Halloween Weekend brought us the penultimate round of the Sprint Cross Country Series (SXCS) at Northern next ATV Park in Colonial Beach, VA. But before a jam-packed day of racing on Sunday, racers and their families were treated to a host of activities on Saturday, October 31st. Law Tigers of Virginia hosted the “Fun Day” featuring a 4 hour trail ride, the Great Pumpkin Buddy Challenge, Pit-Side Trick or Treating and a Contest for Best Decorated Pit.
The 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Buddy Challenge was a hoot to watch! T-Bone & Earl’s Cycle donated the Pumpkins for The Challenge – 2 riders per dirt bike with the passenger sprinting from the start line to pick up a pumpkin. The passenger holds onto the pumpkin and their rider for dear life as they navigate a motocross style track. At the half-way point of a 2 lap sprint, the rider and passenger switch places. There were plenty of memorable moments in all 4 classes (youth, women, family and adult) including a gorilla and gnome riding a Suzuki!
During the rest of the night Colonel Sanders, Joe Exotic, Cousin Eddie and Ronnie Mac were spotted in the pits while the Wait family who converted their 5th wheel trailer into a haunted house won the prize of best decorated pit!
SXCS teamed up with Nancy Sabater-Schlag of Dirt Bike Girl Adventures an advocate for growing female ridership… They developed #MOTOCURIOUS a casual meet and greet for women riders or rather #MOTOCURIOUS women to chat and ride with the women who race SXCS.. such as Amanda Knapp, Jessica Riddle, Samantha Kilgore, Heidi Hawkins and Lisa Audet… The ladies had a wonderful group of women and youth riders. This will be a regular event during Fun Days!
SXCS saw a great turnout for the Cross Country Race but also the threat of rain on the radar. Fortunately, the Micros were able to complete their race in the dry with Nathaniel Oswald hammering out 9 laps and taking the overall and the victory in the Trail Bike class. Also finishing on the lead lap to take 2nd overall and 1st in 50cc senior was Landyn Dalmasso followed by Cael Moyer who finished 1st in 65cc novice (non-points paying). Aubrey Tsakanikas finished 4th overall and 1st in 50cc junior.
When the green flag dropped on the Youth race the skies opened and the rain began to fall. There was a great early battle up front between Robert Weiss, Austin Tsakanikas, Ranger Emmons, Kenito Held and Harvey Bull. We saw a lot of goggles being tossed to the side as the mud covered riders came through scoring and at the end of the 4 lap race Robert Weiss took the overall and Super Mini Jr win with Austin Tsakanikas 9 seconds back in 2nd (both overall and Super Mini Jr) and Ranger “Danger” Emmons 3rd overall and 1st in Super Mini Sr. Nathaniel Oswald, an Ironman Mini Rider, managed a 15th place finish in the overall and 1st in 65cc junior.
The Morning Adult race had the largest field with over 120 riders lining up on the starting grid. Unfortunately, the weather conditions only worsened as the rain came down even harder. The sweep riders and course workers stayed busy helping stuck riders as track conditions quickly deteriorated. You could see the look of relief on riders’ faces when they saw the white flag at the 1:05 mark and by the end Jedediah Haines had put on a show for the spectators completing 5 laps and finishing 1st overall and 1st in Open Class (non-points paying). Jeremy Jones was 2nd across the finish line and in Open Class. Tyler Toms finished 3rd overall and 1st in Schoolboy 1. Melvin Bethancourth finished 6th overall and first in Vet C while both Ironman Youth riders, Austin Tsakanikas, an Ironman Youth Rider and Ranger “Danger” Emmons, battled it out all race long to finish 7th and 8th overall, respectively.
The Afternoon Adult race was delayed to allow track maintenance to make some necessary changes. By the time the race started the rain had stopped and sun was out but that did not improve track conditions. Once again the sweep riders and track maintenance crew worked diligently throughout the race to ensure rider safety. While Jake Ross was first to see the checkered flag, it was Van McCarren who had the lowest elapsed time finishing the race 1st overall and first in 250A. Jake Ross finished 2nd overall and 1st in Pro/AA with Jedediah Hanes (Iron Man Adult) finishing 3rd overall and 1st in Vet A.
The final round of SXCS will be held on November 15 at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg, VA. As if the championship points chase weren’t already close enough with most class championships yet to be decided, the final round is a GP Format making it much easier to run multiple classes in the same day of racing and making these championship races that much more difficult to predict. The final round of the SXCS series may be the most exciting of the year and one you don’t want to miss!
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Race Report by Mario Orsini www.2wheeledrider.com
Photos by: Photo Hawk (View Complete Pictures Here)
Complete Results can be found HERE
More Information on the Country’s 1st Three Format Racing Series can be found at
SprintCrossCountrySeries.com