Pleasure Riders Illini Series Event Cayuga Indiana - August 11/12 By Dave Henry, Photos by Phyllis Blume More photos at www.phyllisblume.com
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ugust 11/12th marked rounds six and seven of the 2012 Championship Points Series presented by Apparel Unlimited at the Pleasure Riders facility near Cayuga, IN, and Sunday marked round two of the Illini Super Series with Kawasaki and Yamaha contingency. The weather was great, and the racing action was even better. In the Open and 250A classes, there were great battles between Copeland Trucking rider Blake Copeland and KTM mounted David Howard. In Open A, Howard kept Copeland in his sights, but it was Copeland taking the overall with the 1-1 sweep. In 250A, the battle was even better, as Howard’s 250cc 2 stroke KTM was a little better match for Copeland’s Honda CRF250R. Copeland won moto one, but Howard came back after a
#65 Noah Watts and Gage Noblitt in SuperMini.
David Howard chases Blake Copeland in 250A.
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CYCLE USA, October 2012
#173 Kerber Paxton won the 250C class. #374 Lucky Favre and #451 Lonnie Estes work to beat him to the first corner.
Copeland fall to take the win. Keeze Carver came home in third with a 3-3. Open B and 250B saw new winners for the first time this year at Pleasure Riders as local hotshot Dakota Blakeney suffered bike problems. Moto one in each of the classes saw Blakeney put on a clinic and run away with the wins. However, moto two saw Blakeney pushing his broken Honda off of the track. In Open B, local Austin Shelton was ready to pounce on the opportunity and take the win. Shelton went on to score a 2-1 for the overall. In 250B it was newly married, Ryan Padgett on is YZ250 two stroke going for the overall. The C classes delivered great racing as always as three riders stood out in 250C. At the end of the day we had a three-way tie for the overall between the Husky of Paxton Kerber, the shop bigwheel.com Honda of Chance Trigalet and Indiana’s Jared Keller. Kerber
and Keller shared moto wins, with third place finishes in the opposite motos. Trigalet was consistent on the day with seconds, but that would guarantee him no better than second overall. The second moto told the tale and it was Kerber bringing home the win. In Open C, it was again Kerber taking the overall with a 2-1. The first moto saw a great start by Robert Moody on his YZ450, and he motor on for five consistent laps and take the win. Moto two was a different story as he went down and could only manage to come back up to a fourth place finish. Finishing behind Kerber was Indiana’s Torrey Wallace with a 3-2. Moody dominated +30B/C with a moto sweep, followed by Jason Gerling. In 14-24 it was a battle between Open B winner Austin Shelton and 250B winner Ryan Padgett. The two swapped moto wins with the nod going to Shelton with a 2-1 score. In +25 and +30A, Martinsville, IL rider Kirk Monk put on a show and ran away with the wins. Monk was styling over the big finish line jump with nice whips and really feeling it. In the upper age classes the man to beat was Halls Husky rider, Don Largewho scored wins in +45 and +50. Schoolboy and 125 was dominated by Honda mounted Parker Smith. Smith went on to score all four motos. In the second moto of the 125 class, Trigalet kept Smith honest, but it was Smith taking the win. The Mini classes are often just as exciting to watch as the big bikes at Pleasure Riders. In 50Jr, Colson Crouch took the win with a 1-1 sweep. In 50Sr, it was Cobra mounted Caiden Gerling dominating both motos. Gerling, known to be an exciting rider to watch, was the only 50 rider to land the big finish line step-up table top jump. However, in the second moto Gerling went down hard attempting to clear it, but had a large enough lead to not lose the moto.