Arkansaw MX - A Mini Vacation Arkansaw, WI - July 27/28 By Cody Wills
I
had heard all this talk of a “Big Arkansaw Weekend”. I had heard of the cool fireworks shows, giveaways and plane flyovers they did. I had to personally make sure to check it out this year and see what all the hype was about. With the Friday open practice they offer before thier race weekends I planned a mini mid-summer vacation, heading over Thursday night for a fun camping/ race weekend with good friends. When I pulled in on Thursday afternoon it was as packed as if it was race day morning, making me think it’s going to be a good fun weekend, and it was! When the racing kicked off on Saturday Aj Meidl was out front early in 125Jr on his Yamaha YZ125, followed by Mason Persha. After a lap or two Meidl pulled out a decent lead. Persha fell into the clutches of Collin Reinhart who had worked through the pack from a bad start, but the laps winded down and Persha was able to hold off Reinhart and pickup second. Second moto had Meidl again with a good start and Reinhart was up there. This time it was Persha making his way through the pack. Meidl again dominated the moto. Reinhart kept it in second to picked up second overall. Persha made it up to third, salvaging a third overall. In the Sportsman class Ty Hennessy put his KX450 out front early in moto one, riding really well. Tanner Anderson was hot on his heels. Hennessy held his lines to make sure and stay ahead of Anderson. Hennessy was diving to the insides, and even going out of his way to take the inside before the triple to cut off Anderson. Shortly after Anderson tried again to stick a wheel in at the top of the hill, and ended his chance for the lead as he went down. Anderson fell 30
CYCLE USA, September 2012
Aj Meidl dominated 125Jr Saturday.
back to fifth as Matt Meyers scooped up second. In the second moto Anderson had something to prove, and got out front right away. Hennessy had the overall in the bag with a second and he was comfortable with that. Jordan Orr was in third. Hennessy picked up the overall
and Anderson’s 5-1 was good for second. Matt Meyers rounded out the top three (2-4). The Supermini class saw Brady Bill dominate the class both days, sweeping each moto ahead of Max Steinhorst. Steinhorst had some trouble in the first moto Saturday, but consistently
got second each moto after that. Clayton Rankin used his consistant scores to rally to third each day as well. After the Saturday Night festivities the rain started to come down after mid night and it never seemed to stop. It rained pretty late into the morning. Some riders opted out of going out for practice. My moto was early in the order and it was a muddy one. There was one class before me and I would be lying if I wasn’t a bit dreading the mud, but once I got out there it was a blast. The Arkansaw crew had taken out most of the really deep, unridable sections. By the second set of motos I don’t think you could asked for better traction conditions. Perfect fun ruts in every corner, and tons of traction everywhere. With the prep that was done between motos the track was fantastic. I overheard more than one rider regretting the decision to pull out for the day after being scared off by the rain. The A classes were dominated both days by Nate Laporte, winning every moto he entered. He opted out of the Open A on Sunday after the down pours. Colton Karl was fast all weekend, getting second in both Open A and 250A on Saturday. With Laporte leaving the door open for a new winner on Sunday in Open A Dylan Narel rode through the mud to go 1-2, picking up that win.
The SuperMini class.