AHRMA Mid Atlantic PVR Opener

As with most any off-season, as round one’s circled date on the calendar begins approaching, excitement and anticipation build exponentially. However, this particular off-season may have provided far greater anticipation than those in recent memory. Several factors are in play here to create hype for 2021. First, despite early interreference from the COVID pandemic, the 2020 season turned out to be a remarkably complete and competitive season with some exciting new venues and continued growth. So, it is always exciting to build off a successful season, but in this case, it is also heartening to know that we are continuing to put distance between ourselves and the uncertainty surrounding the early part of 2020. Secondly, the Mid-Atlantic region has some revolutionary new rules and procedures in place for 2021! Always looking to improve the experience for racers and spectators alike, Dave Kutskel and the Mid-Atlantic leadership team took a hard look at the recent series’ events in an effort to uncover success, failure, and opportunity. Several major changes were implemented that should increase the competitiveness, intrigue, and opportunity to race at each of the scheduled ten events for this year.

The changes for 2021 are as follows:

• Introduction of a new “AA” class for the fastest fast guys to complete for the “overall” championship. These riders are not broken into age or displacement classification and always start on the first row of each race. Bike selection is per the individual race eligibility (i.e. AA Post Vintage class may include PV and Historic, etc). • Novice and women riders will no longer only start in the morning race, but rather will be placed into the appropriate race associated with their bike’s eligibility. • Due to the increased popularity of 1980s and 1990s disc brake equipped machines, a third race is added to each event that includes the Pre-Modern (single front disc), Early Modern (dual disc to 1994), Pre-2K (dual discs to 1999) classes. • The sight lap is eliminated due to time constraints of three race format.

Rocket Raceway is once again the site of the season opener and the first chance to test the new format. After last year’s rescheduled event, which pushed Rocket’s date into the fall, our gracious host Mark Carlson was hard at work harvesting a swath of marketable timber from the property. This complicated the work of trail bosses Mike Zydbak and Dave K., but with the help of a generous group of volunteers they were able to extract the best of last year’s course and connect it to some newly created trail to navigate the perimeter of the clear cut area with little, if any, degradation in the experience. With nearly universal praise for last year’s course and the excitement of the first green flag of the year, the threat of rain was doing little to dampen any spirits heading into Sunday’s event. However, the weather turned out to be more than a threat as a soaking rain set into the area on Saturday and only began to retreat as participants lined up for registration Sunday. While the course is known to drain relatively well, the absence of a sight lap would make the true impact of the precipitation a mystery until competitors took the green flag. The good: As is typical for the Rocket Raceway property, the course layout is wonderful and takes full advantage of the elevation changes, valleys, tight forest single track, and open flowing two-track. The bad: The rain preceding the event was not to be denied. Its impact was noticeable immediately and conditions degraded as the races progressed. By the midpoint of race three, there was some improvement in upper areas, but the damage had already been done. A small portion of grass track had turned into a fifty-foot-wide quagmire akin to a scene from Blackwater highlights from days past. A large uphill near the starting area was the site of several lap one bottlenecks as even the alternate lines turned into rutted slop. Low lying areas regressed into single lane footpeg depth ruts filled with water and ever further exposed roots. As the footpegs grew higher from the ground in later races, the ruts got deeper. Tight single track often became a slot car track. Not to belabor the conditions as there is little you can do to control nature, but there is no doubt that success on this day was as much about survival as it was speed. As is habit for the Mid-Atlantic’s great group of participants, everyone made the best of the hand dealt, and more than one instance of altruism was noted on the course as hands were lent to extricate fellow competitors from undesirable situations. Challenging? Sure…but still a great way to spend your Sunday.

Race One (Vintage)

Fifty riders lined up to take on the first race of 2021, and it took little time for Brian Grove to demonstrate that he intends to be the man to beat in the inaugural AA class season. Although Josh Zerance, also running in AA, kept Brian honest by keeping him in sight throughout the race, Brian’s Husqvarna would eventually open a one-minute lead on the Can-Am of Zerance to take the overall win. Lee Hickok rounded out the podium while also taking the Vintage 200 Expert class win. Josh Horvath put in a strong ride on his Yamaha to take seventh overall, top intermediate, and the Vintage 200 class win over the Hodaka of Grant Reichart and first time Mid-Atlantic competitor Sylas Merrell. Merrell held the lead early on before sliding to a respectable third place. As if the conditions were not challenging enough, several brave and talented competitors soldiered through the muck on diminutive 100cc class machines. The top three in the Vintage 100 Intermediate class were all running remarkably similar, and consistent, lap times with the Yamaha MX100 of Craig Lowery ultimately coming out on top of the dueling Hodakas of Scott Danner and Paul Thomas. Even more impressive was the top-ten overall performance by the ultimate 100cc warrior Kyle Warner, winner of the Vintage 100 Expert class. James Breitegan would jump to the early lead in Vintage 60+ Intermediate action, but series veteran Glenn Hershey would continually chip away at the lead until putting his Can-Am in front for good on lap two. Mick Spisak (Husqvarna), Dave McIntyre (Honda), and Fred Walker (Yamaha) would make up the top five.

Race Two (Post Vintage)

Although starting from row two, Post Vintage 200 Expert class winner Lee Hickok would take out the best the AA class, and 66 other riders, had to offer by taking the top spot overall. AA rider Logan Holley would take the overall lead from John Ashcraft on lap two but couldn’t hold off the charging Hickok who took over for laps three and four. Holley held on for second, with Post Vintage 200 Expert runner-up Rylin Pacella also making his way past Ashcraft into third. Ashcraft hung on for fourth with the rest of the AA pack hot on his heels with Mike Blackwell and holeshot artist Steve Bowman not far behind. The remainder of the Post Vintage 200 Experts were not going to let Hickok and Pacella get all the glory, as the top-five in class all wound up within the overall top-ten. Dane Brownawell, slinging mud on his Yamaha YZ125, took the third spot in class followed by Josh Zerance (riding his vintage eligible Can-Am!) and IT200 pilot Christian Brumbaugh. Robert McNeel broke the PV 200/AA stranglehold on the top-ten by placing eighth and taking home the Post Vintage 60+ Expert class win. John Zellam and his shiny new black stripe tried his best to keep McNeel in sight, but it was all he could do to hold off the constant challenge of third place finisher Jack Petrilla who was seldom further than twenty seconds in arrears of John. Top intermediate John Brant took 12th overall and led a strong contingent of eleven Post Vintage 50+ Intermediates. Vince Monk held the lead early but would succumb to Brant’s charge on lap three. Monk held on for the runner-up over third place Harold Silbaugh making a strong return to the series after sitting out all of 2020. Jim Laird kept the throttle pinned on his YZ125 as he led wire to wire to take the Historic 200 Intermediate checkers ahead of Josh Folmar’s Suzuki 185.

Race Three (Disc Brake)

Thirty-one riders lined up for the first ever “Disc Brake” race, a reasonably good turnout in its infancy. Expect this class to grow as word gets around. John Ashcraft did not let his lap one lead slip away this time as he laid down a dominating performance on his CR500 to take the overall and AA class wins. Ashcraft’s lap times were nearly a full minute better than anyone else in the field! Fellow AA class participant Wyatt Stoup had his hands full in fending off Lee Hickok for second. Hickok, again interrupting the AA freight train landing in third overall and class winner in Pre-2k Open Expert and representing a handful of riders who attempted to “ironman” the event by running all three races in a single day. Not a small feat in the day’s conditions. AA riders Brett Reichart (Kawasaki) and Josh Zerance on a unique ATK 260 LQ followed Lee in rounding out the top-five. Brandon Rowe and Neil Russler went 1-2 in the Pre-Modern 200 Novice class and put in impressive overall rides by besting several intermediate level riders. Dave Light stuck the orange fender of his KTM out front early and did not let up as he took an uncontested win over Anthony Lowery’s YZ125 in second followed by the McGrath-era “1-800-COLLECT” CR125 of Evan Klingensmith. Despite the rain and mud, the event and its new look, were a success and an encouraging kickoff to a sure-to-be-exciting 2021 season. Many thanks to Mark Carlson for allowing the series to return to its longest running venue yet again, and for using his bulldozer to get the many folks that needed assistance out of the parking lot. Thanks as well to the Mid-Atlantic’s ever-willing team of volunteers, and special thanks to the sponsors that make these events possible; Potomac Vintage Riders, Preston Petty Products, Stainless Cycle, Vee Rubber, Grove Printing, KMI Printing, Horizon Homes, and Works Enduro Riders. The 2021 schedule and complete results from this event can be found at https://www.ahrma.org/ ahrma-mid-atlantic-region. Follow the series’ Facebook page @ AHRMA Mid Atlantic Cross Country for updates and news throughout the year.

Rocket Raceway once again kicks off the PVR race season.

Find and old bike and come race with us. Craig Lowery wins the Vintage 100cc Intermediate class.