the pressure and managed to stretch out a gap over the next few laps, and took the win by about seven seconds. Mellick maintained his position for second over Nickolas Lorenz as the rain was coming down, and making the track very greasy. Ingalls was fourth over Alan Spaeth. The second moto once again had Adamson out front with Mellick repeating for another second over Lorenz. Blake Hansen topped his first moto sixth with a fourth over Luke Hempen as they came across the finish line. Nolan Heppner roosted to the front of the field as the 14-24C class claimed the track for their first moto. The rain started pouring down and mass chaos erupted as the C riders tackled some of the hills. Heppner did not seem to be affected too much as he was still jumping like a fiend and went on for the win. William Dale from Michigan and Autin Kienast from South Dakota made it in for 2-3 finishes with Chase Becker and Ben Ferrin rounding out the top five in a mud fest galore. Kienast came out strong in moto two and took a rare win over Heppner, good enough for second overall. Tanner Fenenga was third with Dillon Riemann fourth and Ferrin once again in fifth. Pro Track Challenge: Sunday’s sunshine was a welcome change from Friday’s cloudy drizzle and Mitch Koester jumped out front in the first Open B moto. Henry Miller looked to be ready to move to the front but a crash after the triple dropped him back in the pack.