ROUND ONE: MARCH 14, 2010

The season opener of the Yamaha/ITP Quadcross got underway with some great racing action. Too bad we couldn't have raced on Saturday instead of Sunday because the weather Saturday was absolutely perfect, and then the winds came in Saturday night. If not for the winds on Sunday it would have been another perfect day, but this is racing and the races go on no matter what.

As in the past, the first round usually sees one or two National riders and this one was no different. In this case Josh Creamer showed up to do battle with the west coast riders. The new format for the Pro class was also going into effect at this round. The riders would now go 20 minutes plus 2 laps. In the past they just did 8 laps, but with some of the tracks being longer and some being shorter this change made it more consistent.

First moto: Creamer pulled the holeshot and was off to a good start. Three-time Quadcross Champion Dustin Nelson was in hot pursuit back in the third spot with Justin Noss in second, doing his best to catch Creamer and stay ahead of Nelson. Nelson made the pass when Noss overshot a berm. That sent Noss back to fourth because Beau Baron was right there to take advantage. Now Noss had Dunkelberger all over his bumper when Noss threw a chain to end his first moto. Back battling for what was at the time the 6th spot were Jason Fife and Dustin Terry. Fife had gotten off to a bad start had worked his way up and challenge Terry. Fife got around Terry about the same time Noss lost his chain, so he went from 7th to 5th. At the finish it was Creamer, Nelson, Baron, Dunk and Fife in the top five.

Second moto: There was $250 on the line for the holeshot. GYTR and Yamalube are putting up this cash incentive at each round for the Pro Production class second moto holeshot. This time it was very close between Noss and Creamer as they came around the Talladega turn and powered to the cones that marked the holeshot. Creamer just edged out Noss by a short distance and once again took the lead with Noss right behind. This time Creamer put some distance between himself and the other riders very quickly. Nelson once again moved into second with Baron moving into third. Noss battled with Dunk but managed to hold him off. Creamer went on to take the win with a 1-1, Nelson 2nd with a 2-2, Baron 3rd with a 3-3, Dunk 4th with a 4-4 and rounding out the top five with a 5-6 was Jason Fife.

Next round is on April 11, 2010, at ACP (Arizona Cycle Park).

Story and Photos by Roy Bloodworth

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