Canyon Off-Road Park hosted the 2nd of hopefully many short course races on Friday night - 5/18. Turnout was light, but very competitive, and there was some great racing action for the spectators.

Gates opened at 4pm, with practice at 6. There were quite a few teams eager to try out the course and the practice laps seemed necessary to learn to negotiate the tight track. The highlight of practice was the yellow stadium buggy of Larry Foddrill being the only car capable of making the double jump in front of the main grandstand. The course consisted of several snaking turns and jumps over the embankment of an existing dirt oval. The launch off of the top of the oval was the biggest jump, and there were several cars putting on a good show. There was also a couple of very tight turns, and a whoopy section at the back of the race course….

The evening's agenda included heat races and also a main race for several classes including ATV non pros and beginners, 60-80cc bikes, desert buggies and trucks, Minis and PeeWees, bikes, pro quads and pilots, and of course - the 1650 stadium buggies and pro-trucks. The racers would run a single heat race - and then repeat the order of events for the main. Due to the low number of stadium cars in attendance - the stadium cars would run the main with the desert buggies.

Non-pro ATV

First up was the ATV non-pros and beginners. The show belonged to Dennis Harliss (Geronimo Glass) and Billy VanMeter (Screwie Lewies) who raced neck and neck to a 1-2 finish with some great racing and dicing along the way. The racers completed 6 laps of action in Heat 1. In close action, Copy Zamora (Zamora Farms) finished third, with Chris Wilson and Josh Simpson rounding out the top five.

In the main event - Billy VanMeter powered his Honda to a 1st place finish, taking home the big trophy for the class. In the #2 spot for the class was Copy Zamora. Josh Simpson (Tricky Dick Racing) picked up the pace in the main event, finishing in 3rd place. Lance Smith and Nick Oneil finished out the top 5.

80cc and 60cc Beginner

In the heat race - 4 gutsy competitors gave it their all for 4 laps in the 80-60cc bikes classes. There were three 80cc bikes, and only one 60cc bike chasing the 80's. The 80cc race was a classic 2-stroke vs. 4-stroke battle, with Stefan Allen leading from start to finish, getting pushed by Justin Debarros on the 4-stroke Honda the entire race. It was fun to watch as both riders had strong advantages in different parts of the course, but the top end of the 2-stroke won the race. In the main event - it was a similar story, until Debarros wiped out. Allen won the main event cleanly, and Debarros recovered to pull out 2nd place, and was close to catching the Allen at the end of the race. Couple more laps and who knows…… Finishing third for the class was Zachary Alexander.

In the 60cc class Joseph Wood ran very fast and clean heat races and main for the win.

Desert Buggies and Trucks

Race #3 of the evening was the desert cars and trucks. It was a runaway victory for the Action Gear sponsored #1680 car of James Adams. His black Meco 1-2 1600 car was really flying, and Adams didn't make a mistake easily handling the course and the rest of the field. Adams was so quick - that throughout much of the main event, he was able to stay within a couple of seconds of the pro-1650 stadium cars. Sean Moss (Advanced Pool) finished in the 2nd spot in the Pro Buggy Limited Classes in both the heat race and the Main.

In the Sportsman Buggy Class 16 year old Krissy Spooner motored her Sullivan Builders sponsored VW to a first place finish on the night. Krissy looked good, with some good driving, and a few mistakes along the way.

The Sportsman Truck battle was entertaining with the blue bronco of Wilson/Stiner and the #16 truck of Duane Anderson doing battle in the heat race. That old bronco runs just as good as it looks, and the driver was not afraid to air it out over the big jumps on the course. Wilson and Anderson diced the entire six laps, with Anderson (Sullivan Builders) getting the win after a front wheel came bounding off the big bronco on the final lap of the heat race. Anderson also survived the main event to finish in 1st place for the night after the Bronco did not start, and Mike Matheson's Toyota broke during the main. Matheson was a DNF during the main with what looked like engine troubles.

Minis and PeeWees

The youngsters were up next in the Minis and PeeWee classes. In the PeeWee Beginner class - it was Cody McElroy (COP, Thor) running away with victories in the heat race and the main. Watch out for him in years to come with the "throttle full on or off switch" riding style… Taking 2nd place was Connor Reeves taking home the trophy. Ryan Wells and Logan Moss finished out the class. Ryan did take a good spill off the main jumps on his KTM - but it was no problem, as he bounced up, picked up the bike, put the kickstand down, fired it up, and was back to racing…

The quads were every bit as fast as the bikes in this race - and had passed many of them despite starting in the second group. In the ATV Expert class Taylor Dixon (ATV Racing) and Jack O'Neil had a great race swapping finishing spots for the heat and main races. O'Neil got the victory where it counted in the main.

In the beginner ATV class Derrick Lemons (Advent Builders) finished in front of Taylor Hall (Junkyard Dog Racing) getting the win. Taking the 3rd spot was Sandra Lemons on a Suzuki. The kids on the Suzuki quads were really tearing around the track, and were nearly getting bounced off their quads over the big jumps, most certainly scaring mom and dad on each and every lap. (I was scared) Finishing in 4th spot was Jessica Willittes on her Kawasaki. Jessica would like to thank Mom and Dad's Visa card for making her race efforts possible.

Bikes

In the "big bikes" class it was all Dustin Hamby (Bent, Fly, Renthal, Spy) on his Yamaha. Dustin was the "class of the class" easily winning the heat race and the main. Finishing 2nd was Jim Donald on his Honda. Closing out the top 5 were Bill Flagg (COP), Rocky Colasacco, and Randy Boyse (Valley Kawasaki). Randy gets the "most improvement" award for coming from 13th place in the heat race to 5th in the main. Andrew Boso #502 took a spectacular spill on the double right in front of the grandstand. Andrew walked away with an injured wrist… Hope you are feeling better Andrew…

In the beginner bike class Brad Robberson took home the big trophy on his Honda. Multi-talented Jeffro Wells (Western Truck) finished in the 2 spot for the evening. Finishing out the class was Dexter Allen and Donny McLouth.

Pro ATV and Pilot

In some very close racing, the big ATV's handled the track. These guys were really flying - even over a big double on the back side of the race track… The winner of the main event was Ricky Baldwin (Spooners, Duncan Racing) after a DNF in the heat race. Finishing second to Ricky was Jeremy Hitschman (ATV Racing) on his Honda. (Hmmm… Ricky first, Jeremy second… Why does that sound so familiar…?) The other top finishers were Billy Ellis in 3rd and Max Hernandez (Tecate, Cycle Gear) 4th.

In the Pilot Class, Rick Lemons (Advent Builders) bounced his way to a top podium finish.

Pro Trucks and 1650 Buggies

The race of the night was taking shape with 4 very sharp 1650 buggies in attendance, but it was not to be - as 2 of them fell out even before the main event. K.C. Arthur's (Finishline Motorsports, NiCE) evening was cut short by a broken tranny during practice, and Larry Foddrill broke an axle at the drop of the green flag in the heat race… Neither would return for the main. Too bad - because Foddrill was the only buggy to attempt and clear the double in front of the main grandstands during practice… Dwight Lundell gave the crowd a light show during the heat race, with a bad ignition pickup that caused the buggy to belch brilliantly colored flames out the exhaust while sputtering around the track… Henry Brown cruised to an easy heat race victory. Lundell was able to make repairs before the main event - by borrowing an ignition trigger off of the yellow Foddrill buggy with the terminally broken axle - and did give Henry a run for his money. Henry led the race from wire to wire, winning the main event. Lundell would finish a close second.

All of the pro truck competitors had undetermined issues and did not start the main event.

All in all - the number of entries was low, but the racing was very competitive, and was entertaining to the crowd. The COP track was interesting, and did give the spectators some good views of the competitors, with plenty of air in front of the grandstands. With a few more competitors, this could really become a cool short course race series. Hope to see everyone in attendance at the next race June 22.