GANG ROCKS THE SANDBOX

FERNLEY (Oct. 26) — Things looked pretty grim for the local motocross scene when SMRA pulled the plug on its fall series late this summer. However the Reno chapter of the Over the Hill Gang had other ideas.

Ryan Eager flies over a jump on his way to winning the first 250/45- moto. He won overall in both that class as well as the 125/250 division.

Justin Mastalka sails over a jump at Fernley. He went on to win the 30+ pro overall victory.

Collin McHaney drives down a small hill on his way to taking the 125/250 intermediate overall victory.

The 250/450 victor was Jeffrey Butler shown here cleaning at jump during his second moto.

Rookie Devin Zinda had a rookie’s dream come true. He won his very first race and also picked up the special trophy for the overall winner in the 85cc Beginner class.

Casey Carmichael scored a double when he won both the 85cc Junior overall was well as the Supermini title.

Julian Domingo (835) leads Dalton Chard (169) and the pack as the second 125/250 moto begins. At the checkered flag Domingo won the overall victory for the day.

The two Women’s motos were a battle between Jordan Beck (761) and veteran Shami Potratz (123). Unfortunately a penalty dropped Beck to third at the end of the day and gave the victory to Potratz.

After a planned five-race series had to be scrubbed the club gathered its forces and staged a one-off race this weekend at the Sandbox, or Fernley Lions Motocross Track as its officially known.

“We decided it was time to have a race,” said Layne Kolbet, president of the OTHG chapter.

Saturday’s practice session was held during what seemed like a hurricane and, according to one witness, caused at least a couple of brown outs due to blowing dust. However on Sunday riders were greeted with almost perfect weather.

For one pro rider it was a change to return to competition.

After the first 250/450 pro moto ended overall winner Ryan Eager said, “It’s my first pro race in about five years so I’m getting back into it and I’m on a 125. The course is good, way sandy, haven’t been here in eight years but it’s still the same old sandbox.”

Then he thanked his girlfriend Amanda for her help as well as her son Owen and “the man above.”

In the second 250/450 moto things didn’t work so well for Eager.

When the gate dropped Collin McHaney had the hole shot then lost it to Eager, who fell out of contention after a huge get off on the second lap. Up front McHaney, who rides in the Intermediate class, took over the lead and he left everyone his dust.

“I was in the lead, had a couple of bobbles, got caught was right behind him (Eager) and it was pretty gnarly as I think he just high sided. So I tried to ride a steady pace but getting the hole shot helped a lot.”

Then he thanked his parents, people that help him and Testa Motorsports.

Due to McHaney having problems in the first 250/450 intermediate moto he actually wound up fourth for the day while Jeffrey Butler scored the day’s overall victory for that class.

Earlier McHaney did win the 125/250 intermediate overall with a pair of first place finishes. And Eager won the 125/250 pro division while veteran Justin Mastalka was the 30+ pro victor for the day.

When the club was organizing the event it was decided to have one very tall trophy created. Then after some thought it was decided the 85cc Beginner overall winner would receive this special prize.

Hayden Fagundes led the charge when the second 85 beginner moto began with first moto winner Devin Zinda and Thomas Jackson in hot pursuit. Lap after lap this trio ripped around the track until Fagundes fell out of contention.

Zinda, riding in his first race took this gift and stormed away to claim the victory and the special trophy in his first ever race.

Taking second in the overall total was Jared Mariscal while Jackson’s runner up finish gave him third overall for the day.

After taking the checkered flag Zinda said, “The leader (Fagundes) ate it on the second table over there, pretty bad. After that it was all clean I really didn’t make any mistakes. And I need to thank my mom, my dad all my friends for all their support.”

After receiving the special trophy Zinda, a high school freshman, didn’t know if he would take it to school on Monday.

The Women’s motos were a duel between 15-year-old Jordan Beck and veteran Shami Potratz. In their first moto Beck was the winner but when the second began Potratz had the advantage.

It took a few laps before Beck finally mounted a charge that took her to first and apparently gave her a sweep of the day. However she also passed another rider where there was a yellow displayed received a penalty that dropped her to third for the day.

This gave Potratz the overall victory and elevated Ashleigh Trapanese to second over all with Beck falling to third ahead of Ashtyn Shepard.

But after taking that second checkered flag Beck said, “Shami, she’s really, really fast and she’s been racing for a long time. She got ahead of me on the start and it took me a few laps to find my flow. But once I did, my corner speed was really good and I think I was a little faster on the straights so I eventually caught up and got around her.”

Then she thanked her parents and sponsors Race Tech, Tech One Designs, Novik Gloves X-Band Goggles and Michael’s Cycles then added, “all the glory goes out to God.”

The race marked a successful return for Potratz, who earlier in the day said, “I haven’t raced since the mid-summer event at Exit 28.”

Another winner was Mason Olson, who won the Schoolboy class after getting around McHaney. Julian Domingo scored to overall victories in both the 2-Stroke Open and 125/250 Beginner class.

In the Pee Wee ranks Connor Gaarenstroom, who after scoring his first win moves into the 65cc division, while Owen Bills and Cash Dunbar won their respective classes. The 65cc winners were Trey Maskaly and Dametre Proutsos, who scored wins in both the junior and open races.

Another rider scoring a double was Casey Carmichael when he topped the 85cc Junior as well as the Supermini classes. In the 65cc ranks Dametre Proutsos scored victories in both 65cc Junior and Open classes.

All in all it was a great day and several riders praised the OTHG for giving them a great, fun track to race on. And fortunately the medics hardly had anything to do.

After the final checkered flag for the day waved Kolbet said, “It was awesome, we had a good turn out yesterday, better one today. Mother Nature smiled on us Sunday, not yesterday on Saturday.”

Asked about the future of motocross in our area he added, “We are going to continue to move forward. I don’t know exactly what is going to transpire but we are going to have races.”

Now the planning and preparations begin for spring when the new season starts.

RESULTS

Over the Hill Gang — Oct. 26

Fernley Lions Motocross Track

50cc:

Beg. — 1. Connor Gaarenstroom, 2. Roger Hill, 3. Zade White, 4. Ryder Thomaselli, 5. Rob Wilson, 6. Nathan                            Rippi, 7. Tanner Ines, 8. Rylan Skulason

Jr. — 1. Owen Bills, 2. Cash Dunbar

Open — 1. Cash Dunbar

65cc:

Beg. — 1. Trey Maskaly, 2. Roger Hill, 3. Cole Palotas, 4. Ollie Bonner, 5. Connor Gaarenstroom, 6. Kaden                            Solinshi, 7. Owen Bills

Jr. — 1. Dametre Proutsos, 2. Nakana Domingo, 3. Chase  Cannizzaro, 4. Zachary Larson, 5. Drake Lanning, 6. Collin Hutson

Open — 1. Dametre Proutsos, 2. Chase Cannizzaro, 3. Zachary Larson, 4. Drake Lanning

85cc:

Beg.— 1. Devin Zinda, 2. Jared Mariscal, 3. Thomas Jackson, 4. Nakana Domingo, 5. Justin Larsen, 6.  Hayden Fagundes, 7. Collin Hutson, 8. Kyle Zimmer, 9. Hayden Carmichael, 10. Cody Zimmer, 11. James Larsen, 12. Raven Hyatt, 13. Trevor Marlin, 14. Taren Turnage, 15. Cameron Solinshi, 16. Hayden Fredrick

Jr. — Casey Carmichael, 2. Levi Wosick, 3. Wyatt Smith, 4. Joshua Conners, 5. Trever Tellez, 6. Hardy Ingraham, 7. Tyler Crittenden, 8. Jacob Conners

Supermini — 1. Casey Carmichael, 2. Levi Wosick, 3. Trever Tellez, 4. Hardy Ingraham, 5. Tyler Crittenden, 6. Joshua Conners, 7. Blayne Herrera, 8. Jacob Conners

40+:

Jr. — 1. Josh Thomaselli, 2. Brian Wagoner, 3. Chris Gaarensroom, 4. Chris Ober, 5. Jeff Fredrick, 6. Sam Mosler, 7. Dax Tucker, 8. Steven Wakefield, 9. Ted Griffin, 10. Jim Shepard, 11. Jamie Bonner

Intrm. — 1. Jeromie Sorhouet, 2. Layne Kolbet, 3. Nick Nichols

Exp. — 1. Tony Fagundes, 2. Gilbert Chick

30+:

Beg. — 1. Jamie Bonner, 2. Joe Young, 3. Robert Belinger, 4. John Heldman, 5. Kurt Goddard

Jr. — 1. Bill Soderquist, 2. Nick Nichols, 3. Jon Remien, 4. David Maynard, 5. Steve Smith

Intrm. — 1. Saer White, 2. Scott Simmons, 3. Sam Glaster, 4. D.C. Collet

Pro. — 1. Justin Mastalka, 2. Dean Wilcox, 3. Johnathan Ayers

20+:

Jr. — 1. Bobby Morello, 2. Jeff Brewer, 3. Bendon Borrego

Intrm. — 1. Jeffrey Butler, 2. Ricky Dahlberg

Women — 1. Shami Potratz, 2. Ashleigh Trapanese, 3. Jordan Beck, 4. Ashtyn Shepard, 5. Jasmyne Herrera, 6. Jaidyn Shepard, 7. Raven Hyatt

2-Stroke Open — 1. Julian Doming, 2. Austin Johnson

Schoolboy — 1. Mason Olson, 2. Cole Carmichael, 3. Austin          Johnson

125/250F:

Beg. — 1. Julian Domingo, 2. Keith Newman, 3. Layne Hornback, 4. Dalton Chard, 5. Ashleigh Trapanese, 6. Tyler Vonaspern, 7. Jaron Thompson, 8. Bobby Kurylo, 9. Mason Marlin, 10. Ashtyn Shepard, 11. Clayton Buck, 12. Trystin Tucker, 13. Nick Givani, 14. Parker McCombs

Jr. — 1. Cole Carmichael, 2. Alexander Orr, 3. Nason  McCombs, 4. Austin Johnson, 5. Brendon Borrego, 6. Devin Soderquist, 7. Zane Clarke, 8. Tyrell Pedotti, 9. Jordan Beck, 10. Andrew Cheechov

Intrm. — 1. Collin McHaney, 2. Mason Olson, 3. Gage Lemm, 4. Chris Miller

Pro. — Ryan Eager

245/450F:

Beg. — 1. Layne Hornback, 2. Logan Shaffer, 3. Mason  Marlin, 4. Travis Hyatt, 5. Joe Young, 6. Nathan Daws,  7. Kyle Brink, 8. Austin Bass, 9. Steven Wakefield, 10. Jordan Thomas, 11. Joseph Iribarren, 12. Seneca Murphy, 13. Colton Creveling-Scudder, 14. Christian  Larsen

Jr. — 1. Trent Cocking, 2. Drew Chattin, 3. Jeff Brewer, 4. Cody Force, 5. Rowdy Wachsmuth, 6. Zane Clarke`, 7  Timothy   Trainor, 8. Alexander Orr, 9. Devin Soderquist, 10. Jeff Fredrick

Intrm. — 1. Jeffrey Butler, 2. Brad McCain, 3. Ricky Dahlberg, 4. Collin McHaney, 5. Matthew Watson

Pro. — 1. Ryan Eager, 2. Johnathan Ayers