Team USA at MX Masterkids

Just got home from Belgium and here is a quick recap, forgive me if I miss someone, I am completely brain dead from the trip home:

50cc classes were Cobra all the way. Brandon Smith won the final followed closely by Tristan Lewis. Noah Aronson was third with Josh Strickland coming from way back to get a well deserved fourth.

65cc Junior - Colton Eigenmann won one of his heats as did Brandon Smith. Lewis was close to the front in his as well. In the final Eigenmann was coming to the front and crashed and then his spark plug came off. Smith was very fast as well but fell on lap 4. Lewis was definitely inside the top ten scoring valuable points. Smith and Lewis double classed and the 65 motos were back to back with the 50s. A tough double to pull off.

65 Senior - Austin Forkner pulled the holeshot on his Cobra (I think he may have holeshot all the motos) with Max Markolf and Ashton Hayes inside the top ten. Forkner led till the end, Markolf was up to a strong third when the parent ran on the teack. The lappers are the worst of any race ever at this track and there are not many rules re: helping. In the end it was Forkner second, Markolf third and Hayes 5th or 6th. (they only post the top 3 results at the race)

85 Junior - Ashton Hayes was double classing this one and was moving to the front, 4th I think, when he wadded hard and DNFed. He ended up OK, just beat up.

85cc 13-14 - Matt Burkeen was about 10th on the start of the first heat and worked his way to the lead. He was passed on the last lap by a fast Belgian, Ludvic Brevers. In the main he was hit out of the gate and then t-boned off the track in the first turn and around 5th or 6th from last. He rode hard to the end and salvaged a fifth. Probably one of the best motos I have seen him ride. Will Markolf rode well every moto but suffered from a clutch issue and a couple of untimely crashes and tangles with lappers.

85cc Senior - Aaron Leininger was 6th or 7th overall against some very fast 150s. I didn't see much of his motos because I was at the line with Matt but he overachieved in a big way.

Schoolboy under 17 - Kyle Peters got the holeshot on a borrowed 2 year old stock CRF250 and never looked back. He won by a mile lapping into the top 10. Austin Root crashed out and thought he broke his wrist. I think it might be ok, he was flying back this evening. Corey Radcliff crashed a couple of times but gained a ton of confidence running in the top 3 in both his heat races.

Schoolboy under 20 - North Carolina A rider Justin Coley had the race of the week beating GP rider Nicolas Aubin's little brother but not without a 20 minute battle that saw several lead changes including 2 on the last two straights to win by a wheel.

They keep you in suspense as to the overall for an hour or so while they add up the scores. Moving to a one moto format was not in our favor but I was cautiously optimistic. They announce the team scores starting with the last place team, somewhere in the 50s or 60s and working their way to the top 5. Each of the top 5 take the stage for a big celebration for their team. They had still not called our name as the top 5 were announced. I think this is right

5th - MX Pilotage - France
4th - Not Sure but the made a lot of noise!
3rd - Great Britain

It was between us and Belgium. We all sat there stunned while waiting for the 2nd place announcement hoping not to hear Team USA.

2nd - Belgium

Team USA wins the title. We had 60 people on the stage just going nuts. Then they played the National Anthem while the European clubs and fans cheered. It was incredible!

Look for a full write up with photos in Playground Magazine at LLs

Time for some much needed rest!

Mike