 JORDAN BRANDT TAKES THE WIN ON
HOME TURF
-Round 3 of West Chec - Sawmill Enduro
- Lakeport, Ca
-Hosted by North Bay MC - 04/22/12
 After a few weeks
of unpredictable weather and an emergency reschedule we were
finally racing! Round 3 of the AMA/Flexx Bars Western Checkpoint Enduro
Championship would mark the first trip up north into District 36
territory. Which would mean LOTS of water and even more trees! On hand
were the top racers in the local district and they were all ready to do
battle. The weather was near perfect with highs in the mid 80's, a good
amount of water still on the ground and the river was just deep enough
to give everyone a good dousing.
First of the line however would be
District 37's Kel Postel riding his first ever National Restart Format
Enduro, his first ever District 36 Enduro and one of his first times
riding in trees like this. "I really had no idea what to
expect!" exclaimed Kel "I had no one to pace off of so I had
no idea how fast I was supposed to go through the trees."
Dick's Racing's Jordan Brandt would be
the first local AA rider off on minute 5 and he would post
some excellent times through the first few special tests. Hot
on his tail however would be 2011's runner up Nolan Irwin aboard his
Mach 1 backed YZ 250 and NV2 Suspensions Mason Harrison all
dropping only 1 point in the first special. This would set the tone for
the entire day as the 3 racers would stay neck and neck through almost
every test.
With only a handful of the D37 riders
being able to make the trek up north after the reschedule it was up to
the faithful few to represent. BTO Powersport's Kevin Murphy
would bring out his brand new 2012 KTM 500 to bash through some trees
and would put in a great showing finishing 10th overall and 3rd Vet A.
250 A competitors Postel and Erek Kudla aboard their steadfast KTM XC's
would go back and forth all day finishing 21st and 22nd overall and
rounding out the top 25 would be United MC's Tomas Baxter.
All the way through the day the top 3
would be separated by mere seconds. Brandt would take the 3nd special
by 4 seconds over Irwin and then Irwin would take the 4th special by 7
seconds over Brandt; even after looping his bike up a steep rutted
hill! It would all come down to the 5th Special Test. This would be the
tightest trail of the day with many sections riders would barely be
able to walk through. Brandt was even heard stating "oh no, this
is the special that lost me the race last year..." just before he
was off. On the other end of the test, bruised and scratched from limbs
Brant would come through with the fastest time of the day only dropping
4 minutes and some change. Irwin would fall just short of the win
dropping 5 minutes but still was very upbeat. "Hey, atleast I'm
not at work..." Irwin said at the finish.
The final special test of the day
would have riders blasting across close to 20 knee deep river
crossings. While some may think of this as torture others saw it as the
perfect way to end the day. It was akin to working the longest,
toughest shift of your life then coming home and diving straight into a
swimming pool. At the finish, Harrison would round out the podium taking
3rd overall followed by Kenny Pedersen taking the 250 A victory
followed by Jonothan Estes in 5th.
In the West Chec Series James
Ptarcinski would keep and extend his Overall lead with a solid 6th
overall finish and Pedersen would take over 2nd Overall with his finish
over Estes. Pedersen would also more then extend his grasp on the 250 A
title and is in solid standing in the championship running so far!
Top 25 - Round 3 - SAWMILL ENDURO
1. Jordan Brandt - 13:0554
3. Mason Harrison - 15:0705
4. Kenny Pedersen - 17:0672
5. Jonathan Estes - 18.0766
6. James Ptarcinski - 19:0747
7. Mike Sedano Jr. - 20:0890
10. Kevin Murphy - 21:0846
11. Craig Hoffman - 21:0861
12. Kevin Yarnell - 21:0910
14. Robert Pickens - 23:0874
15. Adam Fernandez - 23:0946
16. Kelly Knipe - 23:0956
17. Jacob Santos - 23:1010
18. Steven Poor - 24:0944
19. Jim Boardman - 24:1037
23. Josh Thomaselli - 25:1066
24. Sean Sullivan - 26:0911
25. Thomas Baxter - 26:1028
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